Travel Tuesday

So. Last week, we went to St. Louis on Tuesday. Our plan was to do Route 66 from St. Louis to Chicago to check off another segment. We left on Wednesday morning and stopped all along the way.  We spent the night in Joliet, IL and returned to St. Louis on Thursday night.

Here are just a sampling of pictures---I do have tons more!

The Ariston Cafe is the longest, continuously running restaurant owned by the same family. The food was fabulous! I gave Butch this Route 66 shirt for Christmas last year. It has many of the sights printed on it.

 The outside of the Ariston Cafe restaurant mentioned above.

 There are many old "filling" stations on the route. Illinois has done a fabulous job in their restoration efforts.

 I had no idea Illinois has so many wind farms. In fact, I Don't think I ever heard the term "wind farm" before. They went on for miles.

 Butch could not resist. The answer is "yes"---red with white polka dots!

 We stopped at this old station. There was a little museum inside along with a map. You were invited put a push pin on the map designating where you've come from. As it turns out, the guide said that more Europeans visit each year than Americans. When we were there, there was a young couple from Sweden. How in the world do they know about Route 66?

There were so many fun and kitschy things to see along the way. The last thing we did was to ride a mile and a half on the original brick road. It was really jittery. Butch said, "How would you like to ride all the way to California on this?" I wouldn't, but still, it was really cool!

We made this trip coincide with a family wedding on Friday night. I don't have a lot of pictures, but we really had a good time.

 My nephew, Johnny and Andrea.

Of for their honeymoon cruise.

The decorations were beautiful.

 My niece, Jackie and Greg.

 My niece, Angie (sister of the groom) and her family were in the wedding. She's here with Travis. Just about my favorite thing of the whole wedding had to be when I was talking to my other nieces, Devon and Madison, I heard a voice yell, "Aunt Barb!" The girls said I ditched them so fast. I guess I did, but I was so happy that he called from across the tent!! That made my day!

 Brian with Nathan. Those little boys looked so adorable in their little suits. And the little brown dress shoes were so darn cute.

 My brother, Matt, sister-in-law, Sharon and their son Zachary with his wife Allison. You can see Joyce and her family in the row behind.

 Mother of the groom---my sister, Jeanne and her husband, Jim.

We danced the night away---and nearly closed it down. We ended up leaving on the second to last song. The next day, we all converged at Jeanne and Jim's. I love my family and was so happy to be with all of them. Stephanie and Mindy were there too, but Sandy wasn't able to come---Elizabeth, school and all!

We crammed a lot in to one week. It was totally worth it!