We happily returned home to Idaho at the end of June after Tony's first year of his PhD program at Washington University in St Louis. St Louis is a great place to live temporarily. There's lots of diversity, culture, great ethnic food, and warm weather. Owen, Nellie, Asher and I drove, Ben took a train and Tony flew. We all arrived within 24 hrs of each other.
We had to stop off at Les Bourgeois Winery in Rocheport, Missouri for gifts for my wine-loving friends in Idaho and to dine at the fabulous restaurante located on the edge of a bluff overlooking the mighty Missouri River. http://www.missouriwine.com/BlufftopBistro.asp I ordered a vegetarian pot pie and Owen had grilled cheese and we both drank freshly squeezed grape juice.
Having driven across country almost a dozen times, I feel I have tried almost every reasonable route. This time I drove across northern Kansas along route 36, so as to avoid the boredom that is interstate 70. Driving a state route gives the feel of what it was like to travel in the days of old. You know, before there was a McDonalds, travel centers, Country Kitchen and every other godaweful franchise at each and every exit. Instead of a McD. playplaces we ate picnics and stopped to stretch at town parks and cemetaries.
My favorite backroad find of the trip was in Kemmerer, Wy. This little piece of Wymoning heaven features a true, blue JCPenny Company store as the anchor store for the town square. Just like the old days. In fact, the fashions featured in the large display windows harked back to times long ago. Just off the town square was a large and busy train depot.
No comments:
Post a Comment