Bayfield - A Place Of Perfect Peace (And Yummy Sweet Potato Fries)....

For the past 5 days, Steve and I (along with some dear friends) have been tucked away in Bayfield Wisconsin (a tiny town of 611), having the most relaxing vacation of our life!! Everything about it EXCEEDED our expectations, which is hard to do anymore. Steve and I had been to Bayfield over 27 years ago and had fallen in love with the town then. When my brother and his wife went there last year for vacation, I just knew I had to go back. Little has changed in the town. And I fell in love all over again. And when I said 'tucked away', I meant it. Here is a picture of our cottage which was barely visible from our car. It was perfect. Not a clock in the place and no sounds or lights from anywhere around. Perfect Peace.





And the funny thing is, look at the road that it was on. Yep. Sophie Lane. This sign would always make me think of her and wonder what kind of trouble she was getting into back home. (And she certainly had her naughty moments while we were gone!!!). I think she was quite upset with me for leaving home and not taking her with!







EVERY meal that we had was amazing. One of the highlights for me were the sweet potato fries that we found at Maggies. Oh my, were they yummy!!! (Everything else there was yummy as well - especially the burgers!!!) We usually only ate out one meal a day, which was plenty. But we did make several visits to the local bakery/ice cream store. Just saying.












For the most part, our trip was meant to be a time away to renew and reenergize. And we did plenty of that. We also had some fun!! One of the highlights was going out sailing on Lake Superior.
Here are the four of us ready to set sail!!!!









It was one of those rides that you can choose to just relax and enjoy the ride; or you can help in every aspect of the sailing. We all chose to help. Our captain was great and quickly taught us the ropes and had us sailing away!!









I loved being able to steer the boat and had a great wind for going about as fast as the boat could go! (I LOVE speed!!!) I got it up to 6.4 knots. Steve didn't quite get that high and blames it on the wind. And I have to admit, there is an element of truth to what he says. I did have great wind. The bottom line, however, is that I was faster.












Steve and I also got tickets and went to the Big Top Chautauqua for a show. It was a blast!! We had heard about it for years from our dear neighbors who use to travel to Bayfield every year. I can't tell you how many times we thought of them while we were there!!!








And remember the part about ice cream cones and bakery (and I didn't mention the best part - SALT WATER TAFFY!!), this is the home of all of that. We spent maybe too much time not only in this shop; but thinking about this shop and all of the yumminess inside. Let's just say we ordered several baked goods to pick up on our way out of town so we could have it to 'share'. (Ok, so we could continue to enjoy it ourselves!!!) And I refuse to confess to how much salt water taffy I brought home.





We also did a little shopping in the shops downtown. There are several wonderful shops. Not too many; not too few. Just enough. Full of unique and fun things and each shop has it's own flavor. It's not like you start to see the same thing shop after shop. One of my 'surprise' finds was this wonderful yarn store above one of the shops. I didn't even know that it was there. It had great yarn and lots of yummy seating that, if I would have had the time, I would loved to have curled up and knit away.



Berries being in season was another delightful surprise! We had fresh raspberries everyday. On our way out of town, we stopped and picked up some to bring home with us. (Again to 'share'.) We bought them right from the gal that was out in the bushes picking them to sell on the street corner in town that day (where we had usually picked them up).






And home we came. It was time. We were rested and refreshed and ready to return. (LOVE being back home with the kids and the dogs... even if Sophie is naughty!!). I do know, however, that I will have times that I look on this picture (which is now my screensaver) and take a quick mental trip back to the place of perfect peace.



Until Next Time...