Great Escape 2011-- Day 2

Today started with a trip to the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. Andrew is a big history buff so when I found this, I knew we had to stop by. There is nothing more humbling than seeing a national cemetery. It reminds us very quickly that freedom is not free:

The next stop was Muth's Candies, I had seen it on the food channel and thought we should stop in, it has been in business, ran by the same family for 90 years. I took pictures but never got a picture of the grandson, in his late 50's or early 60's and very eager to talk about his business--as well as constantly running to the back to bring us samples of about everything in the store. We walked out with homemade dark chocolate covered marshmallows for me and homemade licorice carmels for Andrew.

Our next stop was the Fraizer Weapons Museum. I did not take pictures...I was afraid to on some places and didn't think of it on others. It is a really nice museum and looks at weapons and war from England through the Civil War. My favorite part was a special photography exhibit (that had nothing to do with War) that was shot in Kentucky by three photographers who split up the state and took pictures in every county from 1975 through 1977 as a part of the Nation's bicentennial celebration. Those pictures were fascinating. It amazes me to look at someone who, in our standards, have so little but yet see that in reality, their simplicity of life makes them very rich.

We got there at 11 and left at 1:30 so we kinda missed lunch. I didn't want to spoil our dinner plans so we did make a little detour off of the "no chains" weekend and hit one of our all time favorite regional chains for a snack. We have such a history with Skyline Chili that I don't think it could be considered cheating on our vows to not eat at chains this weekend. After all, it is still something not available to us at home. We were introduced to Skyline Chili in the spring after we were married, when Andrew was working at a Walmart outside of Cincinnati (the HOME of Skyline chili) and I went to visit.



My cheesy coney



Andrew and his chili cheese fries

We headed back to our hotel to rest a bit. The coolest thing happened when we got to our Drury yesterday.  I LOVE Drury Inns and part of that stems from experiences in Fairview Heights. We go there and are treated like royalty. We have stayed at the Drury Plaza in downtown St. Louis and although it is nice, there is just something about walking into a hotel and the receptionist knowing you when you walk in the door. That is why we go to Fairview Heights, there is a girl there that I won't be surprised if one day she isn't running the company. We walked into our Drury here in Louisville yesterday and low and behold, there was Rachel....how odd was that and of course, she knew us. I thought for a second there was some weird cloning, robot thing going on, but no, she had been asked if she would like to cover a shortage here and said sure, she would love the travel. I had originally just gotten us a King deluxe room so it was just one room but with a couch in it. She asked if we would like to upgrade to a suite for $15 more. We decided sure and when it all was said and done, she pulled it off and it only cost me $9 more--total. I think they must work 12 hour shifts but she is always up, excited and raring to go. As we came back in this evening, she was heading up the elevator with a vacuum cleaner because someone had an accident. Anyway, that just added to the "perfectness" of this weekend.

SOOO....After our rest, we headed back downtown for our Dinner Cruise on the Spirit of Jefferson. I loved this!  I am not ever going to be a big fan of going on a big cruise, I don't like the idea of being someplace I can't get away from. I honestly have NO desire to go on a cruise---Andrew doesn't either so we are a good pair but a two hour excursion down the river and back, while eating fantastic food--that we can handle.



Just going to add a disclaimer here, someday I will be off the high doses of prednisone and maybe my face will be not quite so round!



setting up the buffet



The dinning room



dining room

our dinner, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Roast Beef and all the trimmings



Our boat

Skyline from my seat

All in all, an awesome end to 2011.  Yes, we were on the "Early Bird" tour and actually celebrated New Year's at 7 p.m. but not being drinkers, it was perfect for us, more calm than party. We even went out and sat on the deck for a bit, while drinking hot cider and watched the world go by.

Happy 2012!