Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Vacation, Week 2

I'm writing to you from Ohio now, but first I will recap some highlights from week 1. As you know, we stayed 5 nights at Brian and Kathy's bed and breakfast (see post below). They did make us some lovely breakfasts and were wonderful hosts. They were in the process of finishing the attic by putting in insulation and putting up walls, so Brian was busy most mornings helping with the work. They would stop at midday because it was like an oven up there. The end result will be great savings on their heating and cooling. So in the mornings, we would visit with Kathy and about midday, Brian would come down from working and visit as well. They taught us a new card game called Golf that we then taught to David and Jean one night.

Once our espresso cravings could not be put off any longer, we would go into town to one of the fine coffee shops and hang out. On our last day in town, we tried out Osama's Coffee Zone. I tried the Arabic Latte, which was quite strong and had cardamom in it. It was quite good.

On one day, Denis and I went for a day trip along a scenic route out of Jefferson City. It wound through farmland and finally ended up along the Missouri river at Hermann. Hermann is a big tourist area with lots of wineries. So we decided to check out one of the wineries for a tour. It was 100 degrees (maybe 38 C?) out that day. The tour started outside along the vineyard and then continued inside the cellars where it was a nice 65 degrees (17 C?). It was very interesting - neither of us knew much about wine making except that grapes were involved. At the end of the tour was a surprisingly generous wine tasting session. We must have had the equivalent of 2.5 glasses of wine, including port and sherry. We were unsure of the procedure and whether it would be okay to just taste a sample and throw out the rest of a glass, so we just kept drinking. I was in no state to drive, so we had appetizers in the restaurant while we waited for our livers to do their jobs... :o)

So, on Sunday morning we drove up to St. Louis and met my brother and family for the drive to Ohio. We did stop downtown for a glimpse of the arch before we headed east. We arrived here about 6PM and had a house tour, church tour, introduction to the new cat, etc. My niece, Jessica, is 15 now and studying for her learner's permit to drive. My nephew, Jered, is 11 and interested in all sorts of things as all 11 year old boys are.


Monday (yesterday) we went for a day at King's Island, the local amuzement park. It was quite crowded, especially for a weekday, but we had fun. We went to the water park first until they closed and then over to the big rides. Denis and I both went on a roller coaster called "The Vortex" which goes upside down 6 times! Then my brother talked me into going on the other big coaster called "Face Off". On this one, you are riding under the tracks and you ride through the short course once facing forward and a second time going backwards. Quite a ride. I did feel a little queasy on the ride home, but it was fun to get the chance to ride such extreme rides.

The Vortex

Face Off

8 comments:

Rachel said...

It sounds like you're having so much fun! I can't wait to see the pics!

Priscilla said...

I can't imagine why someone would want to call their coffee shop "Osama's."

Sounds like fun. I wish I could travel a little with hubby. (and the kids I guess)

T said...

i love the i guess the kids commet... sounds like me....oh i wonder is that a selfish thought on our part?mmmmmm

Priscilla said...

well...I love my kids. But I need to travel with just Jamie! Kids put a bit of a damper on the romance.

Martha said...

I love traveling alone with my husband even though when we do it isn't normally a "vacation" but for some other purpose. (jobs, take son to college, pick son up from college, graduation from college...) I do love those time when we have traveled as a family too. It happened so seldom that they are treasured memories.

Tracy said...

Priscilla,

Osama's Coffee Zone is owned by a man from the middle east and he serves the Arabic coffee. So Osama is his name. I love international experiences, so that is why I wanted to check it out.

Tracy said...

Nix, I would have been happy to go on roller coasters a bit tamer than these, but it was worth a shot since I was there and my family wanted to go on these.

Disney IS a lot of fun. I have been to Disneyland twice in CA and Disneyworld in FL once. Denis has never been to either! Such a deprived person. I preferred Disneyland, personally. Though I would absolutly love to go to Epcot Center sometime.

Priscilla said...

aha! That explains why it is called Osama's. Makes sense now. I love coffee shops so I would have been game.