Travel Adventures

We had an absolutely picture perfect vacation to the DR in February. The weather was great, 84 for a high, 74 for a low. The beach is gorgeous and the people were very nice. We had a great travel expert, Houston, provided by Travelocity. We love it and would go back again. I captured a few random memories and funny moments below. I invented a smoking gun cocktail after I realized the Johnny Walker red was not really scotch but some sort of filler. After that, I learned to drink a Napoleon, champagne, and the port. The Spanish wines were not too bad.   The pina colada was awesome though, especially at the beach. Our waiters, Hector and Angel were very attentive once they found we gave $2 tips. Angel said we were his family. The bartender certainly got a big laugh from the smoking gun cocktail a nd every time he saw us he did the gun hand action. We really didn’t get to know anyone except a brief interaction with a group from Sweden. They have been coming for 1...

This was a wonderful trip with our friends Betty and Cindy. We left St. Louis on a Saturday morning and had a pleasant drive through Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and then finally Alabama. We stopped for lunch at Subway and had dinner at Wendy's. It was nighttime when we drove through Mobile and while our GPS went crazy, we enjoyed the beautiful buildings and the city lights. It was dark when we arrived and there was a minute of panic that the lockbox for the key was rusted shut. But we got into it and the rental house was absolutely perfect. It was right on the beach. On Sunday, we went shopping at the Publix Grocery store and  bought some steelhead trout for dinner.  Monday, we had a picnic at Ft. Morgan. Throughout the week, we saw the Blue Angels practicing since they are based in Pensacola.  We watched the ferry at Ft. Morgan and gawked at all the rental homes out that way. Dinner that night was at the Oyster House, a Gulf Shore classic.  ...

This year, we are taking some short weekend get-away trips in our own home state. On the way across the state, we stopped at Arrow Rock SP and had lunch at the J. Huston Tavern. It is the oldest continually operating restaurant west of the Mississippi. From there, we made our way to Independence, MO. We stayed at the Hawthorn Bed and Breakfast which was a beautiful stone Victorian home. Our first event was at Kaufman Stadium to see  some inter-league play, the Cardinals against the Royals. We went to the game on Friday but it was a 3 game series and the Cardinals swept the last place Royals. This sweep solidified their mid-August 3rd place position in the National League Central. We really enjoyed visiting the stadium. It is the 12th stadium we have visited in our quest to see all 30 of them. The waterfall is a very nice feature. There were a lot of Cardinal fans but I have to also say that all the Royals fans were very nice and appreciative that we were there. Afte...

The trip was a two-day whirlwind. We started on Sunday morning at the Gamlin Whiskey House  in the CWE. They served up pineapple whiskey drinks in nice insulated cups. We were also given urine sample cups to use on the bus for our tastings. One of the stand out tastings included a bottle of Ballantines,a Scotch whisky from the fifties.  We also tasted Longbranch, a bourbon that is mesquite and charcoal refined and Rock Oyster, a blended Scotch whisky that was aged 18 years. We played a game called Two Truths and a Lie and all in all, the trip to Louisville was a lot of fun. They had packed us box lunches from the restaurant which were quite good. Our first stop was Angel's Envy where we toured and tasted. Angel's Envy finishes their bourbons in port casks which I really liked. After that, we checked into our classic Louisville hotel, the  Seelbach  and settled into our room. We looked on Open Table and decided on a nearby restaurant called Bourbon Raw wa...

We left St. Louis on a chilly Thursday for our first Allegiant Airlines package deal. We met Stephanie and Celeste at the Westin for a wonderful relaxing week. We had all our meals at either Marker 92 or the Nauti Bar. The first morning we did enjoy room service on our beautiful screened in porch overlooking the mangroves. We enjoyed the pool, the hot tub, and just relaxing. We took a day trip to Ft. Meyers Beach which was nuts. We ate at a cool Mexican restaurant on the way to the beach. Our other big event was looking at real estate. We looked at condos in several different buildings. I really found myself drawn to the idea of retiring in Florida and we will keep that in the back of our mind.

We just had a wonderful trip to see the Mizzou women play Mississippi State in Columbia. MS won but just barely. It was an extremely exciting game and we had a blast. We also got to go to the Broadway Brewery owned by the Duzans. I had a duck egg on a burger and that along with the local goat cheese made for a messy but rich sandwich. The brown ale was nice as was the coffee stout. We could watch the brewing of the beer in a glassed-in section in the  back of the restaurant.  We also ate at Shakespeare Pizza and I really like the dough. With some pizzas, I skip the crust but not this pizza. We drove up to check out Finger Lakes SP which was scenic on a cold winter's day. In the summer, it will not be so quiet. It will be a scene filled with ORVs and motocross races. I  would like to see that but could skip the camping. We also took a spin by the Rock Bridge SP and the Jewel SHS named after the founder of William Jewell College. We stayed at a very nice Wyndham with a bout...

In August, we traveled to our Rend Lake campground to be in place for the total eclipse with 2 minutes and 40 seconds of totality. We ended up seeing at Route 51 Brewery which was amazing. We were among a very diverse crowd and since the temperature was warm, it was nice to have access to the inside. It was an amazing experience.  Then on Wednesday, we headed to Branson and met our friends at Big Cedar.  One of the coolest things was having drinks in the whiskey bar at Top of the Rock. This was after seeing a beautiful sunset and the views of Table Rock Lake. While we were there, we ran into John Daymond, the CEO of FUBU Sandy and Alicia recognized him from Shark Tank and he was being given the grand tour.  Apparently, he likes to fish and the owner of all this also owns Bass Pro.