Dilemonade

   A mix up in our reservations caused us to cut our vacation one day short. I was worried about it as I had to change the reservation three times or so. Fortunately we handled the situation without too much embarrassment. It was not really the way either of us wanted to end our vacation,but sometimes these things happen.
  We had a couple of choices. We could either scoot home as quickly as possible in embarrassment or carry out our plans for the day and then head home. Since C and I try to make the best of every situation we find ourselves in, we opted to carry out our plans.
  The plan for the day was to shop. There are a few things that I can only get in the area. We have several shops that we patronize because we like and want to support the owners. We had made a list the night before so we were all prepared. We figured that we knew what we wanted so we could shop quickly and still be on the road at a decent hour.
  We loaded up the car,paid our bill and headed out. First stop was a farmers market. We bought some jam, honey, barbecue sauce and some apples. We went to a bookstore down the road and found a couple of books.
   The we crossed the peninsula. The real shopping was about to begin. We went to the herbal tea store and bought a sweater at a clothing store. We had a nice time visiting with the owner of a pet accessory store that we like. I needed to get some filters for the cats' drinking fountain. I also found a birthday gift for a friend. She gave us a cat toy and a little cat dress. She told us if we could get Scamp to wear it, she wanted a picture.
  We were looking for a salt and pepper grinder at the kitchen store. We also found a knife and a cheese plane. Things were humming right along.
  The next store carries a line of shoes that I like. I was looking for a pair of navy blue ones. They had a style that I liked, but not in my size of course. They offered to order and send them to me. It was tempting, they had done it before. There would be no problem. Did I really need these shoes? They looked good and I had lots of things I could wear them with. The lady looked up my account. I was a member of their loyalty program. The next pair of shoes I bought would be half off. That settled the matter. I bought the shoes.
  It was lunchtime. I had hoped to get an egg burrito from a place that I liked, but they were already closed. I was miffed, I had been looking forward to having one all week and now my chance was gone. Nothing else sounded good to me.
  We had taken more time shopping than we had thought. There were still a few places we needed to get to. We needed to get honey and maple syrup. We also needed to get cheese.
  There is a cheese factory that we got to, but we would not get there before closing unless we went straight there. Now I got upset. I really needed to stock up on cheese, but we did need to get the other things too. I had wanted to go to one of the pottery places. We wouldn't have time for that.
   C thought for a moment. There was a factory at Sturgeon Bay we could go to. That was fine with me, but if they didn't have what I wanted, I needed a back up. C suggested that we try to find a factory near Green Bay We got the last of our items and drove towards Green Bay. Green Bay was a large enough that they had to have at least one cheese factory. I searched on his cell phone while he drove.
  I found one that we could reach before it closed. It had another benefit. It was right near Lambeau Field. We could go to the factory, buy our cheese and then have a last meal at Curly's Pub. We had not eaten since breakfast and were both really hungry. We stopped at the factory in Sturgeon Bay. They were well stocked. We got a few items and a bag of fresh curds to snack on.
   Then we turned the car towards Green Bay. Despite the rough start to the day, things were turning out all right. I wasn't going to get to my regular cheese spot, but I would get to go someplace new. It might be better. Also C and I were together so how bad could it be,really?
   The cheese factory had all that I wanted and a selection of cheddar cheese with different flavourings. There was pesto cheddar, cherry cheddar, jalapeno cheddar and a lot more. I wished that they came in smaller bricks so I could bring more home to try.
  Curly's Pub was quieter than we thought. The Packers were playing an away game, so that could be why it was quiet. We ate a good meal. Then we set out towards home. It was not a bad day at all. Even though we had not planned it and there were a few bumps along the way we did all right.
   Maybe it is possible to make delemonade out the the lemons life hands you.