Since I had events on two consecutive weekends, I decided to spend EIGHT DAYS in southern Iowa, and had a BLAST!
The journey started with a trip to Lake Rathbun. The daughter of friends got married at Honey Creek Lodge. It was a LOOOOONG trip there, but totally worth it!
After they got checked in, and had a chance to regroup, we met for drinks and dinner. My friends Tena and Andrew joined us, and we had a BLAST!!!
After dinner, we headed to the lawn behind the resort for the wedding. It was lovely. Margaret (the bride) was gorgeous, and it was a really beautiful ceremony (microphone issues not withstanding...).
After the ceremony with Jim, Jon, Tena, Andrew, LeAnn,
and Sue...so nice to see everyone again!!!!
After the ceremony, we headed inside for the reception. I haven't danced for SO LONG, but was happy to remedy that situation, starting with Tena, and, after she and Andrew left, with Diana. It was a hoot!
I "pooped out" around 12:15, and headed up to my room. I was SO GLAD I had a room there...!! Diana said that after I left, the groom's side of the family asked who I was, and if she knew me. In TRUE Diana fashion, she replied "I've never seen him before in my life"...HA!!!!
Saturday, I got up, got ready, and met Suzanne and Jason for breakfast in the resort cafe. Diana joined us, and we continued to catch up. The wedding party eventually made it's way through. It was SO NICE to see them all!!!!!
I had a lunch date in Fairfield, so checked out, and headed east. It was a tedious drive (I'm SO not used to two lane highways anymore, and traffic was CRAWLING!), but also nostalgic, as the journey was along highway 34, which my family took for YEARS AND YEARS to grandma and grandpa Reynold's farm on the western side of the state.
I arrived in Fairfield with time to spare, so took my luggage to Tena's, played with Avery (Tena's poodle) for awhile, then headed to Revelations to meet Tena, Andrew, and Courtney, who we saw at the wedding. Courtney lives in Nashville, and we used to do theater together in Fairfield (as well as share the beach on St. Simon's Island YEARS ago!).
She's a HOOT, and it was fun catching up. OF COURSE I had the Greek pizza! Yum!
After Revelations we shopped the square, then headed back to Tena's for awhile. After regrouping, we headed to Ila for dinner. Normally, we'd hit Vivo in the Broadway Building, but, UNFORTUNATELY, it closed a few months ago...SOOOOO SAD!!!
Ila was really good, and I had the chicken piccata, upon Andrew's recommendation. It was DELICIOUS!!!
After dinner, we headed to the Sondheim Center to see Way Off Broadway's production of "Miss Saigon".
I didn't know what to expect...having seen the show in London (with Lea Salonga) and Minneapolis, but was EXCEEDINGLY pleasantly surprised! The guy playing Chris had a great voice. The guy playing John did an AMAZING gospel rendition of "Bui Doi" to open act II (supported by the other men in the cast in a BEAUTIFUL a cappella choir). My 2nd or 3rd cousin (by marriage) Diana (different than the wedding Diana) was amazing as Ellen. The supporting cast was pretty good. Honestly, however... as soon as the girl playing Kim opened her mouth, it was ALL about her. I was mezmerized!!
Nicole Santiago-Barredo WAS COMPLETELY AMAZING!!!! Crystal clear notes, perfect pitch, heart-wrenching emotion, she had it all. As my friend Tena said, she brought the level of performances of all of her castmates to another level whenever she interacted with any of them on stage!!! To top it off, I met her afterwards, and she was completely wonderful. Kind, humble, and unbelievably nice!!
After the show, we went back to Tena's, discussed the show, and went to bed.
On Sunday, we got ready, and headed to my friend Gay's house for the Miss Saigon cast brunch (Gay is like the adoptive mother of the interns who come to town to spend the summer learning at the Sondheim). We had seen her the night before at the show and she invited us.
I had a chance to chat with Diana (the cousin) for awhile, then, as the cast exited en masse for their matinee call, Tena, Andrew, and I stayed for another hour or so to chat with Gay. SO NICE to catch up with her!!!
After brunch, we went back to Tena's for awhile, then headed to the Jefferson County Fair. It was the last day of the fair, and I JUST happened to time my visit so that we could go. OF COURSE there were TONS of good "photo ops", and Tena and I are NEVER ones to pass one up!!!
After the fair, we went back to Tena's, then headed to Andrew's for dinner. He made turkey burgers, and they were DELICIOUS...olives, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs...WOW!!!!
After dinner, we headed to the north end of town to walk part of the "loop trail". I SOOOOO wish this had been around when I lived in Fairfield. The trail goes around the edge of town, and is really, really beautiful!!!
OF COURSE, as we were walking the trails, I ran into someone I knew (that's the COOL thing about going back to Fairfield...even though I've been gone for FOURTEEN YEARS, I still run into people I know...at Hy-Vee...on the square...TOTALLY cool!). As we were walking, a familiar face passed by...it was Fran, the mother of one of my preschool storytime kids! Coco, the "preschooler", is soon to graduate from Georgetown University...HOW OLD AM I??!!
After the walk, we headed back to Andrew's to watch "Dirty Dancing". I had dug out the CD to listen to on my way down, and TOTALLY wanted to see it again. It was as AWESOME as I remember...I MISS Patrick Swayze!!!!
On Monday, Tena and I headed to Ottumwa. OF COURSE we had lunch at Fiesta Cantina! The only time Tena gets to go there is when I'm back, because Fiesta Cantina was the first place either of us had "Mexican" food. It's not authentic, and it's not necessarily good, but it's nostalgic, and we LOVE going there!!! (Duane says they put the CAN in "cantina". Andrew's version is they put the TIN in "cantina"...HA!).
Tena with the "spicy ketchup" (salsa)...
After lunch we shopped for awhile, then got pedicures...TOTALLY pampered! LOVED it (even though I COULD NOT understand a WORD the lady doing my pedi said...!!!)!
After our pedicures, we went to the theater to see "The Heat"...SUCH A FUNNY MOVIE, and totally fun...Tena and I used to see LOTS of movies together when I lived there, and it was AWESOME to do so again!!!
We shopped a little more, then headed back to Fairfield to meet Andrew at Shokai for dinner. I'm not a big sushi fan, but Tena has been raving about this place for years. I had a delicious spicy avocado, cream cheese, and tofu sushi roll. Very tasty!!!
On Tuesday, I drove around Chautauqua Park (because I spent MANY hours of my youth there!)...
...went to Hairstyles Unlimited to have my friend, and FAVORITE stylist, "fix" my current cut. It was GREAT to catch up, and I LOVE that Jeannie and I can just "pick up where we left off". She's amazing!!!
After my haircut, I went to Goodwill to buy pants (more on that later!), took a couple of photos around the Fairfield square...
...then met my friends Denyce and Eric at The Gardens for lunch. The Gardens is fairly new in town, and it was REALLY, REALLY GOOD!!! I had a quinoa burger with tzatziki...DELICIOUS!!!
After a WONDERFUL lunch, I stopped to get Tena and we headed to the MUM campus to look around the bookstore/gift shop. I didn't find anything that I couldn't live without, so we headed to Everybody's to see what they had. I didn't find anything there either (they were OUT of my favorite "Cookies from the Heart" peanut butter chunk chocolate cookies).
We ended up at a gas station near the square, which ALSO sells Deb's cookies, and I bought TWO (THEY ARE AMAZING!!!)...
We then "suited up" for black raspberry and gooseberry picking at her dad's timber (which is why I bought the pants...to help prevent ticks and mosquitoes and thorns...oh my!).
I THOUGHT it would be a lovely jaunt through the woodlands of Iowa. In reality, it was buggy (I HATE gnats!), thorny (gooseberry bushes look so HARMLESS!), and sticky, sweaty hot. Even so...I LOVED IT!!
BEFORE the bugs and weeds and thorns...
The beautiful scalloped leaves that hide tart, tasty berries AND THORNS!!!
The "fruits" (literally!) of our labor!!
I ended up with EIGHT cups of gooseberries, which made TWO pies at mom and dad's (more on that later). An observation...if you find gooseberries at the farmer's market or grocery store...no matter WHAT they are asking for them...pay it!!! Gooseberry picking SUCKS, and the thorns are SHARP!!!!
Our friends Kevin and Alicia (and Simon!) joined us as we were close to calling it quits. They had never heard of gooseberries, so Tena enlightened them. They tried one, then decided to pick raspberries instead!! An acquired taste, I guess!!
We went back to the house, cleaned up (I threw away the clothes I bought to wear!), then met Andrew at a restaurant called Mike and Nikki's for dinner. We had their spanikopita (which was AMAZING!) and a taco pizza (also DELICIOUS!).
Storm clouds were gathering as we ate, so we weren't sure if the band concert on the square was "a go" or not, but we left the restaurant, and headed to town. They STARTED the concert, as rain started pouring down, then cancelled halfway through the first song. We were sitting in my car, waiting for it to let up, and it did...as soon as they decided to call it quits. Ten minutes later, the sun was shining...too bad! It would have been fun to see everyone (both in the band, and in the crowd!).
After a stop at the Dairy Bar...
Pineapple malt!!!!!!!
...we headed back to Tena's, hung out for awhile, then went to bed.
On Wednesday, I loaded everything into the car, and headed west on highway 34 to go to mom and dad's in Tingley. I hadn't made the trip across the state for YEARS, and it was really fun to work my way along the route that we travelled SO MANY TIMES to grandma and grandpa's farm!
I was a little leary that it was two-lane the entire way, but traffic was light, and there were only a couple of times that it was a little tedious. Since I was traveling the "nostalgic route", I decided to make a couple of stops along the way.
The first stop was in Chariton, where we lived when I was in kindergarten. It took a little work, but I found the house we lived in...
...my elementary school...
...and had fun driving around the square and the old neighborhood!!!
I continued the journey west. It AMAZED me that the 2 1/2 hours to Tingley went so quickly! As a kid, it seemed like an ETERNITY! Now that the journey from the cities is 5 1/2 hours, it's just a "hop, skip, and a jump"!!!!
I stopped at Beulah cemetary, near grandma and grandpa's farm, to pay my respects to my uncle Charles. I left a box of teabags, since he ALWAYS had a big glass of iced tea when he took us out on the boat at the lake, and a solar light (which I'M SURE freaked people out as they drove by on the highway), and a pinwheel, because I needed SOMETHING snazzy, and the "memorial flowers" they had at Super K were tacky, and I didn't want to place any of them on his grave...
After Beulah, I continued on to Afton, and stopped at the cemetary to pay my respects at grandma and grandpa Shepherd's graves...
I hadn't been to mom and dad's for AGES, so it was REALLY GREAT to be there again! An added bonus...THEY HAVE KITTENS!!!! When I arrived, they were, as yet, unnamed, but through the course of the next several days, ended up being Moxie and Murphy.
After playing with the kittens for awhile, we stemmed gooseberries (good GRIEF there's a lot of work involved in making a gooseberry pie!).
After the pie was finished, I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the yard...
...exploring Tingley and the dirt roads outside of town from the back of dad's pickup...
...and waiting for Robin and Dave and the girls to arrive. They got a late start from the cities, and didn't end up getting there until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. We ended up going to bed LOOOONG before they got there!!!
On Thursday, after a slow start (and lots of tired people!), we hung out at the house...played with the kittens......made another gooseberry pie...took another drive on the dirt roads outside of town...and spent the day just "sitting around". It was relaxing, and nice to just "chill"!!!
Me trying to "blend in" with the locals!!!
Picking mulberries!
On Friday, we got up, got ready, and headed to Mt. Ayr. We started out at the cemetary...
...stopped at the antique store on the square, and Shopco (formerly Pamida), had lunch at Jamie"s...
,,,then headed back to Tingley to get ready for Aunt Sue and Aunt Dixie's visit.
Dad and Emilie and Abigail made ice cream...
...and the aunts arrived soon after!
Aunt Dixie!!
Aunt Sue!!
We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and had a GREAT time catching up!!! Dixie and Sue left a few hours later, and Robin, Davey, the girls, and I headed to Sun Valley Lake for fireworks. It was a WHOLE NEW BALL GAME viewing them from land (as opposed to the years and years we spent watching them from Uncle Charles and Aunt Doris's boat), but we got an UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL seat at the edge of the dam.
Actually, "up close and personal" is an UNDERSTATEMENT!!! At some points during the fireworks, it seemed like they were actually going off over our heads. There were several times when I had to lean sideways in my chair to see them. A little freaky, but DEFINITELY cool!!!!
We survived, and headed back to town.
Saturday, we got up, putzed around, packed, and headed to Des Moines for the annual "Reynolds Christmas in July". We met at a park on the edge of Des Moines, and it was really great to see everyone! Now that grandma and grandpa are gone, we don't get together NEARLY as often, and this is the only time I now see extended family. Sad, but a reality, I guess!
Cousin Shellie and me!!
Cousin Kim and me!
Sisters...Doris, mom, and Sharon!!
Family photo!!
It wasn't nearly as hot and humid as it's been in year's past, so we actually ENJOYED being outside!!! We had fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw (you know...TRADITIONAL Christmas food!), TONS of yummy desserts, did our traditional ornament exchange, then I headed north, back to the cities.
What an AMAZING week! It was so great to reconnect with so many dear friends, and to visit places I hadn't been for years! It still feels like home when I go to Fairfield, even though it's been awhile since I left. I hope that continues, as it's SOOOOO theraputic to go back there...to get away from all the stress and "overwhelming-ness" of my life here in the cities!!!
Here's hoping YOU were able to reconnect with AMAZING friends and nostaligic parts of your past recently too!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment