The River City

Wedding Weekend: Part II

When we arrived at Ann and Dan's on Friday night,

Jason and Lisa and the kids were already there.

Karen and Robb and their kids Garret and Malea were there too.

The kids were having a great old time playing in the sprinkling worm.

and lounging in lawn chairs.

Is this not the ultimate picture of summer???

It was the perfect thing.

All wet and cold

and summery.

Annalie decided that she did not

like the feel of the wet grass

on her feet.

Plus it was sticking to her feet.

Plus it was wet.

So she decided to chill

in the big lawn chair.

All that is missing in this picture

is the sunglasses.

One of her favorite discoveries

was the fun 

of dipping her pacifier

into Grandpa's lemonade.

She would dip it in,

take a big long slurp

and make this 

purring,

hmmmmmmmming sound

as she got every last drop

of lemonade

before dipping again.

We were all very captivated by this.

Then on Saturday morning,

we went with Ann and Dan

on a little tour of Alton.

I am embarrased to say that I got lost

at least three times

in my own hometown.

Dan drove us downtown and then

through some of the older neighborhoods

shady brick streets, beautiful old homes

built up on the bluffs 

overlooking the Mississippi River.

Ann had discovered that her either her 

dad's parents or grandparents  ( I can't remember now)

 had lived on the street

overlooking the river 

near the park we were visiting.

Here is the view looking down

a long stairway that leads to the next street over.

Here is a view of the River from the park.

It is just so big, the pictures dont give you the 

feeling of how vast it is.

Then we took a drive up the River Road.

We saw the Piasa Bird, a legendary bird painted  on the bluffs

overlooking the river.

Then we drove on to Elsah,

my favorite little river town.

My grandmother was a schoolmate

of Alice Conditt...she was the post mistress years ago.

She had a wonderful house up in Elsah

and we both had great memories

of visiting Alice at her home.

Next stop: Pierre Marquette State Park

Here are Ann and Dan in front of the lodge.

The lodge reminded me of the one at the Grand Canyon ,

huge, old and beautiful.

They had commissioned an artist

to create these fabric panels and they hang from the ceiling beams.

They are constructed of thousands of individual,

hand dyed and stitched pieces of cloth shaped like leaves, bugs, fish, birds...all of the nature of the river.

Beautiful!

 

After the park, we drove north to Grafton in search of some antique stores.  I think we must have missed some main street shops, because along the river road it was pretty much eateries and bars and just a handful of shops.  I have heard that Grafton is an antiquer's paradise, but we did not find what we were looking for.  We did find a wonderful place to eat lunch, and then decided it was too hot to look for antiques anyway.  

We headed for home, ice cream and a nap before evening activities beckoned us out again.

It's good to go home, even after a long time away.

Lots of things have changed.  I have changed.

But there is something grounding about going back to the place where you were born,

where you grew up, where your loved ones are buried.

I'm glad I got to go.

Tomorrow, a beautiful wedding.