Barrie Lunch Sights

We arranged to set up a lunch date in Barrie, Ontario with Brad and Christine.  We are going to their wedding in three weeks near Petrolia but thought it would be great to see them again before their big day.  It was a 90 minute drive to Barrie and it was a beautiful day for it!

The perception is that Barrie (population 128,000) is a bedroom community of Toronto which is 55 miles away.  In fact, about 1/3 of Barrie residents work outside Barrie and it is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in Canada.  Brad is an environmental inspection/scientist and Christine is a Grade 11 high school teacher.

Barrie was named in 1833 after Sir Robert Barrie who was in charge of Canadian Naval Forces.  The site near Barrie was where he had to portage between the Kempenfelt Bay/Simcoe Bay and the Georgian Bay during his adventures.  It is on the direct route to points north from Toronto and has a number of busy highways passing through.  We first went through Barrie two years ago returned from time at our friends cabin at Talon Lake.

We met Brad and Christine at Brad's office then walked a couple of blocks to Shirley's Bayside Grille which is very nice restaurant on the main street.  Crossing streets I saw my first motion detection crosswalk button.

There is no button.  I don't think I have seen that before.

We arrived at Shirley's and found a table.  We  had a great time together as we waited for our tasty selections.  This place is not your average fast food lunch deli.  It was nice!  We all had a sandwich or a wrap and a salad except Brad who chose soup.  Christine made an excellent selection for a lunch spot.

I tried a couple of times to get a good shot of everyone at the table but was thwarted in my attempt.

After lunch, Brad went back to work while Christine showed us the nearby city park along the water.

The ladies.

The sidewalk took us within sight of the Spirit Catcher which is a sculpture by artist Ron Baird.

It was on display in Vancouver, BC as part of Expo '86 and was moved here in 1987.

We passed by the Barrie Town Docks where the 265 passenger paddler wheeler Serendipity Princess was getting underway with a load of tourists.

On our way back to parking we passed one of many Tim Horton's and a interestingly shaped building at an intersection.

It was a beautiful day for a day trip and a nice time with Brad and Christine.  We are happy it worked out to spend a little time with them and see some of Barrie.

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