ROADTRIP!

Unlike my sister and brother-in-law, we decided to take our time getting to Iowa for Thanksgiving. We set our sights on St. Louis, halfway between the farm and Birmingham, and we put our trust in Granddaddy's Garmin Nuvi to get us there. There were some scary times (for me, being the control freak) because the GPS took us a way that we've never gone before, up almost to Memphis, and then over the Mississippi to Arkansas and then up to Missouri, but we made it to our hotel in 7h45m, hakuna matata, right?
Sipsey stayed in her first hotel room on this trip. Remember what it was like as a kid to stay in a hotel room? You have to open every drawer, and jump from bed to bed a few times? Well, Sipsey had to sniff every inch and jump from bed to bed a few times. We had a room at the very end of the hall on the first floor, with a sliding glass door that opened onto a grassy area. Sweetness.
Through my research of pet friendly areas in St. Louis, I came upon a 96-acre sculpture park (www.laumeier.com), that happened to be just 5 minutes from our hotel. Nature paths wind through the property, which is dotted with interesting sculptures. There are also grassy areas with enormous structures. I took this photo on a 20 second selftimer. I know, I'm superwoman.
No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a visit to the arch. I've seen it countless times, but never gotten to go to the top. The view was worth the $10 it cost to ride the little eggs up there.
We stopped in Cedar Rapids on our way through and visited with one of my nearest and dearest for an hour. I guess an hour's better than nothing, though. Kate's been a kindred spirit friend since she was my assistant manager at the Storm Lake Buckle, and though we lost touch of each other for awhile and lived our separate lives, I'm so thankful that she's back in mine. Her creative energy and poetic perspective are just two of the reasons why I'm glad she's on my team.

A little off the subject, but I seriously don't know how people traveled before GPS units. It saved our lives so many times, and all said and done, the route it took us saved us 2 hours in the car, and when you've been in the car for 15 hours, 2 extra ones seem like a lot. In St. Louis we decided we wanted Chinese food for dinner. So we hit "Food", then "Chinese", and it shows all of the restaurants in the area, you click on the one you want and hit "Go!" and it takes you there! That's also how I found my wine (I told you it was a lifesaver :-) It especially comes in handy when you enter your final destination because it gives you an ETA. So we could call Mama and say, "We'll be there at 7:16 p.m." So many thanks to Granddaddy, needless to say!