Travels

After visiting Jenn in Columbia, I went to Fulton, Missouri to stay with my friend Michelle. Here she is with her son John Michael (I must admit it was me who encouraged him to put on his clothing wrong!):

While in Fulton, she made me gooey butter cake:

and took me to the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library:

Who knew that he coined the phrase “Iron Curtain” in this small town in mid-Missouri? It was a great museum and also featured a beautiful Christopher Wren-designed church moved from London.

Skip forward a few days and I was off to SW Missouri. First stop Mansfield.

Mansfield is in a gorgeous part of the Ozarks. My real mission was to see the farm where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived out the rest of her life after her hardships in the upper midwest. She and Almanzo build a lovely farmhouse:

Later, their daughter Rose had a lovely modern stone house built for them.

But they soon grew homesick for the wooden house they had built themselves, and so moved back to it.

Then I went on to enjoy a couple of days at Lake of the Ozarks.

Saturday the 2nd of June I drove to Columbia, Missouri (great college town) to meet my friend Jenn (who currently lives near KC) for the day.

We had an awesome day full of kitschy shops, the best Greek food, homemade ice cream, art, and walking, walking, walking.

The Mizzou campus (University of Missouri at Columbia, for those not in the know) provided the following snapshots:

Not sure what’s up with all the columns holding up AIR:

Jenn and Jefferson pondering the constitution:

I’ve really missed Jenn. So much so that I’m driving down to visit July 4th!

I took a trip to St. Louis May 31 through June 9. It ended up not quite like I expected.

I started out staying with my good friend Sandy. That first evening we spent some time in her awesome backyard:

The next day I was off to Shaw Nature Reserve for a retreat with the Education Staff.

It was a gorgeous day:

And we said goodbye to Barb. We’ll all miss her. (No picture of her here since I don’t want to incur the wrath of Barb!)

Next time: A horrible accident and a fabulous trip to central Missouri…

A week ago I went out to toast Teresa’s new endeavor. Here’s the gang (sorry about the closed eyes, Susan):

Here’s the Litzsinger gang at CiCi’s on the 23rd:

Am enjoying my time in St. Louis. Barb and Lydia have been great hostesses. Friday night a group of us went out to celebrate Teresa getting a new job. She’s now principal at the Soulard School.

The Fur Ball (fundraiser for homeless cats) last night was awesome. It was held in a former bank and had good eats and fun people. It was great to catch up with Sandy and Ellen. I also enjoyed marvelous Indian buffet with Mike (check out his blog at www.captaincomiccanuck.blogspot.com) earlier Saturday. More updates later.

After Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I took off for Baltimore to help my friend Greg move to Bethesda, MD, just outside of DC.

After the move, we took a trip into the city. The weather was gorgeous. Can you believe roses on November 26th?

We saw the general assortment of monuments and museums along the Mall.

We also ate very well–crepes, seafood, Indian–but I didn’t take pictures of that.

Thanks Greg, for a fun trip!

I was back in St. Louis this past weekend and saw tons of people (really) though none of the pix came out well.

So I shall have to show you the Chihuly exhibit of blown glass now at the Missouri Botanical Garden:

And my sweet, former bunny Teddy, who actually came up to me, sniffed me, and sat under my chair!

The reason for the trip was for Liza’s wedding.

Congratulations, Liza and Enrique!

This past weekend I drove to Chicago for my friend Liza’s bridal shower and bachelorette party.

Had to of course stop for some cheese in Wisconsin:

If you’ve never been to Wisconsin, I suggest going–it’s a beautiful state. This was the view from one of the rest stops:

I packed up my stuff:Moved it out:
Left St. Louis looking like this:
And this:
Then I was off through Illinois and into Wisconsin (where I stopped for squeaky cheese curds!):
Then into Minnesota:
And onto 8180: