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2007-05 Travel Diary |
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Day One,
Wednesday, May 16:
We packed up our rental van (Chrysler Town & Country) and left
Minneapolis mid-morning with our little GPS navigator set for Jenny
& Dan's address in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was a long day - 14
hours of driving with just a couple of pit stops to fill the gas
tank and eat from the food in our cooler. Jay drove for all except
about two hours when I took the wheel and he napped. |
Photo Links
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Headed south through Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, into Tennessee just
enough to get us around Memphis, etc. - some beautiful country but
basically a pretty boring drive. I tried to kill some time by taking
photos out the car windows, but for obvious reasons my efforts did
not produce any quality photos! |
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One of the perks of driving a rental
car was that we listened to satellite (Sirius) radio most of the
trip – if we weren’t listening to satellite radio, then we listened
to CD’s of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Jay finally gave in
to fatigue and agreed to pull into a motel at about 11:00, so by
11:30 we had checked into the Magnolia Inn in Southaven,
Mississippi (about an hour south of Memphis, TN). It was a nice
basic motel room, good wireless internet connection, and we both
slept well. |
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Day Two,
Thursday, May 17:
We slept late so didn't get going the next morning until around
10:45 after a gourmet breakfast of soft tacos from Taco
Bell. We continued traveling south on I-55 through Mississippi, a
beautiful drive on straight roads lined with groves of tall trees on both
sides. It was lovely, although I kind of missed being able to see
the farms, businesses, etc. - I suppose "beautiful monotony" would
be the best description.
We reached the
Louisiana state line at about 3 pm, then turned off onto I-12 west to Baton
Rouge where we went directly to Jenny & Dan's. They were pretty busy
getting ready for Livie's Bat Mitzvah festivities, and Jenny had to
leave to pick up Rachel from the Kenner airport in New Orleans. Dan
had a high school graduation ceremony to attend that evening, so we
told Ben & Livie we'd pick them up for supper after we checked into
a motel, then Jenny, Rachel and Dan would meet us there. |
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Finding a motel was a little more difficult than we expected because LSU was having graduation that weekend, so we ended up at the Motel 6 just off I-12 and Airline (exit 2B). Despite telling us they had internet access, there was none - they said we should just plug into their phone line but would have to use our own internet provider. Argh. We managed, though, by going to CC's (Community Coffee) a couple of times in the next few days where they had wi-fi. I had brought the laptop along mainly so that I could offload photos from my camera every night, and that part of the plan worked great. Meanwhile, the Motel 6 was about the "barest bones" motel ever - short on towels, plus they were thin/cheap; no hair dryer, no tissue, no clock. There was a TV, however. For us, requirements are generally pretty minimal - we just want a clean bed and hot water at a decent (OK, cheap) price; just a place to sleep, shower and change clothes as needed.
At any rate, after
getting settled into our motel room we headed over to pick up Ben &
Livie (about 8:00 pm), then drove to Mike Anderson's restaurant for
dinner. We'd been there many years ago, and it's a great place to
eat some good crawfish! We ordered raw oysters, which Livie had
never tried before (but I think she kind of got into them that
night!). Jenny & Rachel arrived about 8:45 and Dan arrived a little
bit later. Jay & I each ordered the crawfish sampler dinners -
fabulous, but too much food so we ended up with leftovers for our
lunch the next day.
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Day Three – Friday, May 18 – St. Francisville, LA: Based on recommendations from Jenny & Dan, we decided to drive north about 20 miles to the historic St. Francisville community. It was a gorgeous day, low 80’s and not too humid (the Louisianans thanked us for bringing our good Minnesota weather down with us!). But first we stopped at Shoney’s (next door to the motel) for their breakfast buffet (adequate, not great). Found CC’s for some good coffee and a quick check of bank accounts, email, then headed north to St. Francisville. We stopped first at the tourist information office there which was very nice; there was a small museum plus books, postcards, etc., and other souvenir items. We resisted buying southern cookbooks and Audubon posters, instead going off on the hike around town as suggested by the woman working there. St. Francisville is such a picturesque town – everything you think about when “southern comfort” comes to mind. Porches, columns, garden statues, lots of flowers, grand old oaks and moss hanging generously throughout the trees. We spent some time wandering around the St. James Cemetery as well. After our walk-about we drove to Oakley Plantation, one of many choices for plantation-touring. Oakley is most famous for the fact that Audubon lived there for several months, working as a tutor for the owner’s daughter and also drawing/painting many of his famous bird pictures in his “off” time. It’s a lovely place with a park where you can picnic. We ate our leftovers from the night before while watching the cardinals fly all around us, and then meandered on to the plantation house for a nice tour. When we reached the plantation house, there was a huge peacock sitting up in a tree – he wore glorious colors and squawked frequently. He was so loud that we had heard him from the park area where we ate lunch! But he posed nicely for some photos. There were beautiful butterflies in the garden, so I got some photos of them as well. After visiting St. Francisville and Oakley plantation, we
drove back to the motel and changed clothes for the Shabbat at B’nai
Israel. Not being Jewish, the ceremony for
Bat Mitzvah (and Bar
Mitzvah) is interesting although sometimes confusing for us. We were
involved a bit, Jay reading a short responsive piece and I read with
a group of women, some of it in Hebrew (the same as I’d read for
Ben’s Bar Mitzvah three years ago, so I think I remembered all the
pronunciations correctly!). Jenny served sweets after the service,
so we stayed a bit to be sociable but then left to go find supper. A
place called Parrain’s was recommended to us, so along with Rachel
and a few other relatives we feasted again on Louisiana cuisine –
the restaurant was very busy, so we opted for a table in the bar
which was noisy and filled with partying LSU grads and their
friends. The food was fantastic - two great meals in two nights,
what a treat! |
 Garden Statue in St. Francisville
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Day Four - Saturday, May 19: The Bat Mizvah service began at 10:00 Saturday morning, so we got ourselves gussied up, stopped at Shoney’s again for breakfast and then drove to the synagogue. Driving with a GPS is something new to us; we’d experimented with it a bit when we first bought it (one of those great deals off SlickDeals.net!) but hadn’t used it much since we pretty much know our way around the greater Minneapolis area. On a trip, it was quite a treat – the only thing I missed was looking at a map to get the “big picture!” We dutifully followed Ms GPS’s instructions, turning right and keeping left, but even then made a few mistakes. On the whole it was a great tool, though, throughout our entire road trip. Livie did really well for her Bat Mitzvah, we were all very proud of her. There was a nice lunch catered afterward, pasta and salads, all very good. Jenny certainly had done a lot of planning and everything came off really well despite the fact that her original caterer went out of business two weeks before Livie’s event! At least it was two weeks before and not two days before! After the lunch we went to Jenny & Dan’s for a while – watched Livie and her friends take off in the limo that Dan had hired for a couple of hours.
In the evening we
were all back at the synagogue, casual this time, where there was a
disc jockey, pizza and door prizes for the kids – adults were in the
opposite end of the building eating Chinese food and drinking wine!
We all made periodic visits to the kids’ room, though, I think they
had a fun time and I wanted to get some pictures. |
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Day Five – Sunday,
May 20: While we drove around we found several really interesting small grocery stores which unfortunately were closed (Sunday); also a restaurant called Roberto’s (closed) that Jenny & Dan later recommended highly. Sometime we’ll go back there!
After stopped to
look at Ashland – Belle Helene, we crossed to the west side of the
river and visited probably the most famed of all antebellum
plantation homes,
Oak Alley. Jay had been there many years ago but I
had not, and the entire estate is just one picture after another waiting to be
taken. We had a 30-minute tour of the inside, then explored the
grounds and gardens, even visiting Mama Cow and her bullish son. Dan
called to invite us for grilled steaks for dinner, so we had a nice
evening back in Baton Rouge with family. Livie was pretty tuckered
out from her busy weekend and fell asleep, but after dinner Ben
showed us a film that he and his friend Ben had made, starring
themselves. It was great! They have talent and imagination, it will
be fun to see if that develops in the next few years! |
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Day Six – Monday, May 21: The time had come to leave Baton Rouge and head south to New Orleans. First came another great breakfast at Sonic, where we hooked into the wireless internet connection from CC’s which was right next door. I made reservations online for the Ambassador Hotel in New Orleans, an old converted coffee warehouse in the business district (on Tchoupitoulas), for the next three nights. Our trusty GPS took us to the hotel with no problems, but we were too early to check in so we drove to see Maxine and Joe’s house in the Garden District (they are still living in Baton Rouge since Katrina) and then over to the French Quarter for a couple of hours. In the French Quarter we parked on Bourbon Street, then walked past the St. Louis Cathedral, listened with great enjoyment to a group of street musicians in front of the Cabildo, etc., and bought their CD. Farther down on Decatur we stopped to buy pralines at Evans Candy store for gifts to take back. We also stopped for café au lait and beignets at Café Du Monde, of course; it was a fairly breezy day and the powdered sugar was blowing all over everyone! We both had light-colored clothing on, but the lady at the table next to us was dressed all in black, so she was a mess (so were the tables and chairs!). I guess it was worth it for her, though, I certainly fell in love with New Orleans all over again eating that treat! We checked into the Ambassador and loved the room, it had huge high ceilings and although it was nothing fancy, it was comfortable, spacious, the towels were thick and plentiful, the internet connection was great. The price was very reasonable as well – only a couple of dollars more per night than we had paid for Motel 6! (This is typical for us when traveling; we generally are able to find some great deals on old hotels in the heart of town.) After brief naps, we changed clothes and walked back to the French Quarter for dinner at Tujague's on Decatur. Jay had crawfish, I had shrimp – another fantastic meal of Louisiana cuisine. They had the best French bread ever – crispy outside, tender inside, something we’ve never been able to find in Minneapolis (and I have never been able to duplicate, but send me your recipes if you have them!) So far on this trip we have eaten like absolute pigs! But, travel for us is all about tasting everything about the local culture and cuisine. I can lose the weight again once I get back home!
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 Street Musicians in New Orleans
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Day Seven – Tuesday, May 22: Jay got up and worked out in the hotel exercise room, what a good boy! We walked to Brennan’s for breakfast, and a wonderful meal it was indeed; pricey too - even though we opted for ala carte it still set us back a hundred $$. Ouch. It’s only money, right? And hey, “they” say the best way to help out New Orleans is to go there and spend money. We certainly did, at least at the restaurants! Never mind that it will take me the next six months to pay the bills! We wanted to go to the Museum of Art in City Park, so we walked back to Canal Street and waited for a streetcar which the sign said went there. In a few minutes one came along, so we paid out $1.50 each and got on, but the driver took off while we were asking about the museum and it turned out that he was not going there (he was going the cemetery route). So we had to get off the next stop but couldn’t get a transfer or money back – our first rude driver. It was another 35-40 minutes before another streetcar came along, this time the right one; Jay had to pop over to McDonald’s to get more change (an experience that took him a good 15 minutes!). The next driver was equally as rude, but we got to City Park – the route took us past a lot of businesses and some homes that had obviously suffered hurricane damage from Katrina and Rita but had not been fixed yet. Some business had just opened up again, sporting big signs announcing “we’re finally open!” or signs saying that they had moved to a different location. As we got off the streetcar there were people waiting to board who told us that the museum was closed! Some other people on the streetcar that were also going there opted to stay on board and head back again into the business district, but we decided to check it out for ourselves. Sure enough the museum was closed Mondays and Tuesdays, along with the sculpture garden beside it. We walked through a bit of the park around it and – in great need of a restroom – ended up “briefly” using a fairly disgusting toilet in a nearby building. Who builds a park and playground without providing a place to pee? I got used to Jay mumbling “it’s Louisiana” every time something didn’t meet our expectations. On the other side of the museum and in back of it, we discovered that the botanical garden associated with it was OPEN! And better yet, they had decent restrooms, so we made proper visits and felt ever so much better. Wandering throughout the botanical gardens was fun, and of course I took a “brazilian” flower photos. The gardens were beautiful and went on for what seemed like forever. We were very fortunate that the entire time we had been in Baton Rouge and now in New Orleans, the weather was perfect – low 80’s and low humidity. We walked back to catch a streetcar and had to wait about forty minutes; we even called the phone number on the sign and found that it should have been there ten-fifteen minutes earlier. When it finally arrived it turned out that there had been some altercation on the streetcar, but the driver was nice and when two little elderly ladies departed he got out, ran across the street and picked a huge gorgeous magnolia blossom for each of them.
So, back to
Tchoupitoulas and our hotel where we changed clothes and then went
downstairs to the restaurant (Sapor) for a drink and an appetizer –
they served us the most wonderful BBQ’d shrimp, absolutely
scrumptious! We walked to Bourbon Street again, looking for a good
dinner place – we had gotten a couple of recommendations from Dan
for finding good red beans & rice, but we couldn’t find either of
the places so we ended up having dinner at Arnaud’s Remoulade. My
turtle soup was great; our entrees were also delicious, but only
lukewarm. It had looked like a quieter place than most on Bourbon
Street, but a party of 24 people arrived and the place grew pretty
noisy. Still fun, though; when we finished dinner we decided to look
for Preservation Hall. It took a while including several wrong turns
and walking right past it missing the sign, but when we finally got
to the right place it was closed Mondays through Wednesdays. Darn!
We would be leaving Thursday morning. We did stop at Pat O’Brien’s,
however, where we sat outside – Jay ordered one of their sickenly
sweet Hurricane drinks (where you get to keep the glass) and I had a
glass of wine. A beautiful night, it was nice to just sit outside
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Day Eight – Wednesday, May 23: A big day in the history books, I became a sexagenarian! Well, sixty is the new thirty, right? Just think of all the wisdom I’ve accumulated in those sixty years, ha-ha! We finally pulled ourselves out of bed late morning, then brother Rich called to wish me happy birthday just as I was getting out of the shower. By the time we got downstairs for breakfast it was almost noon. The restaurant had stopped serving at ten, but the hotel clerk recommended Mother’s, which was a mere block away from the hotel. We decided to get the van out of valet parking because it was just beginning to rain and the skies looked pretty ominous. So we drove around looking for a parking spot, landing in a place that was 2-3 blocks from Mother’s. No problem, Mother’s was worth it – great breakfast; you stand in line to order, find a table and they deliver your food when it’s ready. Everything was served with grits which Jay pronounced the best he’d ever had. We had decided it was time to do some laundry, so we looked up Laundromats in the GPS – got to the closest one and decided against it; horrible neighborhood. Found a good one on Magazine Street and did two loads of washing there. The rain had become a steady but gentle drizzle that lasted until about 6:00. When the laundry chores were done we decided to make another attempt to visit the art museum. We arrived just after 3:00, parked the van and went inside where we were told that they closed at 4:00. The entrance fee is $15 each, which they wouldn’t discount or waive for us, so after deciding that we wouldn’t have adequate time to get our $30 worth, we left, disappointed, and drove back to the hotel. It had been sixteen years since we visited New Orleans, and this spring when we were making plans for our trip one of the first things we did was to call for dinner reservations at Commander’s Palace for my birthday. Turning sixty is no casual thing! The last time we were in New Orleans we couldn’t get a reservation there and ate somewhere else, equally elegant but – not Commander’s Palace! So we gussied up again and had the hotel valet get a cab for us, arriving at the restaurant just a few minutes early for our 7:00 reservation. Interestingly, the valet at the door complimented both of us on how nicely we were dressed (my outfit was from JC Penney; Jay’s cord suit had been purchased at Target!). We were immediately taken upstairs into a room that was similar to a large porch. Commander’s Palace is a lovely restaurant, very elegant yet comfortable, and we enjoyed the most excellent service all evening. Jay told one of the wait-persons that it was my birthday, so they brought three huge balloons which got tied to my chair. We ordered drinks and an appetizer of fried oysters, then for entrees chose the chef’s special which was turtle soup, speckled trout prepared with Creole seasonings and veggies, and of course the famous bread pudding soufflé for dessert. Everything was incredible, a perfect meal (although their bread was not quite as good as Tujague’s!). When dessert arrived, mine had a candle on the side and they made me wear a paper toque. The wait staff was kind enough to take several pictures of us, although I had problems adjusting the lighting on my camera so the best shot of us actually turned out pretty yellowish. It was a grand night, thanks to Jay and Commander’s Palace, and a wonderful birthday.
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 Lily Pad, Botanical Garden, City Park, New Orleans
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Day Nine – Thursday, May 24: We checked out of the hotel at 11:00, collected the van from valet parking and set the GPS for Vicksburg, Mississippi. We needed to be in Memphis in time for dinner Friday night at Jay’s classmate’s home, and Jay wanted very much to visit the historical Civil War battlefield in Vicksburg since it was on our way north to Memphis. Leaving town we searched for a Sonic which the GPS told us was in existence but had obviously gone out of business after Katrina hit – we ended up eating chicken sandwiches from Burger King for breakfast, horrible. After we’d been on the road a few miles we stopped for gasoline and then at a Popeye’s next door for red beans & rice. The GPS sent us up I-55, but we decided we would rather go up Hwy 61 so we ignored the “recalculating” messages on the GPS and took our own route, driving past farms and eventually past areas covered with kudzu, something I’d never seen before. It is quite an eery sight, seeing the kudzu vines growing over trees and plants everywhere in a lush green cover; Jay said that it turns a horrible gray in the autumn and looks pretty spooky then. We arrived at the Jameson Inn in Vicksburg (next to the outlet mall) and checked in at about 4:30. Unfortunately for us, I had packed up the laptop in its padded case with the wireless card still in it, and in the morning when we were leaving the hotel room the bag fell off the luggage rack. When we opened up the case at the motel in Vicksburg, the wireless card was bent and we couldn’t get an internet connection. We looked in the phone book and, in the absence of a Best Buy store went to Office Max to buy a new wireless card. Again, unfortunately for us, the new card didn’t work either, which meant that the inside of the port had also been damaged. It was useless to try to get it fixed in Mississippi; the Office Max clerks had been totally un-helpful and useless to us, so it was best to wait until we got back to Minneapolis to try to deal with it. For dinner, we went downtown to Borrello’s, a nice Italian place with charming ambience and pretty good food. We both ordered the veal special, good but slightly tough (overcooked); afterward we went upstairs to a separate bar where there was a balcony – we enjoyed brandy on the balcony with a nice view of the shops below.
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Day Ten – Friday,
May 25:
In the morning we checked out of the Jameson and visited first the
battlefield museum. The museum is privately owned, small but
interesting with models of the famous Civil War battlefield and
other military artifacts, and we watched a 30-minute film which was
interesting but somewhat crude (we also had a difficult time
understanding the narrator whose voice was very deep and thick with
Mississippi accent). Next we drove through the battlefield which is
a National Park – very interesting. There are many monuments to
people and states, both Union and Confederate. We also saw the USS
Cairo, a ship that was sunk in the Yazoo River in 1863 and not
resurrected from the river until the 1960’s. It has now been
re-constructed under a tent and is quite interesting to see. After leaving the battlefield we looked for a breakfast place as we had not eaten, but settled for salads at McDonald’s (good, as usual!). We drove to Memphis, continuing on Hwy 61 through many small towns, some of them obviously impoverished. One town especially was almost all mobile homes in quite bad condition, a very depressed community that included a large brick building all boarded up. Apparently a large business was once there but had closed, and there were literally no other businesses that we could see in the town – it made a big impression on me to see that kind of place and such destitute people. We arrived in Memphis and checked into our motel (which we had booked online before leaving the Ambassador in New Orleans). The Colonial Inn on Shelby Drive was rated 3 stars by Orbitz and was by far the most expensive place we stayed on our trip. Unbeknownst to us, Jay’s high school reunion was being held not only over Memorial Day weekend but also during the big Memphis in May celebration. Hotels/motels were at a premium, so I couldn’t find any of the usual cheap places and figured three stars was a step above our normal – unfortunately, the Colonial turned out to be the worst place as well as the most expensive. At just over $100 per night, it was cheesy and in a bad neighborhood (all the stores and gas stations, etc., had clerks behind barred windows). Bad luck, but we are always careful and didn’t encounter any problems (other than skimpy towels, no hair dryer, a broken shower faucet – they fixed it when we told the desk about it). At any rate, we checked in at 5:00 and quickly changed clothes, then drove to Bob and Mary Ann Capocaccia’s home where we joined 15-20 people from Jay’s “past” for a lovely dinner/picnic. They have a beautiful home just east of Memphis, about 22 miles from where our motel was located. Directions were slightly complicated, but our GPS was worth its weight in gold and got us there with no problems. It was a lovely evening, and even as an “outsider” it was fun to listen to the former classmates reminisce and share their stories. While there, we were warned about our motel’s neighborhood, so when we got back to the motel we made sure that all of our valuables were taken upstairs to our room and not left in the van.
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 Cannon at Civil War Battlefield, Vicksburg, MS
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Day Eleven – Saturday, May 26: The weather in Memphis was hotter and more humid than we had experienced in Louisiana. We began our day with breakfast at IHOP on Shelby at the Elvis Presley Parkway intersection. Of course, everything on the menu came with pancakes, so there was way too much food – seems to be typical of many breakfast places. As with Shoney’s and other places, we were surrounded by a lot of very overweight people. I am always appreciative of restaurants that offer a “half” portion or at least ala carte choices.
We spent most of the
day driving around – first we drove to the elementary school that
Jay had attended as a boy, Sacred Heart. It is always interesting to
go back to one’s roots, things look strangely smaller than you
remember, or you have forgotten certain things that suddenly bring
back all sorts of memories and recollections. After seeing Sacred
Heart church (which was closed/locked) and school, we drove to
Catholic Boys School (high school that Jay attended). It is now for
both boys and girls, and we were told by people at the dinner the
previous night that the school is in trouble with many fewer
students enrolled. The neighborhood is not what it used to be, the
local families cannot afford to send their children to private
schools (which have undoubtedly become much more expensive than they
were 40-50 years ago!). Our next stop was at the house where Jay lived while he was in high school – just a block away from Overton Park, it’s a beautiful neighborhood and the house looked fantastic. A neighbor was outside teaching his small daughter to ride her bike, and he was kind enough to chat and answer questions that Jay had about the neighborhood. We drove over to the park and stopped to go through the Brooks Museum, a wonderful place with a great collection and a couple of special exhibits as well. Jay remembered many hours spent in Overton park as a kid, and he also remembered visiting the Brooks – the museum has expanded its facilities since that time. We had been advised by the Memphis-ites to look for the best BBQ at Corky’s, so we set the GPS up and arrived at the destination, only to find no Corky’s there. Jay was getting very hungry, so we drove downtown and parked in the ramp at Mud Island, looking for another place (Leonard’s) also recommended for BBQ. We walked for a good 15 minutes before finding it on our way back to the car, but it was closed – open only from 11-2 Monday-Fridays! We knew that there was a Piccadilly’s back on Shelby near the motel, so we drove there and Jay ravenously collected a tray-ful of food that would have fed a family of four. He used to love Piccadilly’s but apparently the cooking standard has gone downhill there, and he was quite disappointed in the authenticity, flavor, etc. But, at least he got something in his stomach, which was a good thing, because when we went to the reunion dinner/dance later he was too busy chatting to eat much. The official reunion involved five Catholic schools and spanned a ten-year group of graduates; it was organized by the members of the class of 1952 from Christian Brothers school. When we arrived, we picked up name tags from the table in the entry, then found Bob & Mary Ann along with two other couples that had been at the Capocaccia’s the night before. Shirley and Jim were there from Austin, TX; George and Ellen from Germantown (east of Memphis) were there. There were other people at the reunion that they knew from other classes or schools, etc., but we were disappointed that the reunion was not better organized to group people or announce the schools, attendees, etc. Jay had a wonderful time, though, visiting with his classmates and pouring over pictures to hear stories about who was where now and what had happened to each person in the past fifty-plus years. An 18-piece big band had been hired to play music from “the era” and they were fantastic – a very tight group, they were all of the same vintage as the reunion attendees excepting for a couple of them. After wondering what would be the appropriate dress for the occasion, I had purchased two outfits. I chose to wear the very pretty sundress because of the very hot weather. Fortunately I had a short sweater to wear with it – the gymnasium where the party was held was way over-air conditioned and I froze the entire night. All the women were complaining – the men were all wearing jackets/coats, so they were better prepared. This was not the only occasion that I froze while on our trip – it seemed as though most restaurants and businesses had the AC turned to a much lower temperature than was really necessary. We left the party at 10:30, having generally a very nice time – the people were the best, Jay’s classmates and their spouses were all wonderful, friendly, fun people to spend the evening with.
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 Sacred Heart Elementary School
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Day Twelve –
Sunday, May 27: Checked out of motel, ate breakfast at Sonic
Drive-in.
Drove to Corky's (called for correct directions) and bought 3 pounds
of frozen BBQ pork, plus sauce, plus sandwiches for our lunch.
Headed up I-55 through Arkansas and Missouri. Arrived in south St. Louis
around
6:00 pm and checked into Motel 6. Ate supper at nearby O'Charley's
(prime rib), then stopped at nearby Target for chocolate, a small pillow to
replace the one Jay left behind at Magnolia Inn, and Al Gore's new book
plus the current Time
magazine.
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 Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO |
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Day Thirteen – Monday, May 28: Breakfast at Bob Evans restaurant; spent a few hours at the Gateway Arch, took photos. There was too big a crowd (Memorial Day) to go to the top, so we bought the video that they show (building of the arch) and looked briefly around Lewis & Clark exhibits. We then walked across pond in park to get better photos of the arch. It was a miserably hot day! We left St. Louis about 1:30 pm, heading for Minneapolis - I-55 north to I-155 through Springfield and Peoria. From Illinois into Iowa and back the same route that we came down on the 16th. (Found out later that it's not the shortest way, but that's the way the GPS took us!) We arrived home about 11:45 pm where the pets greeted us with great enthusiasm and we finally slept in our own bed! |