The Next Adventure...

Day 4... on to Illinois!

On Thursday, July 17, Mari and Bob took me back to Grand Rapids to catch my plane to Chicago, where I made another connection to Springfield, Illinois.  It was bittersweet saying goodbye to them, because their hospitality was so warm and wonderful. What a blessing to be able to call another blogging friend, an 'in-person' friend!!  The connections we make here in blog-land are pretty amazing!

Elaine and Jim met me at the Springfield airport with hugs.  We are family.  Elaine and I have been friends since we were 10/11 years old.  We marched in band together, we hiked in the woods, looked for adventures like Nancy Drews, ate complete batches of no-bake cookies while watching Chiller Theater, and we were in each other's weddings.  I've known Jim almost as long.  They were college sweethearts and celebrated their 50th anniversary last year!

That said...

I was greeted by a beautiful sunset on the way to their house...

Bella really was happy to see me, even though this picture may suggest otherwise.

This Norfolk Pine is "Joe's Tree".  Y'all know I have a brown thumb.

I received a planter for Joe's memorial service in February 2021.  

Elaine took a very small pine tree home with them when they left in March 2021.  

It is thriving under her care!!  I was happy to see how well it is doing.

I got situated in the guest room, we ate, and then we just chilled in front of the TV until bedtime.  My first time in their home, but it felt like home. 💓

On Friday, Elaine took us across the river to Hannibal, Missouri, for my first adventure!  Mark Twain's home and museum!  We had fun exploring all of the exhibits and grounds.  

I bought two books while there.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 

and also The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

I've never read either, so I look forward to getting into them soon.

 

When we stepped onto the raft, it felt like it was really on water.

There was a stagecoach replica that was interesting, and we could sit with these passengers...

A huge bale of cotton...

We left Mark Twain behind and went to find The Unsinkable Molly Brown!!  It was so interesting!  I didn't know about Molly, other than the unsinkable part associated with the Titanic.  She was quite a woman!!  Our tour guide was dressed for the part and did a great job!!  Here is more info about Molly.

We had tickets for a Mississippi River Cruise at 1:30, so we had to hot-foot it to the river!!  I was so excited to finally be on a riverboat, on the mighty Mississippi!!  I know it was just a two-hour ride up aways and back, but I can say I did it!! LOL

I wish I had pictures of some of the staff, and I'll tell you why in a bit...

Elaine and I walked to a gelato/candy store she remembered, before we headed home. Yum!      

Jim and Elaine have a favorite Italian restaurant in Quincy, and that's where we went for dinner.  It was so good!! The waiter knew them by name, and we got excellent service to match the excellent food!  We all brought half of our meals home!

I will end this post with some photos of Jim and Elaine's beautiful yard and garden.  I will also tell you why I wish I had pictures of the riverboat staff...

 

I don't have pictures for Saturday (slept in, did laundry, talked a lot...), but we had tickets for the Quincy Community Theater production of The Jersey Boys for Saturday evening.  It was fantastic!! One of the Four Seasons was a staff member of the riverboat!!  He had a great voice and did a great job.  That was kinda fun to see that connection from our adventures on Friday.  Quincy has a great Community Theater group!

Thanks for sticking with me on this vacation/journey!!  I'm enjoying getting it documented and will be happy to have this saved in my archives.  Still a few more days to go!!

Peace and Hugs!

“Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.”   – Mark Twain