I managed to get a morning walk in since I knew the afternoon would be tight. We returned to the town square to first go to the Olive Oil shop and pick up some small bottles to take to Hugh’s cousin. We were out of blood orange, they had a new mushroom and sage, and a new line of Greek organic we picked up to try. It isn’t that we are big on organic, but the product sounded intriguing.

We went on to Mystic Grill where even at 11:45, there was a bit of a wait. It is good although the real draw is whatever the connection is to the TV show Vampire Diaries and the tours they do. Neither of us have ever watched the show so we aren’t clear on that. The building is a draw too, as a wonderfully renovated old bank with lots of woodwork saved and this great staircase. They have a creative menu and had we not had burgers the night before (and they are on the cookout menu for tonight), we would have gone for them. I opted for the chicken salad sandwich instead, the type made with dried cranberries and some chopped walnuts. Hubby had the fried fish sandwich and no they don’t do catfish there. I thought he might go for the shrimp and grits which he has enjoyed in the past. Then we did our usual of splitting up for about forty-five minutes for him to wander and take more photos and I popped in and out of some shops. There are two art galleries. One is a non-profit where they exhibit different artists as well as have classes. I picked up a few lovely blank note cards which is something I almost always do when traveling. These had scenes of the town square. The second also does classes and one of the women (not sure if she is the owner) specializes in whimsical children’s art with mostly animals. There was more abstract in this place along with other pieces. I picked up a small piece that I have a plan for.

As I mentioned yesterday, sister-in-law and her husband were to pick us for the reunion and while there had been speculation about how many would attend, there were pushing the 200 expected. It was held in kind of an odd place as it was a conference center in an industrial park. It was a nice facility although the beautiful tin ceilings in the very large room with tiled floors and a band meant the noise level was tremendous. There was the usual “haven’t seen you in years” and so forth as I met quite a few people. Dinner was catered BBQ and with BYOB, we had an ice chest with a six pack and I threw in my small bottles of white wine just in case. We were among the 9:00 p.m. departure group though and the actual schedule was to end at 10:00.

The mini family-reunion is this afternoon.