All the things Missouri

I realize that I totally under reported my lovely time in the gorgeous state of Missouri! And that seems to be totally unfair to my amazing Mad-Missouri friend, Cheri.  She has been wanting to see my pictures and when I got back I was swept into thinking about school, and kayaking, and biking again, and catching up with several of my people who I hadn't seen/talked to for a while.  The last thing I wanted to do was sit at the computer when I was so used to going at break neck speed, or alternatively- snuggling with those grandchildren of mine.

The Silver Tree on Art Hill in St. Louis

SO- as a surprise for her, here is an in-depth review!! I am writing this while waiting to get hungry, so I can eat and then go into school- since I got my weight lifting and a bike ride in already.  And I am not hungry when I get done working out--- especially bike riding.  You know,  I really suck at bike riding.  Lol.  Hills kill me.  KILL ME.  The words that escape my mouth.....  but its easier than a couple months ago.  ha.

First of all, I have to say that as much as I love my Wisconsin (GO PACK GO) and Lake Superior and all, I do very much enjoy being in different parts of the country and I really have to get into more southern states.  The weather up here has turned to it's glorious late summer pattern of highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's- the humidity has diminished (and yes it DOES get humid up here) and the sunsets are stunning.  In fact I am sure the my biker buddies from the south could undoubtedly bike 80 or 90 miles up here with no problem, since it is more like winter temperatures for them.  hehe.  ANY WHO, as much as I am reveling in this, Missouri is SUCH a gorgeous place to visit.  I will say that their rivers are a little sketchy looking, so I will stick to kayaking up here in flowing waters, but wow the scenery. And while it was freaking hot down there, I just didn't care because it was so much fun.  By the time I finished in Janesville, I will say that I was so sick of sweating through a set of clothes and then freezing in the air conditioning 4 or 5 times a day....  I am a northern girl for sure....

Pickle Springs

I don't mind the drive to Cheri's place, but Illinois gets to be a bit much sometimes.  I am always wishing for another windmill thing to show up.  I don't mind corn fields, heaven knows that is quite familiar to me, since I grew up in the middle of one.  But it is pretty cool to get across the Mississippi into the St. Louis area.  The land is different (i.e.: not flat) and I sort of like driving on the big freeways too.  Of course this is all timed to NOT be during rush hours, so I can enjoy the drive.

I arrived at Cheri's the day after the culmination of a very VERY busy month or so, and I know she was glad that I was there to provide distraction and my usual comic relief.  We went and picked up her grandson Charlie almost immediately after I arrived and we got to sit and catch up while he played in the swimming pool at a local establishment.... and we had a little light supper and refreshments and had a wonderful time chit chatting our afternoon away.

Pickle Springs stream

The next day (as were all the days) was an action-packed one, where we of course began our journey of eating out every single meal-  because we are just that awesome!!  HAHA!!  We began with coffee always at her house, because we are amazing and addicted humans and proceeded to have a lovely breakfast at a coffee shop in nearby Farmington.  After tossing around idea for what to do next, we settled on hiking at Pickle Springs.  Pickle springs is a lovely natural area with an almost 2 mile trail that you follow up and down and around...  it was pretty dry when we were there, but apparently is quite lovely after a rain.  It was lovely this day too. But it is indeed a HIKE, not a walk!  :)

Love this mini waterfall, that was probably 8 - 12 inches tall  lol

We ate a late lunch at a really cool restaurant in Farmington called 12 West.  The air-conditioning and nourishment were very much appreciated, and it was very good.  It was easy to find vegetarian options everywhere we went! We had to pick up Mr. Charlie from daycare again that afternoon, which gave us a chance to hang out at her place and just relax.  Our plan was to go to a covered bridge when Amanda got home, but she got stuck in traffic.  We later  got part of the way there when I remembered that the park that it is in closed at sunset..... so we cut our losses and had supper at Lix- an ice cream shop.  Because everyone should have ice cream for supper sometimes. AND we stopped for a few moments at the very cute train depot in Farmington as well.  Night pictures anyone?

Train Depot in Farmington

Friday was a city day for us.  I had very few requests for my trip, but I did want to get to the city at least once and see the art museum.  It was spectacular as I indicated in my previous post.  And I had a friend who was interested in me and my droning on about all things art history.  She's the best.  I just love that place.  They also had a folk art special exhibit which was really fun to see as well.   When we finished there, I had a special request to have vegetarian sushi for lunch, and my dear friend was happy to oblige.  We ate at a place called Mizu, and again I was not disappointed.  I had avocado roll and one that was tempura style that I can't remember the name of.  They subbed the fish in it with sweet potato, and it had some cream cheese as well as veggies and I also split an order of deep fried tofu.  I was in HEAVEN!!!  Following, we walked through the very beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens and rumor has it we had CHEESECAKE for supper- because that is just how we roll.

Oh look- columns!  :)

SUSHI BABY!!!

Crazy big lily pads at the Botanical gardens

Saturday was a little different day, as Cheri was involved in a crossfit event.  We squeezed breakfast in between events and when that was all done, we went a bit of a drive north to the Katy trail.  The Katy trail is an old railroad right of way that has a really nice packed gravel surface for biking.  It also has places to stop along the way, including a really yummy brewery that gave us some nice rehydration!  YES we drank a dark beer and it was fabulous.  We biked 18 miles when we ran out of daylight and energy-  A late night stop at "Crackle Barrel" was our food for the night (I think we only ate twice that day??) and it was a pretty yummy blueberry french toast.

Biking and beer- perfect companions and perfect company

Part of the Katy Trail 

Getting darker- on the  Katy Trail 

Sunday, my last day with her and her family, we stayed in our jammies until at least 10, which is something I never do, and it was the nicest morning.  We decided to go up to St. Louis so we could eventually have Italian food on the Hill, but first we walked through the zoo, and around the beautiful lake/pond on Art Hill called the Basin.  Wow it was so beautiful.  There was exactly 2 Italian restaurants open that Sunday night and we were appropriately dressed for only one of them, and it was just fine with us.  It was really nice to sit down and have something sort of similar to my Italy experience, including raspberry gelato, but there is something about being IN actual Italy you just can't beat.  THIS was good though- very good.

Fancy bird at the zoo!

This enclosure was really cool! Ibis, egrets, ducks, etc.

The tiger was hot!

Part of the basin (many of these pix are taken with the phone)- you can see the museum in the background

Dining with a really good wine

A very dark photo of the covered bridge

I had just the best time running all over the area with my sweet friend, we could have stayed in her house all day and had just as good of a time.  I am so lucky to be able to visit her though---

part of the Chihuli installation

Ribbit

Giraffe and friend 

The corpse flower almost ready to bloom- apparently a smelly thing.

Summer has been good to me again, but this one seemed to go faster.  I am not at all ready to give in to it, but there isn't much I can do to stop it....  I am however ready to see what the next journey, adventure or encounter might be- no matter what it will have some joy.

** Btw, as usual I always underestimate the amount of time it takes me to write, post pictures, rearrange, review and rewrite....  lunch has long since been eaten, boxes unpacked at school, groceries bought, and a few people have been talked to....  So here we are at almost 10 pm and I will be publishing- I should know by now, don't you think?

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Headed to Missouri

At the end of June I packed up the car and headed to Missouri to visit a wonderful and awesome friend, via Janesville and then ending via Milwaukee!  It is a HIKE down there- a 5 hour drive to Janesville and then a 6 hour trip down to her house WAAAAYYYY to the southern part of Missouri.  I had never been to that fine state before, so after a little discussion, I decided I would drive there this summer.

The silver tree on the grounds of the St. Louis Art Museum

Missouri is just beautiful and I very much enjoyed seeing the countryside, as I had an hour of driving after crossing over the Mississippi River south of St. Louis.  I was anxious to get there and am glad that we headed back to St. Louis twice and I got to really see the land as I was riding.

My dear friend Cheri lives to the southwest of St. Louis and she and her wonderful husband were such gracious hosts.  I had a marvelous time visiting- we spent 2 days traveling all over the city and then spent one day hanging bopping around her neck of the proverbial woods.

Botanical Gardens

Chihuly Gate at the Missouri Botanical Gardens

I loved all the touring and driving and eating and  seeing that I did, but the best part I think was relaxing at her house in the mornings, drinking coffee and enjoying ourselves in a leisurely way.  It was a great way to start off each day.  I was treated like a princess and I felt totally spoiled and certainly didn't want to leave!!

The funky eye sculpture at the Sculpture Park

The "Womb" sculpture

Butterflies from the Butterfly house

Butterfly

Monday we spent time going to some lovely outdoor venues- the St. Louis Sculpture Garden, the Butterfly House,  The Botanical Gardens, trying to see the Basilica which closed at 5, and then had my first sushi at the Drunken Fish!  I met Cheri's super nice son and his gf, who joined us for dinner. The Sculpture Garden was fun, as was the Butterfly house, but the Gardens were outstanding!!  And then the sushi was super- we had such a sweet waiter, he was so patient and attentive!!  Later we walked around that area and then did some gawking at really awesome houses, plus scoped out somethings for the next day and had a grand time driving back home to her house.  It was a long and energizing day and I got some great shots.  I will say, I tried to take lots of photos, but I ended up taking many with my phone, because sometimes I just didn't want to interrupt what I was seeing by being hidden behind the camera.  Weird, but true.

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Chihuly installation at the Botanical Gardens

Veggie sushi with Mango  

Tuesday, we headed up to the city again, armed with a plan and a lot of coffee and water, and went straight to the Basilica of St. Louis.  It is an absolutely astounding piece of architecture and the mosaic that decorate the entirety of the interior is beyond words.  When you look at the size of the pieces of the mosaic, they must be 1/2 - 3/4 inch, it is mind-boggling.  Amazing place to visit, no matter what your beliefs.

Basilica of St. Louis

Basilica interior

Unedited details (oops)

A better example of the brilliant color of the mosaic

After a lovely lunch at the Boathouse (another of several yummy meals!!) we headed over to the St. Louis zoo for a walk.  We went around the whole thing, but because it was so hot, not a lot of animals were too active.  It is a really nice place, but we needed to get OUT of the heat and so we walked up the hill to the St. Louis Art Museum!  There was an Impressionism show there plus the work of Mark Rothko was on special exhibit as well.  It was a really good time!  Dinner that night was a HUGE concrete shake at Ted Drewes, and then we went on to see the ARCH!  Now, I will say that many people thought I was crazy for not going up in the arch since I was there, but my own son told me not to.  I have a serious issue with claustrophobia, which was exacerbated by being stuck in a small bathroom once many years ago when a lock on a door failed.  So, he knew that I would not do well jammed into a small place like that.  I have no problem not having gone up in it, and I think Cheri was fine with that too!  (on a weird side note, heights sort of bother me too, but that wouldn't keep me from going on a hot air balloon ride or helicopter ride- just sayin').  The Arch was a lot of fun to see, we went underneath of it and saw the little "town" that is there, with food, information and even a movie theater (and some really nice bathrooms- lol!)  We went and sat on the steps looking over the Mississippi and Cheri told me some stories about her growing up in the area.  Before we got to the arch (and it was interesting getting there, too, between Cheri, Siri and I, we managed to find a free place to park and get in a several mile walk too.)  Before we got to the arch we visited the park where the Worlds Fair was and BallPark Village and just looked at the beautiful buildings and views of this old part of St. Louis.  We did a lot of walking around and looking at things....

Lovely heron hanging out on the dock at the Boat House

I don't even remember what this crazy guy is called- St. Louis Zoo animal

I am a fan of flamingos for some reason.  Lol

The arch is beautiful

A Modigliano and a  fuzzy shot of a Picasso at the St. Louis Art Museum 

Throughout the time we were in St. Louis, we saw LOTS of these fun birthday cakes.  St. Louis is 250 years old and along the lines of the painted cows and the like seen in other cities, here there were birthday cakes that artists decorated- 250 of them apparently.  We must have seen 15 of them around the city where we were.  It was entertaining to see and I just read that there is an app to find all 250 of them.  I think it was more fun to discover them!

One of 250 birthday cakes to celebrate St. Louis Birthday

After all of this, we swung by Cheri's daughter's house where I met their little family!  What a lovely day that was- we got back late again and planned the next day's events.

It was great to be in the city, but we wanted to stay closer to her home Wednesday, so we took our time getting ready and we went into her favorite coffee shop for an early lunch and I met one of her lovely friends.  We did some shopping and then went to the little farmers market and went to look at some of the BEAUTIFUL wineries in southern Missouri - the one we stopped at was the Chaumette winery 

Lol this is a bit of an awkward shot at the winery- why I am standing half on a stone I am not sure

Beautiful land around the winery.

We had a lot of coffee!  YUM!

But the wine was VERY enjoyable! To think we went to yoga after this!

View of the lovely Missouri countryside

We finished off the last full day of my visit with a lovely dinner with Cheri and her hubby.  It was a perfect end to a perfect trip..... oh wait, there was one more thing we did that night.

Wine in a hot tub??  why yes, thank you

I left the next day with a lump in my throat and a mind swirling with wonderful memories.  I had the best time enjoying the company of my dear friend and really love the state of Missouri.  It is just beautiful.

I had such a good time with Cheri and Mike and Coach!!  

This certainly is one of the best trips I have taken!  Cheri is one of the best joy-givers I know.  I hope your life is full of them too!

From the Botanical Gardens

Debi and Cheri at the Butterfly Garden

Looking at the arch through the park and fountain

I left out soooo many little things that we shared but that is ok, those are the things that we will remember and make sense to us, probably not to others who were not there.  The walking and seeing and laughing and getting almost lost in the city and driving and eating and relaxing added up to a wonderful adventure for me.  Bookended on the weekends with seeing my boys and my Sarahs and my grandkiddos made it on more layer of rich and complete.

Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it!  But, thank you Cheri for a most wonderful stay.