Life of Lydia

Dear readers, this weekend we went to visit Grandpa and Loretta in Springfield, Illinois.

Our journey began with driving.

We stopped in St. James, Missouri to refuel our vehicle. My mother and I walked across the street to First Baptist Church. Whoever made their sign must have been enjoying themselves.

We also visited a Burger King in St. James because Luke wanted to order a hamburger.

This is a sign trying to persuade customers that Burger King is healthy. I found this a bit amusing.

We listened to the above audiobook for part of our road journey. Some members of the family enjoyed this more than others.

We stopped again in Litchfield to purchase water.

Once we had arrived in Springfield, Illinois, we ate supper with Grandpa and Loretta at Portillo’s, a restaurant that serves Chicago-style food.

Luke enjoyed a very fancy hot dog.

After we returned from Portillo’s we had slices of a chocolate cake that was made by Loretta.

The next morning, we attended the Illinois State Fair. Luke and I rode with Grandpa and Loretta. Right before we pulled out of the garage, Luke posed with a bag of Swedish Fish given to him by Loretta.

The entrance to the State Fair.

The first site we saw was the butter cow, which is literally a cow sculpted out of butter. My whole life, I have heard many tales of this cow, to the point that I almost believed it to be an urban legend. Now that I have seen it with my own two eyes, I am fully convinced that it is indeed a real thing, strange as it may seem.

My mother and I had a grand ole’ time viewing the exhibits in the Hobbies Arts and Crafts building.

The rest of our group watched a cow show.

We ate lunch at the Pork Patio. Somehow, I failed to take any pictures during our tenure there. If you are wondering what it looked like, imagine a large metal awning with several hundred people sitting at picnic tables under it. There were three restaurants under this pavilion: The Pork Patio, The Ribeye Corral, and IllinoisWine. There was also a barber shop quartet wandering around the area and singing to random people. After a while they visited the IllinoisWine booth, obtained some wine slushies, and sat right next to us to eat them.

After lunch, we tried to attend a Paul Bunyan Lumberjack show but by the time we walked to where it was being held, the show was almost over. We saw the last five minutes of it, then decided to go home. The problem was we were at the opposite corner of the fairgrounds from where our car was parked. There was nothing to do but walk the distance required, and I’m glad to report that we all lived over it.

Attitudes were varied as we departed the fair.

After the fair, everyone was tired and needed to properly recover. All members of our party except myself accomplished this task in the fashion pictured above.

My method of resting was to ride my scooter in the afternoon heat for 4.5 miles. I rode all over Grandpa and Loretta’s neighborhood, encountering a little free library on my travels. My scooter folds up, and we brought it with us. After my ride, I felt refreshed , as if I had had a long night’s sleep. The State fair had removed my ability to properly use my mind, and the scooter ride slowly restored that ability.

For supper, Grandpa grilled meat, and Loretta made pasta salad.

After supper, we visited the Linclon Memorial Gardens. The men posed in front of a building that was not open.

This was called the Walgreens bridge, because apparently they had helped pay for it.

Luke relishing in the lakeside views.

My brother never fails to entertain.

On Sunday morning we went to church with Grandpa at Western Oaks. Luke and I went to a teenage Sunday School class, and our parents went to Grandpa’s class. We went back to Grandpa and Loretta’s house for lunch, before beginning our travels back to Missouri.

On the way back we listened to more of The Two Towers. I constantly begged to listen to it more, while Luke often made the case as to why we should stop listening.

We stopped in Rolla, Missouri which is where my Uncle Dave went to college.

We went to a Wendy’s in Rolla to get supper. This was our final destination before we arrived home.

Thank you for reading.