Road Trip Installment I: Day Trip

I have all the pictures I want to post from our road trip today....it was just a day trip, but blogger does not seem to want to cooperate. So....my post will have to wait.

We intended to go up to Clarksville, Louisiana, and Hannibal this morning...but that did not happen. I was in charge of the alarm this morning and well...I should not be in charge of the alarm.

So SIL and MOH Jill, suggested going to St. Genevieve and visit Chaumette Winery. I was sold.
I do not know how to put their little photo gallery on this post so this will have to do.

Long story short, we did not go to Chaumette. I will explain more later....when I can post pics.

Up for tomorrow...we decided to be St. Louis tourists. We are going to go to the Arch, maybe the Art Museum, maybe Ted Drews, and to The Hill for dinner. Who knows what else we will do. There is going to be an art fair at the Galleria mall...maybe we will check that out too! I love art, but I typically never go to art fairs or outdoor art events. strange I know, especially if you know me and my relationship with art.

I digress....Blogger has decided to play nice...so I will now share my series of images from the day.
Um...yeah. Hello, Red Bud, Illinois! We had lunch at the China King and no we did not streak. I follow the rules.
Then it started to rain....really hard. We were on our way to St. Genevieve.
I brake for moo cows. Or actually, I make Chris brake.
This was out my side mirror...the rain drops look kinda cool...and how creepy is that large cloud?

Warning....this next one is nasty. Lets just say it was a strawberry or something. I almost tossed my cookies when I spotted this.
Anyone see that guy that analyzes this kind of thing? We just saw it the other day, and WOW. Reality is so much more ummmm real? And wouldn't you know, it was just below the wiper range....gag. Just wanted to share.

Hello Chester! Home of Popeye the Sailor Man! toot toot!
Apparently they have statues all around of the Popeye characters....I so wanted to see Whimpy. Here is Olive Oil. She is by the Courthouse.
Also by the courthouse was the most outlandish display of potted fake flowers I have ever seen! I so had to make Chris stop. This was only a portion of what was on display. Trust me, there were more.
Finally we see Popeye...before we go over this narrow bridge...to where? Missouri. Hmmm....I did not quite figure out this one...start in Missouri, go to Illinois....back to Missouri...all for good reasons, but boy was I confused. We know, or rather Chris knows, this is not the most direct route to St. Genevieve, but we needed to go to Red Bud first. :)

River was HI-IGH.

We did have to detour to Walgreens. I am not a good passenger. I get so car sick. I could not find the dramamine...finally I did. Chris said he was going to send a search party for me, I took so long...I got two different dramamines...chewable and regular (less drowsy), tums, ginger gum, favereds starbursts....hmmm. I think that is it. And we are off again.

Mistake #1...when driving down road to a small town, do NOT stop and stare at decrepit old historic building/house thing.


The "caretaker" (with beer in hand) asks us if we want a tour. Foolishly we said yes. We park on the drive....nope, he gestures for us to park in the grass....ok, we move to the grass. We get out and have to wait for "Momma" to bring down the keys...oh boy. We finally get inside...I am so not interested and ready to leave and have to seem interested and make nice. I feel there is something crawling on me even if there is not really anything so I am itching and swatting all around me...cobwebs are everywhere...fake flowers (so true to the period of the home) just strange....Chris is just laughing to himself and being really nice to the people. As soon as we could, we got out of there and took off....it was a really strange experience. Did I say strange?

Finally...St. Genevieve. I just love this hotel sign. So cute.

You see the problem with arriving in St. Gen (as the locals call it) at 5:00ish on a Friday, is that EVERYTHING is closed.....well, I guess not everything.
Sara's Ice Cream Shop. (my fav pic of the day)
I told Chris, I just want to go somewhere cute and get ice cream. Well, that is pretty much what we did. Since everything was closed when we got there....yeah...Mistake #2 call before you go. We decided to go home. I called Chaumette Winery thinking at least we would go there for dinner....but nope...All full for the evening. um. thank you.

And what is a Gewgaw? Someone please help me with that one.

Back home we went....we gathered up some Crate and Barrel gifts we wanted to return and purchased some new items with a gift card.
We had a gift card to Magiannos...neither of us had ever been....it was quite yummy.
Tried to take a pic of my dessert....pic not so good. Dessert was ok.
And the best part...of maybe the whole day?
Our waitress gave me this? Know what it is? I do not mean the sugar packet either! Boy I am easily amused sometimes! ;)

More tomorrow! hehe.

Florida Wedding...

Can you believe that I had never been to Florida until this wedding?! Seriously! Well, my first trip to Destin, Florida was definitely memorable. My oldest friend Krissy tied the knot on the white sandy beaches just before sunset. It was totally gorgeous. After a long day of traveling by plane and car, Chris and I arrived with our traveling companions Kevin and Janelle. We stayed in a vacation rental named Apollo.
In our house, the bride and groom surprised ALL of the guests with monogrammed bath towels. So very cool.
The rehearsal dinner was held at the gorgeous Venus house. These houses are as good as they look in the pictures!
This is a view down the street from our driveway.
The white building is a little church! Erin and I took a late night ride in a little clown car and went to find the church. The view is from the top balcony from the Venus house. So Erin and I go in search of the church and then proceed to drive to a dead end street, well, we did not know that the clown car could not reverse, so I had to crawl out and push us while Erin steered to maneuver us around. We were gone maybe 5 minutes and the boys decided to send out a search party. We were ok, and laughing to whole time!
Hmmm...me just playing with my engagement ring...trying to be a photographer! :)
Ok...so this is my blackberry margarita that I ordered at Cheeseburger in Paradise! The drinks were yummy and the food did not live up to the "paradise" label...oh well!
The happy bride and groom are married!
Well it was definitely a memorable weekend! There are so many stories (hangers in the pool!) that will provide years and years of laughs! Can't wait to visit again! :)

Chickens! Bok Bok!

I have been meaning to post pictures of the chickens from my adventure to Iowa/South Dakota. I really liked the chickens!Here they are eating some bread that Clifford was tossing them.
Here comes the crazy one! This white chicken was a little odd.
I hope they are doing well at the farm! :)

Iowa's BIG 5...

I am definitely a city girl. If I was not sure of this before (which I was) I am definitely sure now! I had the pleasure this weekend to see Iowa's big 5. Now when we venture out to South Africa for the honeymoon of a lifetime, we hope to see the real big 5-Lion, African Elephant, African Buffalo, Black Rhino, and Leopard. Well in honor of my trip Iowa/South Dakota this labor day weekend, I wanted to post the BIG 5 that I saw!

Crickets/Grasshoppers
Ever fall asleep to the sound of crickets? Were you INSIDE? I bet not.
The Grasshoppers outside were unreal all kinds. Jumpy ones, ones that jumped and then FLEW with wings? Never seen such a thing!

Donkeys
Too cute for words...wish I had a picture

Cows
They were everywhere!

Chickens
I could not get enough of the chickens, except when Joel wanted to take my picture with one. He threw the chicken and it bee-lined for Erin. Not a good moment on the farm. I did also learn that chickens will eat anything, even crispy chicken strips.

Mice
Well, if I had to choose a critter that would come by land (mouse) or air (bat), then I pick land. I had heard rumors of bats in the farmhouse...so I slept with my head covered, but I did not get any warnings about potential mice. I only saw one though.

It was definitely an adventure! The land was beautiful and I will go back again in the future! I played golf for the first time and even managed to hit the ball :)!