On a recent Sunday drive, hubs and I headed to Torquay, Saskatchewan (a small town about 45 mins from here). A year ago, we feasted on a delicious burger at Barley’s Bar and Grill at Torquay, and decided we’d like to try it again.

Unfortunately, since we were last there, business hasn’t been strong enough to support keeping the grill open seven days a week, so they’ve made the choice to close the grill on weekends. This seemed like an odd choice to me, as one would think that with their proximity to a busy lake resort area, their weekend days would be busier. Maybe it has to do with staffing as well.

Before leaving to source out the next possible place to dine, I took a few photos of the inside decor. One never knows how long these struggling rural establishments will remain open, so I wanted a few memories of this place.

The signage for the washrooms in this place cracks me up. I’ve seen many different ways of designating male and female washrooms, but this is definitely the only time I’ve seen it done like this. Also, what’s with the “No Fishing” sign above the Pointers? Sometimes, it can take me a while to catch on to certain things, but this one has me baffled and I’m not going to ask hubs, in case it’s something obvious that I should know about. Maybe it’s just a random placement of a “No Fishing” sign.

The large woven wall hanging in the next photo suits the Western(ish) theme of the establishment.

And my favourite is this sign:

Everywhere you look in this place, there are entertaining and interesting things to see and read – everything from large limited edition prints by well known Canadian artists to museum relics of days gone by and everything in between.

My feature photo is of our car (foreground) pulled up to the log building that houses the bar and grill. The close proximity of the granaries in the background shows how rural this setting is.

Photo Note: It’s always a challenge to get accurate perspective in photos that have more than one straight line, and especially when what you’re shooting is taller than you are or is above your head. Each of my photos in this post, except for my feature photo, had its own set of perspective issues. The native photos app on my iPhone has both a vertical and horizontal perspective tool in addition to the straightening tool that I use for horizons. Usually, after a bit of fiddling around with all three, I can get the result I want. If not, Snapseed has a perspective tool that works well, and sometimes, I just have to give up and be ok with that.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song … above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

J.R.R. Tolkien