One-Yard Wonders projects

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Goats, trains, antiques and T-Rex


Holy cow. That was one hell of a weekend! Seriously, I don't think you could fit much more into it than Shawn and I did. I'll try to make this as brief as possible. (Spoiler alert: It was great! Best weekend I've had in ages!)

Friday AM: Kissed Bobo goodbye and left DSM at 8:30 a.m. for Rutledge, Mo. It was raining. We didn't care. Ol' TomTom the GPS genie took us on every back road in norther Missouri. We hit Rutledge right before noon, went to the Amish country store for a homemade pretzel and iced tea and then down the road to the flea market. Wow. It was something. I would say 150 vendors there, pretty quiet on Fridays they tell us. But, well worth the drive just for the novelty of renting a golf cart and driving around the 60-acre lot to see all the offerings -- antiques, toys, primitives, live goats, chickens, dogs, geese, bunnies, puppies, onions, farm equipment, tenderloin sandwiches, quilts, purses, clothes, books, junk, junk and more junk! We stayed about 3 hours. I bought a green enamel turkey roaster. Price: $15. I BARGAINED with the man (he was differently abled and in a wheelchair so I felt guilty about it) and only paid $12! I was so excited. This is the first time I have ever bargained with a vendor! It's a big roaster. It will be awesome in my future kitchen! We also bought some toys for the boys (of course. We have the two most spoiled children in DSM...). Shawn bought a $1 Metallica CD case. :) It kind of cracks me up. Poor Shawn. Just a measly little used case for his music and movies.

Friday afternoon: With the afternoon ahead of us and just one hour to our hotel in LaPlata, MO, we decided to take the scenic route and hit a couple more antique shops. First was Edina, MO. Two antique shops. One, crappy. The other, jackpot!! The guy only opens it for three weekends a year and we happened to pick one of them! It was a great shop. Packed from floor to ceiling. We found some cool enamelware for Mom's collection and I found an awesome turquoise blue cake/pie tin. Only $4!! It, too, will look fab in my future kitchen. Plus, it's in such great shape that I can use it to take desserts to family dinners. Bonus!

Now, I must tell you a little bit about the backroads of Mo. Frankly, I would call it off-roading, more than a road. TomTom was directing us down ONE-LANE dirt roads! We saw many Amish families out working in their gardens and staring at us like, "Who in tarnation are you?" The roads were so deserted that the weeds growing down the center of them were at least knee-high. Again, I took photos. I promise to post them all through the week so you can see what I'm talking about.
Friday 4 p.m.: Arrive at the Depot Inn and Suites in little LaPlata, MO -- about 12 miles south of Kirksville, home of Truman State University. The hotel was BEAUTIFUL! Really, just a very, very nice little hotel in the middle of nowhere. It's all decked out with train memorabilia and history. LaPlata is an Amtrak stop. Very nice staff. Very nice rooms. It would be great for families. I regretted that we didn't have the boys there to enjoy it. Each room has a hobo symbol on the door, which I thought was the coolest idea! We were in Room C, which had a little tornado symbol below it. According to the hobo symbol sign, that meant "Judge lives here."

Friday evening: Cruised around Kirksville. Shopped on Main Street. Ate Mexican at the Blue Agave restaurant -- which was delicious. Back to hotel for movies and a rare evening without any children!

Saturday morning: Up at 7 with a thunderstorm, checked out and went next door to the Red Rooster for breakfast. We were the only patrons. It took the cook 35 minutes to make our food... I wasn't so impressed, but we weren't in a huge rush. Food was good. We were anxious for our Mazy reunion so we were on the road by 9 a.m. Of course, there are many little towns between LaPlata and Overland Park. Yes, despite our yearning to see our son, we permitted ourselves the luxury of a little more antiquing and sight-seeing along the way! I can't remember everywhere we went. Walt Disney's hometown. JC Penney's hometown. General Pershing's boyhood home. And many antique shops and a few flea markets. It poured rain almost the entire time.

Heidi called and asked if we wanted to meet them at a restaurant for a late lunch, instead of going straight to their house. She said there was a dinosaur-themed restaurant that they thought Mazy would love. We were definitely game. He is all about dinosaurs these days.

Saturday 1:30 p.m.: Arrive in an unbelievable place filled with outlet malls, theme restaurants, theme hotels, megatheaters, etc. I don't know the name. The Kansas Speedway is there. We met them at the T-Rex Cafe. Ever been there? Me either. It was insane!! Like walking into a Disney World ride! I was so excited to see Mazy -- I had to search for him in the gift shop, which was gigantic and filled with every kind of expensive dinosaur item known to mankind. When I finally spotted him, I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around saw me and gave me a huge hug and kept giving them to me. Oh Mazy!! You're my love! Then he asked if he could buy an expensive t-shirt... (we said no. Mainly b/c we had THREE gifts waiting for him in the van. And also b/c they were really expensive!) The scenery and animatronic dinosaurs in that place are awesome. If you are a kid, or an adult, you will be impressed. And guess what, the food was good! I know, unbelievable, but true. Every time my niece Theron talked to me, Mazy would interrupt and say, "Theron, you talk to your mom now. My mom is here for me!"

Saturday evening and Sunday: OK, this is getting really long. Fast wrap-up. Went shopping at the outlet stores. Met Heidi and Steve back at their house. We ordered Chinese for us and the kids. Heidi and Steve went to the Plaza for their anniversary dinner. I went to bed at 10:30. I was exhausted! Woke up this morning about 7:30 or so. It was storming. On the road by 9:30. Stopped at another antique mall with Mazy. He loved it! I think he could be a good antique shopper for our next road trip! Then we stopped for fireworks on the border. He loved those even more! Then lunch in Lamoni. Finally arrived at the farm around 2:30. Bo was sleeping. We hung out with mom all afternoon. Ate an early supper of meatloaf, potatoes, corn, asparagus and deviled eggs. On the road again by 7:15. Boys in bed by 8:15. And then we relaxed!!

Amazing weekend. Thank you to all who made it possible -- Heidi, Steve, Mom and Dad. Shawn and I have not spent time alone like that in many years. We haven't leisurely driven or shopped in years. We had such a fun time together. I love that good-looking, smart, sarcastic and funny husband of mine. He's a keeper.

Today's pic: Me and Shawn in Door County last fall.

2 comments:

  1. Oh what a wonderful sounding weekend! Sounds like it was good for all of you...isn't that hug from your children when you haven't seen them in awhile - just the best! Late to work - more later

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  2. Yes, I was looking forward to that hug for six days!! And he did not disappoint me! Children are just wonderful -- life would be quite boring without them!

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