Day Trippin

photo by Mom

Mom got into town yesterday afternoon. After I arrived home from work we had dinner and decided to do a little exploring. We were in the mood for frozen custard so we headed down to Ted Drewes. Ted Drewes is a frozen custard stand on Old Route 66. People here rave about how good it is and we were hopeful that it would live up to the hype when we saw the full parking lot and tons of people standing in line. I ordered a Southern Delight concrete which has butterscotch and praline pecans. Mom got the Fox Treat which has raspberries, fudge, and macadamia nuts. Neither one of us was very impressed. Honestly I'd rather have Dairy Queen. There is a little custard stand called Fritz's Frozen Custard about 10 minutes up the road that I like a lot more.

This morning we woke up to the smell of sausage frying and biscuits baking. Brian was attempting his first batch of biscuits and gravy. They were delicious! It took me a few tries to get biscuits and gravy right, but he did it right on the first try.

We decided to head over to Grafton, IL and take in the scenic drive along the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway. In Grafton we stopped at a flea market and mom bought a jar of homemade salsa. It was really spicy but very tasty. After the flea market we continued west to Pere Marquette State Park. We took the scenic drive through the park and it had a few little lookout stops along the way. It was very pretty. We kept heading west on the byway and found a waterfowl resting area. We saw a few herons and a lot of geese.


photo by Mom





Just before Grafton there is a large bluff. There is a gigantic painting of the Piasa bird. There is a little parking lot where you can pull over and read the legend surrounding the painting. Very neat!




We saw a sign on the main road pointing toward a wildlife reserve. We decided to check it out. Along the way we passed a few cows. That was about as wild as it got.





On the way back to Missouri we stopped at a roadhouse called Fast Eddie's Bon Air. It is in Alton, IL just across the river from St. Louis. It is pretty famous around here. Their food is same price that it was when they began serving food 15 years ago. You can get 1/2 pound cheeseburgers for $1.29. Tenderloin steak on a stick for $3. Homemade Bratwurst for $.99. Pork Kabobs for $1.99. The food is really good and though we had to wait awhile for our food it was worth the wait. They actually served the food very quickly. We just had 63 orders in front of ours. We were there for an hour and they had served over 100 orders. It was much more deserving of the hype than Ted Drewes.



We took Old 94 back through Old Town St. Charles. Downtown St. Charles is a cobblestone street that has tons of shops and restaurants. On Saturdays they have actors in period costumes walking up and down the street. They had a juggler and a clown as well as a man playing the bagpipes. We stopped at the Old Towne Spice Shoppe and I bought some really good red pepper and garlic seasoning. We also went to a quilt store, a candy and ice cream shop, and a few other little shops.

Tonight mom and I are going with one of my friends from work to see the new Star Trek movie at an IMAX theater. I'll let you know how it was tomorrow. All in all it was a great day!