Say Cheese and Adventure Day 50

Blog Prompt - When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say? So what do you do to get your kids or group of people to say when you are taking their picture?

I usually offer to take pictures of groups of tourists so that everyone can be in the picture. Of course it is nice when someone in the group offers to return the favor. While I am taking the picture, my husband is usually standing behind me making weird gestures around my head which makes everyone laugh.

Travel Notes:

Today was a rainy day and it rained off and on most of the day. We arrived at the Hoover Presidential Library around 10am and toured the museum. It was a pretty good museum and I would recommend it to others. I was surprised how brilliant he was and how many good things he had done in his life time. Whenever I had heard about him, he was always connected with the Great Depression. It doesn’t seem like he was the cause of it but had to deal with the results of the causes.

After lunch, we found some antique stores to investigate and that took a couple of hours. My husband found some more treasures so he was happy. Then we headed down the road towards Springfield, Illinois. We ended up stopping for the night in Lincoln, Illinois.

At least I had time to start knitting my socks in the car. I got the cuff done and I like the way it looks but now the hard part begins. I can only hope that I get home soon so I can meet my knitting group to ask for help!

To see more pictures on Flickr – Click HERE.

School Nurse and Adventure Day 49

Blog Prompt - Today is National School Nurse Day. Do you remember your school nurse and do you have a story about her.

We had a wonderful motherly school nurse at the high school where I taught. She was very motherly and nurturing which is why I talked to her every day. It was about that time that my father was dating and I was glad see him happy and recovering from my mother’s death. When I called him and his girlfriend, I suggested that they move in together instead of paying for two separate homes. Instead of agreeing, they said that they wanted to talk to me and my sister in person to make an announcement. Of course, the first thing I thought of, since I taught high school, I immediately thought of pregnancy. I rushed to the school nurse to talk to her about it and she almost rolled on the ground laughing. You see, my dad was almost 70 and his girlfriend (now my step mom) was 65! She told me that I had nothing to worry about and to calm down. That summer, they announced that they were getting married in December.

Travel Notes:

Today was an okay day. We drove to the Strategic Air and Space Museum which was nice. While we were there, it thundered and lightning which scares me. When we left, the sun had come out. We headed east on I-80 and stopped in a little town called Walnut, Iowa which had a bunch of antique stores. Don enjoyed going to a lot of them and he found old postcards to buy. When we left there we headed towards Des Moines for the night since it was getting so late.

After getting a hotel room, we looked for a Walmart to get our oil changed on the car. Usually we have no problems with Walmart so felt confident that we would have no problems. It started out bad when the guy didn’t speak English and I had to take his little machine and fill out the information myself. Then he couldn’t start my car or find the odometer. He wanted to start pressing all the buttons he could find to try to read the odometer and I practically had to yell at him to stop. Then he wanted to know what oil he should put in etc. and we got such a bad feeling about the situation that we decided to cancel the request and leave.

Then I decided I wanted to go to PFChang for dinner since it was on the map that the hotel gave us. Unfortunately I am directionally challenged and it took us forever to find the restaurant. While we were there, a huge lightning and thunderstorm occurred. Of course going through 2 in one day was not the best feeling.

When we returned to the hotel, I found a guest laundry and it took forever to wash two loads of wash. They only had one washer and dryer so I was in and out of the room a bunch of times. Now I’m pooped!

To see more pictures on Flickr – Click HERE.

Comedy and Adventure Day 48 (SD, MN, IA, NE)

Blog Prompt - Sunday was World Laughter Day. Tell me about your favorite movie that makes you laugh out loud.

My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci really makes me laugh. I think the main reason is that the judge in the movie reminds me so much of my husband and his court. We really like to watch it and get a good laugh. It is really funny that the funny parts in court are things that really happen.

Travel Notes:

We left Oacoma, SD this morning and stopped in Mitchell, SD at the Corn Palace. It was a really cool place! The building is decorated with real colored corn. Every year they have a new theme and the building is redone in corn which costs about $130,000 each year. I’ve never seen anything like it before! Don also found some antique stores to go to so he was happy. Down the street from the corn palace was Ben Franklin crafts where I found some yarn.

After we left South Dakota, I decided rather than heading south, I wanted to go a little ways into Minnesota. When we got to the visitor center, the lady told us that Pipestone National Monument was only 30 miles north and since we had never heard of it or been to it, we had to go see it. Of course she was really excited that we might see some bison who were calving. She mentioned how excited she was to see a bison with the afterbirth hanging down when she drove by (not my idea of a great sight but I may be weird.) Pipestone National Monument is a sacred Native Indian place where they quarry the pipestone to make the peace pipes. We did a short hike around the nature trail and then headed south.

We went south to Le Mars, IA which is the Ice Cream Capital of the World. It is the home to Blue Bunny ice cream so of course we had to stop and eat some of course! The Wells Dairy sells more ice cream for one company in one city than any other place in the world.

After that we headed to Sioux City, IA where we will spend the night. I didn’t know that this city is actually on the border of Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

To see more pictures on Flickr – Click HERE.