At the Lake

The next day was breakfast with Margaret (our 95 year old friend). At the exit to her house, I see an old fire engine behind a building.

“We should stop so I can get pictures,” I told Mike. He did, on a different day. But I’m going to show them to you now.

Margaret’s pretty house. She takes a lot of pride in keeping her house neat and tidy.

We left Bondi in a kennel at Margaret’s and had breakfast at The Rusty Rooster. As you may well guess, it was a rooster themed restaurant.

I kept looking at this couple at the next table. When they first sat down, I assumed they were waiting for someone since they didn’t sit across from each other. It soon became apparent that they weren’t waiting for anyone.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a couple sit like that before,” I told Mike and Margaret. “I’ve seen people sit across from each other or side-by-side, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else sitting catty-corner from each other.”

Neither Mike nor Margaret was as intrigued as I was.

“What’d ya get for breakfast?” I know you wanna know.

Margaret had eggs Benedict, Mike got an omelet, and I had something I haven’t had in years. Biscuits and gravy. It was pretty good too!

After breakfast we drove around a little.

The iconic Indian. They’ve caged him in. No more pictures of grandsons sitting on his foot or standing between his legs.

A new business, building and all. A junk store called Cloud 9 used to be here and before that something called The Ice House.

The closed dam.

“You know what I’d like to see?” I asked Mike. “That tree out on Fish Haven Road that was swallowing up the sign.”

Mike took me out to see it.

It would be interesting to compare what it looks like now to the last time I photographed it.

“Peg, why don’t you do that?” you ask.

I tried. I looked in a few folders where I thought I might find it but it wasn’t there. It would take a more extensive search to find the picture than I have time for right now.

We didn’t have any special lunch plans, but Mike had a suggestion. “Since you didn’t get your shrimp Penang, and I didn’t get my tofu Pad Thai, you wanna eat at Wok N Roll?”

I didn’t even hesitate. I jumped right on it. “Yes!"

We invited Margaret to go with us and after we were seated, I see the mother and young son were also sitting catty-corner from each other. Twice in one day I see this seating arrangement.

I know I’m slow and sometimes the obvious escapes me, but could someone please tell me the reasoning behind this?

Our food was fabulous, as Nok’s food always is.

Dinner that night was with this handsome couple. Tammy and Bob Grider. We went to Outback.

The hostess led us to our table and our server greeted us before we were even seated.

“What can I get you to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll just have ice water,” Mike said, then realized what he’d said. “With no ice,” he quickly amended.

I laughed, and I laugh every time I think about it. Ice water with no ice.

“Why doesn’t Mike like ice in his water?” you ask.

He says the ice takes up too much room, then he’s left with not enough water. He does drink a lot when he eats. He’ll need to have his glass refilled two or three times. It would be more if he had ice.

Ice water with no ice. Trust me, we had lots of fun with that for the next few days.

After I took their picture, Mike realized how far away from him Tammy was.

“I wanted to sit next to you,” Mike teased.

Tammy is a good sport and so, so funny. She scooted her chair as close to Mike as she could get and did this. Mike looks a little scared now, don’t’cha think?

We didn’t visit much after dinner because the Griders both had an early morning the next morning.

“I wish we had a little more time,” Bob said. “We’d love to hang out with you more.”

“As it so happens, Cork’s RV broke down and we’ll be staying a few more days,” Mike told him.

“That’s great!” Bob said, then did a little back pedaling. “Not that your brother’s RV broke down, of course,” and we all laughed. “We both have Monday off. You wanna do something?”

“Sure!” We both agreed. The kids would be back at work so we’d have the day free. “You plan it and let us know.”

We had to head back to Margaret’s and pick up Bondi. She’d offered to puppy sit for us while we had dinner. Bondi isn’t housebroken so we left her in her kennel.

“How long do you think it’ll be before Margaret lets her out?” I asked Mike.

“Probably not long.”

Margaret fell in love with Bondi, and Bondi fell in love with Margaret, too.

The sun was setting and had an otherworldly glow. “Is it from the fires out west?” I asked, but Mike didn’t know. He pulled over at an overlook for me to take pictures and we weren’t the only ones with that idea.

When we arrived at Margaret’s, she had both pups on the couch with her. Bondi and her Shih Tzu, Lily.

We didn’t rush right out and Bondi tried to play with Lily. Lily wasn’t having any of that and got in her bed. I laughed when Bondi dived in after her.

The next day was Saturday and the kids took us to breakfast! It was a new place called The Barn-B-Que Smokehouse. They have an old truck outside so we took the opportunity to take a picture.

“Peg, you’re not in it,” you say.

I know, right! I planned it that way. You’ll have a chance to see me later and I’m not any too pleased about the way I look.

The Barn was a really cool place. I took pictures as we went in and took seats.

I’m surprised at how much I like this picture and made it my desktop photo.

The menu had a history on it. I took a picture but didn’t read it at the time.

“They brought it from Ohio,” Kevin tells us. “It was built in the 1850s.”

After breakfast we drove out to the end of Bittersweet Road where Mike and I used to live. We had a big piece of land right on the Lake with no too-close neighbors. Since then, lots have been sold off and another house built — too close!

We stayed up on the road and didn’t intrude, so, no pictures.

But these guys didn’t have any problem ‘intruding’! They took their sweet time crossing a road. We were stopped, but other impatient drivers honked their horns and swerved around them.

The afternoon was spent watching our handsome, talented, smart, grandson play tag football.

I took a ton of pictures but can’t show them to you. It wasn’t possible to get permission from everyone to publish their image in my letter blog.

The action on the sideline was almost as exciting as the game. I got a kick out of this little girl carrying her chair around. Another little girl, a little older than this one, was trailing her, saying, “Put it down here!” But this girl wasn’t listening and didn’t put it down until she was ready!

Bondi was with us and snuggled up to Kandyce’s neck.

“Did they win?” I hear you ask.

And the answer is, I don’t know. The scoreboard was a stand on the ground with flip cards and it’s back was to me. I have no idea what the score was.

Andrew and his cousin Carter. They’re very close in age and grew up together.

The kids had another obligation to go to so Mike and I went back to the hotel. He rested, I read. I love nothing better than to be lost in the depths of a good book.

“What were you reading?” you ask.

I was reading my second Liane Moriarty book called What Alice Forgot. I finished and returned it a day early. That’s good for me, a person who sometimes has to check out the same book two or three or even four times before she finishes it. Now I’m reading a third Moriarty book called The Hypnotist’s Love Story. It’s pretty good, too.

Oh gosh! Sidetracked again!

Saturday night’s dinner was with Margaret and the kids at a fancy schmancy place called Bentley’s. Andrew, who can sometimes be a very picky eater, loves prime rib and this place has a children’s prime rib on the menu! He ate every single bite.

After dinner we headed to the Strip for ice cream at Luby’s. I called my best girl and asked if she’d like to join us. Linda loves ice cream and accepted my invitation.

Andrew’s brain freeze.

I love these faces.

The whole gang.

The night lights of a business called the Malted Monkey. It’s some kind of a sky-walk obstacle course.

Sunday was the next day and I went to church with Linda.

And this is the picture I’m not happy about. I know I’ve put on a few pounds (understatement of the year) since my exercise class got canceled, but I look huge!

“You really didn’t,” Linda consoled when I cried to her.

I’m going to print this and put it on my fridge to remind me to not snack so much!

After church, Mike and I joined these beautiful ladies for a late breakfast, early lunch.

This day was Joan’s 48th birthday. She’s dyslexic.

I had a blast talking with Joan about the way she grew up and the things she’s seen.

Mike and I went back to our room for a while. Our colorful hotel carpet.

There was a family staying there because something happened to their house and they couldn’t stay in it. I don’t know what, I didn’t ask. They had this really cute puppy they called Daisy and Bondi had a blast playing with her.

I spent quite a long time trying to get a picture of the pretty yellow-winged grasshoppers that were prolific in the grass. A still shot wasn’t that hard.

But the only way to see the yellow was to capture them in flight. Persistence, my dear. Persistence.

This flowering weed was EVERYWHERE!

I don’t know what this one is either.

The kids came over for a swim in the pool. I asked Andrew for a splash picture and he gave me a dozen opportunities.

Bondi watched for a while and when a ball came flying out of the pool, she took off after it. She brought it back to Kandyce’s beach bag and laid down to chew on it. I took it from her and tossed it back in the pool. Then we had fun playing fetch with Bondi.

At some point she found a discarded candy wrapper. I took that away from her, too.

We had dinner with the kids that night, too.

The things we saw on their road.

It was dark when we left. Walmart becomes Wal art.

After we left the lights of town, we realized our headlights were wonky. One pointed up and to the right, the other pointed down and to the left. We’ve driven the car at night before, not very often, mind you, but they were fine before we hit that deer.

“Maybe we can stop someplace and get them adjusted,” Mike suggested.

But somehow, we never did.

Bob Grider called that evening.

“You guys wanna get breakfast and go out to Stark’s Cave tomorrow? The only time we were there was when the kids came to visit and we took them. The baby cried so much, Tammy and I walked her around outside while everyone else took the tour. So, we’ve never actually seen it,” he said.

Mike had his phone on speaker so I heard the invitation. I nodded vigorously. “Sounds good,” Mike answered and we made arrangements to meet them in the morning.

Mike and I had been to Stark’s Cave in the late 1990s when we first moved to Missouri. It was a little family run thing and didn’t look anything like I remember it. Now it’s a flourishing business with a fancy welcome and education center.

We were in the gift shop, waiting for our tour to start. I was browsing, causality listening to the conversation Mike was having with one of the young clerks, a gal.

“Do you live around here?” Mike asked her.

It’s one of his standard questions when he starts a conversation with someone he doesn’t know.

“I do,” she replied.

“Where do you live?” Mike asked.

“Not far from here,” she was being very vague.

“Where at?” Mike persisted.

“Just a few miles away.”

I laughed. “Mike, she’s not going to tell you!” I called from where I was looking at fake dinosaur eggs. I made my way to the counter. “You’re creeping her out.” I turned to the young gal. “He doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just always curious where people live.”

We had fun with that one too!

My first look at the cave entrance. It has bars now.

Inside looking out.

A side tunnel where they found lots of bones.

The cave has a long history and was home at one time or another to Native Americans, bears, moonshiners, a speakeasy, a roller-skating rink, and had a carrousel in it. It’s been dammed since Mike and I were there and now has a lake as well. Even inside a dark cave, there’s life.

Minerals.

Random picture.

I couldn’t get a decent picture of the stuff that glows under a black light.

A bear bed. There were lots of them.

A wishing pool.

“What do you do with the money?” Bob Grider asked. “Give it to charity?”

“No. Nothing. We leave it there,” our guide answered.

“An echo chamber. If there are any singers among us, you’re welcome to hear the acoustics,” she said.

When they looked at me, I said, “Not me! I can’t sing.”

But Bob and I did go in and listen to our hello hello echo back to us.

There are many more side tunnels that haven’t been fully explored and some that aren’t accessible to the general public. They do offer special tours where you get off the walkways and crawl through the mud.

Here she’s using her laser pointer to show us wooden beams sticking out of the cave walls. “They used to go back in there and drink and have dances,” she told us.

"Someone was having fun here," our guide told us. "They thought this looked like a face and put geodes in for the eyes."

A flight of stairs took us to another level, there were three levels in all, and a landing at the top. It was an unfinished part of the cave system.

I’d lost my balance and nearly fallen once, when I turned too quick. I knew I was beside a low wall, but didn’t know where my feet were. Luckily, I regained my balance and didn’t fall.

Bob Grider, bless his heart, didn’t want to see me have any mishaps as we came down the steps and stayed close in front of me. Tammy waited at the bottom.

The tour lasted nearly an hour and this is a shot as we got back to the entrance.

Heading back to the visitor center. We were the only ones on the tour this morning.

I’m sure we had dinner with the kids again that night.

Bondi has finally forgiven Andrew for scaring her when he chased her around the yard. Here he’s feeding her nuggets of Lulu’s food. Bondi, for some reason, won’t pick the food out of the bowl herself, but will eat it if you hand feed her.

“She will if she gets hungry enough,” Mike reminds me.

Later, we went to the Strip for ice cream.

I called my best girl Linda again and she joined us.

Barb and Ed made this for people to take their pictures in. This one is more special because instead of empty holes, they all have faces. Pick up the hinged face and replace it with your own. Ed made it; Barb painted it.

I had to beg everyone to grab a spot. Mike was the main holdout.

The next day would be our last day in Missouri. I made it a point to take pictures of the dam.

We said our goodbyes to Margaret.

And had supper with the kids. We went to a local place called Whittle’s and here, Andrew is waiting.

Afterward, he played the claw machine and won a ball.

Back at his house, Andrew played with Bondi and their Pekingese, Bandit. I didn’t tell you what a great time Bondi had playing with Bandit, but she did. Bandit only has one eye and Bondi would come up on his blind side, give him a nip, and run. Bandit would chase her around the center kitchen island until he lost sight of her, then he’d stop. By then she was the whole way back around, nipped him in the butt, and the chase was on again.

But anyway, Bondi popped Andrew’s ball with her sharp little baby teeth.

And that was it. We said our goodbyes, hugged and kissed, and we’d be gone in the morning.

Let’s call this one done!