Good Times in Missouri

We recently got back from one of the best vacations we've ever taken. Rachel had a somewhat offensive take on the trip that she tells about in her "Hillbilly Holiday" post. It started out with a 76 person family reunion at my grandmother, Sammie's, farm / campground in Missouri.

Katy took the best pictures that I've seen so far - I love the scenery shots. Thanks for letting me steal some.

We had so much fun hanging out at Sugar Creek with our cousins; canoeing, swimming, jumping off the rock at the swimming hole; bathing in the creek to avoid showering in sulfur water; catching tadpoles, minnows, crawdads, and lightning bugs; lighting fireworks with pyro uncle Scott; doubling the size of Sammie's ward; raiding the candy, soda and ice cream in Sammie's camp store; and especially getting to sleep in one of the few cabins with Liz due to pregnancy privilege.

This is a four generation picture of our entire family except for Sammie Lou II who had to stay home because of a severe peanut allergy. This youngest generation makes the 6th generation of our family that has been on the farm.

Steve's favorite part of the trip, aside from the highly enjoyable 20 hour drive, was being able to take his turn on bathroom duty. It was a good time.

After we left the farm, we drove up to St. Louis to visit my oldest friend. I've known Allison since kindergarten. It was so fun to finally meet her kids. One of the funnest parts of our St. Louis visit was showing the kids where I grew up and seeing Allison's mom. Abby, who is my little clone, happened to be the first one to the door. She's the same age I was when I met Allison, and to Allison's mom, it was like opening the front door to a little Susan from 30 years ago.

We spent a day at Grant's Farm where we used to go all the time when I was little. Sarah has heard all about it several times and was so excited to see the Clydesdales.

Grant's Farm was just like I remembered it. We got to feed the goats; we saw an elephant show where Allison's son, Matt, was in a balloon blowing contest with the elephant (he lost); we saw a small animal and bird show where a parrot pretended to be the Anheuser Busch eagle; the kids played in the water to get cooled off; we saw the Clydesdales; and best of all, Steve pushed me in a wheelchair for most of the time - I couldn't have done it otherwise because of my pesky false labor.

The highlight of the day was Ted Drewe's, the world's best frozen custard. This place is so good that some of my family was considering making the 5 hour drive from the farm to St. Louis just for Ted Drewe's. They missed out, but I made sure to call them while we ate so they could enjoy vicariously.

We left St. Louis after a few days and headed up to Nauvoo. On our way, we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri, the home of Samuel Clemens. I was so excited to be able to stop here and see the Mark Twain Cave; all the flooding nearly made this part of the trip impossible.

As you can see from the pictures, the flooding was significant. It was pretty amazing and horrifying to see.

But we lucked out. The road we needed to take to get to the cave was the last possible road to turn on before the flooding made it impossible to go any further.

The cave tour was really fun. Mark Twain used to explore the cave, and parts of his book, Tom Sawyer, are based on actual formations in the cave. It was about a 1/2 mile walk which we took very slowly and there was only one part that I almost couldn't get my belly through. The best part was that it was just over 50 degrees in the cave. I thought if I could stay down there long enough, I might even be able to get my ring off of my swollen finger.

Nauvoo was really fun. Because we stayed for a few days, we were able to do a lot more of the activities than I'd ever done before (in the past, it's been more of a day trip for us). We'd always done the standards like the blacksmith shop and bakery, but this time, we took our time and really enjoyed our stay.

Of course, the blacksmith shop was a highlight. We all got prairie diamond rings, and Sarah and Abby got to keep the little horseshoe that the "blacksmith" made; we rode in a cart pulled by two oxen, Gary and Gabe; we saw a short musical play, and Sam vociferously did not like it; we went to the Nauvoo temple and visited Carthage jail; at sunset, we walked the "Trail of Hope" from downtown old Nauvoo to where the Saints crossed the Mississippi River so many years ago; we operated an old printing press and saw how rifles were made; we visited the old bakery and sampled gingerbread; we saw how bricks and candles were made; and we learned how to weave a rag rug on a loom and how to make a rope.

We stayed in Dave and Mary's house that is on Water Street. With all of the flooding, it very nearly was a water street. See the tops of all the trees that are under water? The water only needed to rise another few feet to affect the house which is right across the street from where Anna was standing by the street sign.

We finished off our trip by trying to flatten Anna with about 270 pounds of children. But she's pretty tough, and wouldn't flatten any more than she was before we started. I'll have to try something else to stop her from growing any more. Aside from the drive to get out there from Utah (which Steve did on his own while I flew with Sam - more pregnancy privilege), this was one of the funnest and most relaxing family trips we've ever taken. Instead of the usual feeling that I need a vacation from my vacation, I actually came home feeling rested. I can't wait to do it again - but next time the whole family flies or we take an RV.