11-9-16  back to Buford, Ga.

On the road again--------heading back to our apartment in Ga.  Tired of the 10 hour drives back and forth to St. Louis, but at least we didn't have to do it from South Florida last year.
Good Bye St. Louis---until next time

11-8-16  Election Day!!!!

We figured since we were here so close to election day that we would stay and vote since Missouri is still our official state of residency.  This has been a LOOOOONNNNG election campaign!!!  Started while we were still in Florida.  I know campaigning is always full of lies and promises and jabs at one another, but this one was especially bad!  Surprisingly, Donald Trump beat out his competition for the Republican party (something like 12 candidates) and went on to compete against Hillary Clinton (first woman candidate for presidency).  She only had to beat out 1 other candidate.  The media was vicious!  I never realized how Democratic the media really is until this campaign!  They trashed Trump every chance they could and made Clinton out like she was an angel.  Can't say I was thrilled with either candidate, but voting is an obligation and privilege.  Hillary was suppose to win by a landslide---at least if you listened to the media.  But when it was all done and counted----Trump won!  He actually didn't get the populace vote, but did get over 290 electoral votes.  I had hoped that would be the end of all the stress of the election season----but no!!!!  The millennials are having a total breakdown!  They're skipping class and protesting, making tests and classes in schools be cancelled, needing therapy---even therapy animals!!!  It's totally ridiculous!  What are they going to do when they really have something to stress out about???!!!!  Too much spoiling the younger generation now!  No more trophies for winners---that's not fair.  No more grades---that's not fair.  No correcting papers in red ink---you're yelling at them!  No discipline---you'll be arrested for child abuse.  And these are our future leaders!?  Life is not fair!!!!  Get use to it!!!!  I'm thankful my kids have a backbone!
Anyway---we fought the crowds and the rain and did our duty here----

I happen to agree with a lot of what Trump represents---like exporting criminal illegal immigrants, vetting refugees a lot more, changing Obamacare, bringing business back to the USA by taxing other countries, and building up our military again.  Hopefully he'll be able to complete the tasks he campaigned on.  And hopefully the media will start reporting accurate news and quit twisting everyone's words around---yeah, right!

11-5-16  Sunset near Alton, Illinois:

I don't know why, but St. Louis does seem to get more then the average beautiful sunsets!  I forget where it was now, but not too long ago I overheard a young lady telling her date that she never watched a full sunset before.  I can't help thinking of that whenever I'm watching one now!  What can you be doing that's so important that you've never taken the time to watch a sunset???!!!
Anyway----I guess this is another reason why we don't mind the ride to Alton for dinner.  If we time it right, we're often treated to a gorgeous sunset to or from dinner. 
This is actually  the Mississippi River from the Missouri side of the bridge going over to Alton.

10-31-16  A really scary Halloween!!!!

 The day was finally upon us!  Can't say I was looking forward to Halloween this year!  Not with a cardiac ablation on the to-do list!

Originally we were told to be at the Mercy Heart Hospital at 5:30am, but about a week ago I got a call to be there at 6am.  So we went out and bought an alarm clock the night before the procedure! ( We had taken our alarm clock to Georgia)

 We made it there on time.  Checked in and waited here for someone to come take us elsewhere.  Then waited about 3 more hours!  Josh's folks even came to stay with Ken while I was in surgery, but they even got to visit with me.  The nurses told them my surgery was changed to an hour or so later---too bad they didn't tell me that!

Eventually 2 guys came in and said they were the anesthesiologists and would be putting an iv in my arm.  Then one of them left and the younger one started probing away---again, and again and again, and .... .   I'm sure he stuck me at least 15 times over 45 minutes.  He also used 3 shots of numbing agent.  He did manage to get one in, so we thought.  Then started poking away again for an artery.   But it wasn't until the other guy came back and took over that it was done correctly.  He even used an ultrasound machine to get it right. Finally, 2nd one in and ready to go.

10-30-16  A visit to one of our favorite restaurants in the St. Louis area:

Castelli's---formerly Moonlight.  The place we go to for the best fried chicken ever --- and we love our fried chicken!  It's not really all that close to our house, but it's away from the city, so I don't mind the ride.  It's actually in Fosterburg, Illinois---just on the other side of Alton.  Not sure how long it's been around, but we've been going here for 20+ years.

10-29-16  Dinner after a day of touristy stuff:

Since we were pretty far south for the day, we decided to stop at Roadhouse 61 (or something like that) for dinner on the way back to the north side.  We've only been here a couple times before, but it's an interesting bar b q place. 

 The inside is decorated with a lot of "folkie" stuff and southern charm.

10-29-16 on to Laumeier Sculpture Park:

Since we were out that way---sort of---coming back from Lone Elk Park---I suggested we go to Laumeier Sculpture Park.  This is another place I've only been to a few times, but now that we're "tourists" in St. Louis, there's a lot of places to go see again!  This was Ken's first time here.  I'll say he wasn't impressed.  It is definately a different kind of park!!!  But it was a pretty afternoon and a nice place to take a stroll.

105-acre open-air museum and sculpture park located near St. Louis and is maintained by the St. Louis Parks and Recreation Center.  It houses over 60 outdoor sculptures and features a 1.4-mile  walking trail, and educational programs.  

One of our first encounters--- 
Eye, 2007 
fiberglass, resin, oil paint, steel
452 inches circumference

 Ada's Will, 1990
reinforced steel, concrete, paint
108 x 67 x 54 inches
" Jene Highstein's Ada’s Will, 1990, has the somewhat menacing first-impression look of, perhaps, a projectile. Then, it is seen to be not airfoil-sleek, not quite symmetrical, not a representation of anything nor yet an abstraction. Its concrete is troweled with irregular thickness onto a steel armature—a darkly enigmatic presence with fleeting associations."

10-29-16- on to the World Bird Sanctuary and Lone Elk Park:

In the 40+ years we've lived in the St. Louis area, we had only been to Lone Elk Park a couple of times and had never been to the World Bird Sanctuary.  Why, I don't know!  Both are really cool spots.  With the trees in a lot of color now, we decided to head out to the woods.  Lone Elk Park came to mind.  Right by it is the World Bird Sanctuary.  It happened to be open, so we stopped there for a while.  They have a viewing area by a little museum.  Apparently they bring some birds out here during the daytime.  There are a lot of trails throughout the area, too, but Ken isn't a hiker, so we just looked at the bound birds and walked through the little museum. 

10-29-16  Butterfly House:

One of our benefits of being Missouri Botanical Garden members is that we get into the Butterfly House in Faust park in West County for free.  So I try to get there at least once a year when I have the MOBOT membership.  So this was the time I went this year.  Ken even came along.  It was the first time he's been there. 

 Faust park is an interesting little park with a recreated old village and this building with a carousel in it.  We parked in the parking lot between the carousel and the Butterfly House.

10-24-16  Back to St. Louis---again!!!!

Well, it was finally time to head back to St. Louis to have my cardiac ablation surgery.  Who knew last May when I went to my Dr. for a prescription renewal that 4 trips later I would be having surgery!?  It certainly surprised me!  Especially since I'm not in pain and doing really seem to have major complications from having A-fib.  But with it lasting 20% of the day now and progressing to permanent A-fib, I decided to take the Dr's advice and have the surgery.  Apparently it's not very effective once A-fib has become permanent.  SUrgery isn't until Halloween, but I have per-hospitalization stuff to take care of.  So bright and early on the 24th, we jumped in the car and took off on our 10+ hour trip to St. Louis.  I like to turn these rides into photo-ops.  Still manage to find different things to take pictures of along the way.
This is the first time I've noticed these old cars.

It'll really be nice when they finally finish the construction on Highway 20 that we take to avoid I-85 and I-285.  Probably takes us just as long to go this way, but at least there isn't as much traffic.