Missouri, in a nutshell

Nutshell with pun intended!  Last fall when I was in Missouri you may remember my Walnut Adventure (oh, how I forget how long and beautiful my hair was) - none of that this time... but it sure was fun.  As you know I'm into these Scavenger Hunts... little did I know there would be a lot of hunting going on!
I don't even know where to begin, so let's start with the beginning!

Thursday waking up was a piece of pie... I was excited to get on the road!  The drive down was nothing worth mentioning; I drove, the road passed, I arrived.  Nothing exciting happened.  In total, it took me just over 10 hours to get there.
Once I arrived and after I showered, we pretty much took off to a night filled with extra curricular activities.  Ty plays flag football and Katie plays volleyball; I wanted to make sure and make it both games to let the kids know I care.  We made it to Ty's game, stopped for a bite, then made our way to Katie's game... the kids are so cute when they do what they do.
Afterwards, it was pretty much a relaxing night... the kids had school the next day and I was pretty well beat.

Friday Renee and I set out to get some shots for my scavenger hunt; we were able to find a few things but ended up driving a good part of the day.  Afterwards we had to stop at a thrift store so I could try on a wedding dress... here is where I explain, for those of you curious about my Facebook status on Saturday.
Renee's father, David, is a photographer by hobby - and a damn good one at that!  He mentioned something about doing a "Trash The Dress" photo shoot on Saturday and needed to find someone that fit into a size 8 wedding dress.  After thinking about it a bit I asked more and wondered if I might be that person.  Turns out I didn't fit in the dress, so we went on a hunt for a wedding dress at other shops.  We ended up at a store with some marked down dresses... but still nothing cheap enough to want to destroy.  We ended up with a $16 Bridesmaid dress, that fit perfect (with the help of a couple safety pins).
Friday night Renee's father treated us to a nice little BBQ of Chicken, Scallops, Shrimp, Salmon, hot dogs, etc.  The night was spent eating, talking and having a great time.  I got to meet Renee's sister for the first time, as we are Facebook friends, we felt it was necessary to finally come face to face :)

Saturday, most of the morning/afternoon was spend on this photo shoot.  It was such a crazy unique experience... David is in a camera club and travels all over for photography!  It was so neat to see how they operate and help each other out... one person may see a perfect angle, another might notice a unwelcome shadow, and someone else might find the perfect prop.  It was an absolute treat for me to be a part of it as a model and as an aspiring photographer.  I can't wait to see all the photos (I had like 15 people at any given time snapping my photo); here are a few shots that he posted on Facebook, once I have them all I will put them in an album on Shutterfly and link to it from here.

All Photographs courtesy and property of David Strong

I'll post more about it from a personal perspective when I have all the shots... give you some background and whatnot.  It was a thrill.  I'm told that I will have shots from each person and I cannot wait for that.. some of the places and things had to turn out pretty f'n cool!

Saturday night was a blast... it was a night out for the adults!  We started the night at the Springfield Brewery for dinner and a drink.  We then made our way to The Skinny Improv, which was hilarious!  They had a board at the front door for people to write down suggestions for skits... my 'friends' thought it might be funny to write something about how bad Minnesota sucks - the improv turned it into "How bad does Minnesota stink" and pretended they were in a car driving through the state and talking about the foul smell.  I didn't laugh. :)  After the show we hit up a karaoke bar, I was the only one who got up to sing :(  Drinks were had as well as laughs.
Just so happens there was a cowboy who kept getting up to sing, and I thought he was rather good, maybe I was wrong, I had been drinking after all.  I wasn't really interested in this guy at all... just enjoyed watching and listening to him sing.  So maybe I was staring... only because he sang with little to no emotion or effort, I was kind of curious, so I watched.  Well, we had a few moments of awkward eye contact (awkward for me anyhow) and I was just planning to go about my business once the night was over; he had other plans for us.  He walked up to me and attempted to make small talk, which was fine, but he mentioned a few times that he 'noticed me looking' and wanted to come introduce himself.  Joy.  Anyhow, we talk, it's just grand (with a huge hint of sarcasm) ... I ended up giving him my number because I don't know how to turn someone down in a nice way... and believe it or not, I can't be mean.  Cowboy called twice the next day and text'd once.  I got another text from him on Monday and haven't heard anything since.  I hope he got the picture.  He's a private investigator though, and I did tell him I'm from Minnesota!  Creepy.  Guys are silly - I told him off the bat I live in Minnesota... why would you even bother; guess I'm that hot!
After the bar we went back to Renee's place and played a bit of Rock Band, which was my first time playing, so I sucked.  I was drunk and got pretty tired... as did most everyone, I think.

Sunday I had to get up and leave, well I didn't HAVE to, but I needed to get home and get caught up on some stuff.. so I woke up to a little girl and a cat knocking on my door ;)
We sat around a bit in the morning and talked... then I had to be on my way home.  I will spare you much of the drive, because it was only a little bit more exciting than the drive down.  About an hour or so into my drive , I was cruisin' along (and I do mean cruisin) and all of the sudden a State Patrol, or whatever the fuck he was, busted a wicked fast U-turn in the middle of the highway... I knew he was coming for me.  FUCK!  Long and painful story short... I got a speeding ticket, one that is extremely NOT cheap!  My fault, I know... I blame myself.  UGH, I can still be crabby about it.
The rest of the drive was just a drive... I was tempted again to stop at Worlds of Fun (the Amusement Park in Kansas City).. but with the wicked expensive ticket on my mind, I made the responsible decision and kept driving.  I think I made it home in just over 10 hours.

As always I had a wonderful time with Renee and her family.  I appreciate, so much, them letting me come down and crash for a weekend... Lord knows I can be quite a pain in the ass :)  Renee, thank you for driving me everywhere looking for that dress!!

I'm going to be posting some pictures on Facebook, but I may throw a few up in a separate post here as well.

A Few Highlights (good and bad):
- I got a [really expensive] speeding ticket
- While I almost killed MANY birds, the only things actually killed were bugs
- I gave a cowboy my phone number and have been avoiding the calls and texts since
- I had my first ever experience as a model
- I got to watch a photography club in action and observe!
- We didn't do any scrap booking :(
- I love Renee and her family


Total Spent in Gas: $ 76.10
Best MPG: 40 MPG

Total Trip Cost after the speeding ticket: WAY too fucking much!

Some special thanks go out to, of course, Renee and family for letting me stay and entertaining me while I was there.  David Strong for taking some amazing photographs of me and letting me be a model for a day, something I've dreamed of my whole life! Thanks to Steve, Jeff, Shannon, and Dustin for the phone calls and good conversations.  A special thanks to Steve specifically for calling after my speeding ticket... you helped improve my mood GREATLY and get my mind off of it, and I deeply appreciate it.  Many musicians who provided me with lyrical content and a voice to sing along with: Eminem (you're new disc is dope and your old ones never get old), Sara Bareilles, Hollywood Undead, Sevendust, Justin Timberlake, and several others.

Missouri - Part V: The Road

Well, I think it's safe to say I had a wonderful time while I was in Springfield, MO.. but what about the actual trip there and back?

I would go so far as to say I've had better times but it really wasn't as bad as I expected.  Most of the drive, while boring, went by pretty fast.

The drive down began from Princeton, MN - where I work.  I had about a half tank of gas and decided to just drive it off.  I left just shortly after 11am, everything packed into my little car, Chex Mix ready and waiting.  Noon time rolls around and I get anxious for the beginning of the Tommy Mischke show on AM1500; only to find out that Mischke has taken the day off and I have to listen to someone else :( - not the best way to get started (I might kinda love Mischke!).  While I was driving off that half tank, listening to some other guy on the radio, I recieved a phone call from a lady who was interested in looking at my van (I still haven't sold it, but haven't really been trying very hard either).  We talk for a bit and I tell her I will be back in town on Tuesday and I hope to hear from her then.

Around that time I also had a pain festering in my back... right under my left shoulder blade.  More on this here .

Once I get near Albert Lea, MN (which is just about the bottom of MN) I have to stop to fill up for gas and use the little girls room.  Loves is the name of the gas station I stop at and I finally figure out how to fill up (no, I'm not an idiot, just didn't read the sign), walk inside to use the pot and I am blown away by how clean and beautiful their bathrooms are!  I wanted to take a picture but I left my camera in the car. 

I did snap a shot outside the store so I could always remember this place:

As I continue to drive and track miles and listen to my music and try not to go insane... I find myself rounding out the state of Iowa and all of the sudden nearing Missouri and well on my way to Kansas City!  I hadn't stopped to pee, I didn't need gas, but I was getting kind of tired as the sun was slowly starting to set.  I pulled over at a rest stop to stretch, fill up my coffee mug, and may as well use the potty while I'm there (Lord knows the coffee is going to go right through me).  Notice how I pretty much just skipped anything having to do with Iowa?  That's because there is NOTHING there!  I'll talk a bit more about it on the way home as it did help me restore my sanity.

I finally see signs for KC, I'm taking exits to other roads, I'm anxious to be this close.  I had it figured to be about 3 hours of driving left once I hit KC.  The pain in my back has subsided thanks to Aleve, but I can still feel something going on there... strange that I have no other pains in my back after being in a car for 7 hours.  I'm blown away by the beauty of Kansas City and their Interstate bridges.  I know it seems pretty stupid to be amazed by ramp bridges on an interstate system, but here in MN we don't have a lot of interchanges where there are 4-5 highays intertwining.  They have ramps that are so high!  Of course I am taking the lowest road possible, so I can look up and around to see all of these ramp bridges... I wanted to try and get a photo, but it was getting dark and I may have been weaving in and out of traffic (oops, and texting); nothing like driving in a city and adapting to how the locals drive!

Its about time to eat once I make my way into Kansas City, so I get on the road I need to be on and pull off on an exit with a Sonic at it.  I figured I should also get gas since I'm there... as I don't know how populated this next road will be if I should need to get gas.  So with the knowledge that KC is dangerous if you travel too far off the highway, I find the nearest gas station (which is just about a mile off the highway!) and fill up.  I crunched some numbers to discover that I got 39MPG on the tank of gas from Albert Lea, MN to Kansas City, MO!!!!  That sure does make the monthly payments a little easier on my mind :)

I had to travel the rest of the way in the dark, which kind of sucked becuase it was a new road and the thought of deer freaked me out.  My car turned over to 7,000 miles on that lag of the drive, I took a picture... it wasn't all that exciting.  I was, however, excited to get to Renee's... and I think I was beginning to go a little bit crazy, or at least that's what Steve figured out while we were texting.  I think he may have been on the right track.  I finally arrived somewheres around 930pm; for a total of just over 10 hours with stops included. (and I had to make my own martini when I got there!!)

**READ MY OTHER BLOGS FOR THE INBETWEEN STUFF**

I was very sad to be leaving, but I also wanted to get on the road early enough to not get home too late.  I made a quick stop to fill up (with gas being $2.21 a gallon down there, I had to top off!), and ran across the to the Waffle House to see if they sell travel coffee mugs for Bob here at work; they don't.  I jump back on the road and drive for about 45 minutes and have to pee so badly - I was not please about this and will never drink coffee on the road ever again; here is my sad face over having to already make a pit stop:

I stop and pee, grab a gatorade, and get back on the road.  I drive and drive and drive... have to stop again for a potty!  UGH.  While I'm at the store I pick up a new flavor of Pringles, they are supposed to taste like the onion blossoms you can order at the restaurants; they taste NOTHING like that!  Be forwarned should you decide to purchase them... they are not that good.  

Back in the car... making my way thought Kansas City again... I notice rollercoasters off in the distance!  I text Steve and ask him to google the amusement park off 435 in KC; Worlds of Fun, he tells me.  I was seconds away from stopping... good thing he told me they are only open on the weekends in October.  I would have easily made my way through that park to kill some time on a few coasters, I LOVE them!!

More driving... it's wicked windy out and my car is extremely light so I'm blowing all over the road, UGH!  I'm crabby and bored.  

I get up to Osceola, IA and have big plans to stop a the casino I see signs for all over the road.  I blow $50 on slot machines (the first $20 was unintentional, as I thought I was playing a penny machine.  Turns out this machine can be set for 1 cent, 2 cents, or 5 cents - when I sat it was at 5 cents and I bet almost half the damn $20 on one spin!).  I was anxious to get the hell out of there, but not at all anxious to get back in my car.  I noticed a winery at the top of the exit, signs pointed to open... that was my next stop.  I did some wine tasting, interesting stuff, not the best I've ever had but what can you expect coming out of Iowa?!  I ended up buying 5 bottles for $50, not bad when you consider one bottle was a reserve and it alone was $20.  I love fall wine sales!  

Here are a couple photos of the casino and the winery:

Thank God for both places, I was able to restore my sanity and continue on the drive home.  I also topped off my gas tank in hopes to not have to stop again ($2.39/gallon there).  I finally made my way back into Minnesota and was able to capture this picture, which turned out alright considering it was taken from the car while I was driving:

I finally got home around 7:45pm or so - for a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes which, considering I spent  over an hour in Iowa outside of my car, is not half bad.  I did have my cruise set a lot faster on the drive home then on the drive down; this also had an impact on my MPG's, in combination with the wind my average MPG was around 35 MPG.  

A Few Highlights (good and bad):

I didn't kill anything but bugs.

I didn't get pulled over; only seen 2 cops the entire trip!

I have a lead foot now!

I only spent $103.90 total in fuel (which includes starting with a half tank and filling up when I got home even though I wasn't on E).

I didn't stop for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the drive home and only munched on Chex Mix a little bit.

I traveled about 1287 miles, round trip.

I do have a lot more pictures posted in albums on both myspace and facebook, if you'd like to check them out.

A special thanks to the artists who provided me sanity with their full length CDs: Sarah Bareilles, Eminem, Sevendust, Joss Stone, Nelly, Alanis Morissette, Copasetic, Sublime, and Justin Timberlake.  Also the artists who have made their way on to the CD mixes I keep around: Dave Matthews Band, Howie Day, Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz, Damien Rice, Dispatch and some others I don't recall at this time.  Also my good friend Steve, who put up with my continuous texting on both 10 hour drives.

Missouri - Part IV: The Inbetween

There are a few other things worth mentioning about my trip, but I'm trying not to blog a million blogs about this trip, so I'm going to cram it all into one :)

A few quick notes:
First, I'm convinced that people in Missouri are hiding dinosaur eggs away from the rest of the world... I think they are plotting a real life Jurassic Park.  It wasn't only the picture below that makes me think this, but I'm doing further investigations before I can talk about it too much!

Second, there was some thing flying through the air while we were at the gas station... it was a Praying Mantis!  Have you ever seen one of those?  I hadn't and was damn excited to be seeing one:

Third, I had some obnoxious pain (pretty sure it was a pinched nerve) in my back, just under my shoulder blade the entire drive down and made for a very interesting first night sleep... I went to the Chiropractor on Friday and he did some very interesting things to me... and I felt better throughout the day.  I'm still weirded out by what happened in that office!

Fourth, I found a fork!  This fork stand 35 feet high... I'm thinking a full set of utensils through photography.  MN has The Spoonbridge, MO has a Fork... now to find a knife!

Last and most important to me is Renee and her family.  She has a wonderful husband, Phillip, and 3 lovely kids, Jacob, Kaitlyn, and Tyler.
Jacob is the oldest and I found myself often forgetting he is only 13 and speaking with him like he is an adult.  He is such a stud and will no doubt be a heart breaker once he gets to that point in his life.  He is such a good kid and stays out of trouble.. unlike most 13 year olds.  I had a lot of fun trying to make him blush as often as possible!

Kaitlyn is the middle child and, while she craves attention like most little girls, she isn't all middle child about it.  By that I mean she doesn't get jealous when the attention is focused on someone else.... at least that is what I noticed.  She speaks like no child I have ever met, takes the time to enunciate all of her words, and puts such thought and emotion into what she is saying.  I fell in love with her the first time I met her in a Vegas hotel room last fall... that love only grows with each moment I spend with her.

Tyler is a little spitfire!  I don't know how Renee does it... he is a handful and I imagine he will only be more of a handful each day older he gets.  He likes to test people and see what he can get away with.  It cracks me up!  He also has the cutest little speech impediment, he says his K's like a T.  He doesnt like to be teased about it, as any person wouldn't, but it just makes me want to grab him and pull him close!  He also says the word "Willn't" instead of "Won't" - which if you think about it makes a whole lot more sense!

Phillip and Renee have an amazing family and I feel so lucky that they have welcomed me into their home many times over.  I love observing them and how they work... they have it down!  I want to thank them so much for everything they did for me this weekend and everything they have offered me over the past year.  I'm truly blessed to have people like this in my life, I only wish they were just around the corner!  I miss them all so much already.

Missouri - Part III: Silver Dollar City & Marvel Cave

My weekend was full of first; first walnut tree, first scrapbook page, first this, first that... Another first, and a pretty damn exciting one, is my first trip inside a cave!  

On Sunday we took a day trip to Branson, MO to visit Silver Dollar City.  It's hard to explain what SDC is exactly, but they have rides, shops, glass blowing, food... those types of things.  I have tons of pictures from that day - some of which I will be posting here.  

Jacob, Phillip and myself went on 3 roller coasters that day, I LOVE roller coasters more than anything and I jump at the chance to go on one!  

They give cave tours which last roughly 45-55 minutes, so we decided to go on one... cause I wanted to go in a cave pretty badly!  There is roughly 600 stairs and we ended up about 500 feet below ground!  WOW!  It's a wet limestone cave and has some of the most amazing formations I've ever seen (not that I've ever seen anything a cave has to offer).  It was breathtaking.  It was also very dark in the cave, so getting a photo to turn out with my little point and shoot camera was quite hard.  I was able to get some:

It was pretty neat stuff, but one of those things that you really must see for yourself.  Photographs just don't show how awesome it is!


Here are some more of me in the cave:

While in Silver Dollar City we also watched some glass blowing, we walked a TON, and we colored some candles:

'Round about the end of the day I was getting tired... a lot because I had been running around with Phillip and Jacob after going on coasters!  Anyhow, we had to return the stroller we got for the kiddos, but before we did I had to pose for a picture, only to have my feet picked up by the kids and pushed/pulled around SDC!!

Renee's father is a dope photographer, so he was snapping pictures all day long... We ended up with this beautiful picture of Renee's daughter, I just happen to be in it:

The picture I posted in this blog was also taken and edited by Renee's father, he was such a treat to get to know!

I had a blast at SDC and going inside the cave is something I won't soon forget.  It's amazing to see places outside of Minnesota... flat ol' Minnesota!

Missouri - Part II: The Crafts

Settle down, I'm not talking about witch craft!

Renee had asked me many weeks before my arrival if I wanted to take a basket weaving class with her.  I had seen some of her pictures on myspace and I was all about it!  I'm generally not one to seek out new crafts, but it seems the older I get, the more money I find myself investing in crafty type things.  I've taken up knitting in the past year, I have TONS of projects in my brain just waiting for me to act on (most involve photos and/or wine), and I love photography as a whole.  

Here are a few pictures of us weaving baskets, (actually... it's just me in these pictures because Renee is a butthead and willn't ever let me take her picture):

The baskets are oil and vinegar baskets, so the point is to get oil and vinegar bottles, fill them and place them inside.  Of course we had to stop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up our bottles... and of course we had to paint them:

Last but certainly not least, Renee has a room FULL of scrap book supplies.  I can't even begin to tell you what any of it is (besides paper) but it's FULL!  OH!!!  She also has a cricut!  She was quite anxious to get me going on a page (or book) of my own... so I gave in and let her get me going.

Here is a photo of my (almost) finished page.  I have to still print the photo (which is going to be a group shot from the Oct. 12th Vikings game), so the white space you see now will be that photo (and I will post pictures of it complete as well):

Renee is pretty well the bomb and she also hooked me up with tons of paper to get me started on a book.  I will be posting my progress as I get it finished and as I'm working.

Turns out I might be a scrapbooker!  :)

More blogs to come... for now I must sleep.

Missouri - Part I: The Walnuts

I was staying in Wilard, MO, which is pretty well a small little town minutes from Springfield.  Up the Farm Road you will run into Walnut Grove, which is the town Renee grew up in.  They kind of have a lot of Walnut Trees in Walnut Grove.  

Come to find out that it's a pretty serious thing down there.  

Turns out it was harvest season while I was there, so most of the tree

s were bare.  In the area during harvest you can pick up walnuts and put them in a sack and sell them for cash!  We encountered a young gentleman in a orange jumpsuit who had the road blocked off to collect walnuts - he had several sacks in the back of his pickup truck.  It was quite the interesting experience for me, I wish I had taken a photo of him (I'm quite certain he was a jailbird, orange jumpsuit and all).

Once we made our way through Walnut Grove and seeing all of this I became a wee bit obsessed.  I needed to have a photo of a walnut tree, I needed to blog about walnuts, I needed to stage a photo shoot.  I had big plans!

First let me show you a walnut tree.  You will notice little green ball looking things on the tree (there are only a few, click the photo to make it larger), those are walnuts:

Since all the locals had pretty well picked through all the fallen walnuts we kind of had to go on a walnut hunt.  Renee snapped a shot of me on the hunt (although I many not look to be hunting for walnuts, I was in fact hunting for walnut trees near by to hunt near):

Once we finally found some I was absolutely blown away that walnuts don't just grow on a tree as you buy them in a store.  They are in a soft green hull, with a very dark inner core holding the actual walnut.  Here is what it looks like after it falls off the tree:

Once it falls off the tree the hull starts to darken, which is why you see some black in some of these photos.  I stepped on one with my shoe because Renee told me the inside will stain your hands very badly.  Here is what the inside of it looks like (that is the walnut you see there):

Here is a small group of them we were able to collect, notice how they are changing colors:

We staged a photo shoot in honor of Terri, who was not able to join us on the trip but LOVES to stage photo shoots:

Last, because I was so excited to have found some walnuts to photograph, I had to have my picture taken with one.  Can you say you've ever had your picture taken with a walnut?

What I have failed to mention up until this point is that I made Renee drive around for quite some time (and by that I mean at least an hour) trying to find a walnut tree with many walnuts still on it; these were the best we could find.  Turns out people jump at the chance to make a few bucks selling their walnuts!  Strange things you find in other places... 

I had a great time hunting for walnuts while in Missouri!