I went to the Farmington area on Friday. One of my dear friends had asked me to join her for lunch and a catch up time. It was amazing. As someone that often drives past Farmington on the highway as I am traveling to see family or jumping off with Hubs to go to our favorite restaurant, I admit to being woefully uneducated about the richness of the area. Truthfully, it always felt like it was simply a stopping point along the drive. From the highway it never really called to me to explore it at a deeper level. It was a conversation spot for Hubs and I, he was once married to a young lady from Fredericktown and I always get the two mixed up.
The area is only an hour from home, yet we have never fully explored the entire region. My girlfriend shared with me the amazing things she is doing in her home region. And I was lucky enough to pull up just as they were delivering the first part of an incredible project to help the unhomed survive in this crazy day to day world that they are often trapped in.
For years she has told me about all of the great things that surround her home, why the travel to and from the city was okay for so long, why they were going to stay in their sweet little paradise. I hated driving 30 minutes to work, so the thought of at least an hour each direction was not something I could wrap my head around.
I get it now.
As she took me along back roads to the Amish store, I was regretting the incredibly warm temperatures and no safe way to transport the beautiful vegetables that surrounded me. I'd never been to a true Amish store - Hubs and I will definitely be going there! I was lost in the ambiance, the feeling, windows wide open to allow a breeze to flow through to combat the temperatures of the day. The horse and buggies just out the back window. The miles of farms all being worked in the simple, plain way. Listening as they spoke amongst themselves, so easy to remember being back in Europe. To watch the young men traveling the road between the farms and store in their buggies. I felt such apprehension for them on that narrow road with all of the cars rushing past. She'd shared with me that there had been a horrible accident not too far in the past involving a vehicle and a buggy, you can imagine that it did not turn out very well.
Along more back roads we found our way to a delightful little cafe. In what felt like the middle of nowhere, but was actually in Fredericktown. I have lived in the hustle and bustle of chaos far too long. It reminded me of the quiet little towns that Hubs and I would find and enjoy in our travels. I could have lingered there for hours. My friend is very talented, not only in her kind heart and people caring ways, but in her skills at design and I was very much enjoying hearing about the things that she was doing with web-page design during her "free" time. Yep, like that is a thing.
A short while later we had found ourselves back in Farmington for the Community Festival. We'd driven past a blueberry farm - again Hubs and I will be exploring this - it was acres and acres of blueberry bushes. Pick your own. I can't wait! I did that a lot in Washington with the kids, at the small little blueberry patch in our old town. I miss it!
She pointed the direction to travel to find wineries, oh that is also on the future agenda. And we wandered the streets of downtown. She introduced me to an incredible little store that resulted in the acquisition of another singing bowl. This one small and mellow in its beautiful notes. Her's is green, mine is black. The tones are different, we each resonated with a different one. I will always remember my wonderful day exploring a new part of the state I now call home with my friend to guide me and introduce me to the beauty that surrounds her daily.
It was the start of an incredible weekend. Filled with beauty, love, chaos, rain, laughter, pain and the overall joy that comes from being with your soul mate!
A few weeks back Hubs saw a commercial for the play Jesus in Branson. He'd wanted to go and see Noah when it was playing, but work got in the way and we weren't able to carve out the time. Once time became more fluid, I immediately looked into it. I was concerned it would be stupid expensive, most live plays are not easy on the budget. So I was pleasantly surprised at the cost and the ability to get great seats. Play tickets were booked and a plan was set in place.
We hadn't been to Branson since the Christmas of 2003. Simply didn't seem to rate the time again. It was a bumpy experience during a seriously volatile time in our life (so much was changing and so much was happening all at once). I can honestly say I have nothing against Branson. It's tucked into a beautiful part of Missouri. It has something to offer most everyone, I guess. But for me it was far too commercial and even more far to congested. I was happiest once we were able to be far outside the chaos. Because I am sure that is a surprise to everyone.
I am fairly certain that we will spend more time in the Ozarks. Not in Branson proper, but in the surrounding areas, exploring and experiencing not only the beauty, but the treasures and people you find there.
If you haven't been to see Jesus I can highly recommend it! It isn't only for Christians. The story was beautifully brought to life. I have never experienced live animals in a play and how they pulled off some of those scenes was an engineering miracle in itself.
We also went to see Legends. It was okay, but I think we were both getting tired and we were definitely getting fussy by that point. Elvis and the Blues Brothers were incredible. I am not too familiar with Freddy Mercury as a whole (just the big hits) but the young man impersonating him was extremely talented. The Lady Gaga impersonator was definitely fantastic judging by the reaction of the people in the theater, as neither Hubs or I are huge fans of Lady Gaga, it was extremely painful for us.
Hubs had not had a good day. If it could cause him grief, it did. He had his own personal gremlins after him all day! He was fussy and a bit barky all day. He seemed to have a dark cloud over his head. The icing on the cake was the traffic of the "strip" and hitting a curb with the running board. That definitely made for a highly stressful evening and a grumpier Hubs. I don't blame him. I just hope it is an easy repair. His truck is his baby, his pride and joy. Watching him struggle to deal with the situation without tools (we'll be taking a small tool kit with us from now on) in the drizzling rain with a wounded finger was awful!
In another time I would have eagerly gotten on my knees and helped, unfortunately my knees were definitely not willing to help do anything. It hurt my heart to know there wasn't much I could do physically and to watch the hurt in his eyes make the frustration he was feeling even worse.
After a bit of trying to figure out how to reattach it, we simply gave up and he removed it completely. You would have thought the image of his short, chubby, non-flexible wife trying to climb up in that big truck without running boards would have had him cracking up. I promise the irony was not lost on me, and I was quite humored at the spectacle I must be making.
I'd hoped that enjoying the Legends show would have calmed things, that the gremlin would have moved on and simply let him be, but that wasn't the case and on top of it all he'd pinched another finger on the wounded hand in the door lock at the hotel causing pain and so much blood. Then he almost broke his glasses. That poor sweet man had suffered enough for one day. I had felt the gloominess of the day before we left, I had almost called it off. By the time we'd lain our heads down, I was wondering if I should have.
Thankfully Sunday dawned with our gremlin friend having moved on to some other poor soul and we made the decision to completely change our plans and after a very early breakfast and a few hours wandering historic downtown and a few antique shops, sometimes in the rain we did what we do best and took some roads less traveled. We'd enjoyed the view of the river while drinking our coffee watching the mist rise from the water and the ducks and geese living life in the shallow waters at the edge. We managed to find a beautiful conservation area to watch the sun rise and roads that allowed us to avoid the chaos of the city. Yep, all of that definitely set the stage for a different kind of day.
We wandered back home via the long way. It was well after 9:30 pm when we arrived home. Weary, but laughing. We'd enjoyed our "three hour tour" home. It only took us about 13 hours and we found so many wonderful places. I am usually not fond of antique shops, as most are too moldy and mildew filled for me. I guess finding a vintage Singer 99K (of course we brought it home) at the first one, lead me to be willing to risk it and go treasure hunting with Hubs for the rest of the day.
Might be why my eyes are burning today, but the hunt was incredibly fun. We found some fantastic shops and some not so fantastic shops. We stopped and explored things that caught our interest - often at the last moment. We really wanted to visit Smallin Civil War Cave, but were afraid my stupid knees would revolt. At the absolute last minute Hubs decided to get off and head into Springfield. We were going to the largest Bass Pro. Holy Moses. I don't even know how many hours we wandered through there. I admit the alligators were a bit of a shock. That place is HUGE!
We had played so much we almost didn't have a chance to go back to Uranus. We'd stopped on Saturday and wanted to return on Sunday. Luckily they stay open later and we were able to enjoy all things in Uranus, including the jokes that would make a young boy proud. We took in the sideshow - not my thing at all - but definitely true to it's origins.
The storms we'd driven in most of the day decided to subside in time for a spectacular sunset display that seemed to last for hours. Vibrant, deep reds and pinks filled the bright blue of the sky that had finally made it's appearance.
It was a great getaway! Great BLOG! 381+
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