Hangin' in the Heartland

Well, I have found myself hanging out in Quincy, Illinois. I hopped a train Christmas night and spent almost two days sleeping, looking out the window, and reading. It was pretty darn relaxing. I saw several large herds of prong horn antelope in North Dakota, some elk in Montana, and one of the largest herds of deer I have ever seen in my life in Minnesota. The train skirts the boundary of Glacier National Park and it is pretty incredible scenery. The train was late getting into Chicago so I only had to wait an hour to get on the next one.

My plans are to just hang out with my people. My mom has already started spoiling me. Gotta love it.

December 30: Last night I had a pretty cool adventure with my friends Kim and SuZann. We went around to some of our old haunts, but we realized a big difference. I was drinking hot herbal tea all night, no one was stoned, drinking alcohol, or smoking cigarettes. And we were all home and in bed by 10:00pm. We went down to this thing we call "The Wall" which is basically a retaining wall down by the Mississippi River. We used to sit down there on that wall and watch the barges go past late into the night. Then we went to the old Girl Scout camp where we all grew up. It has changed hands and none of us had been there in several years. We pulled up to "The Gate" where we also used to hang out and realized that some sort of structure had been built and there was a parking lot where there used to just be trees. We got out and took off through the woods into the heart of the camp. Even though it was pitch black out and we had no lights and a lot of changes have been made, we were able to find our way around easily. We are going back tomorrow in the light to check it out more and figure out what is up. From what I can gather now, the social service agency that bought it got some money from the Department of Natural Resources and now it is open to the public. It is a wonderful place that is very close to our hearts. After we left the camp, we headed off on some of the old gravel roads we used to drive around on. Eventually we ended up back down by the river and went to the dam and then down to one of the boat docks. I explained to both of them in detail what hot flashes feel like and we laughed about how old we are getting. It feels so good to have friends that I have had forever. And it might be three or four years between visits but we just slip right back to where we were before, even if we do end up going home earlier.

This afternoon I hung out with my sister and we went to visit our mom at her quilt thing (hell, they fed us lunch!!!) and we did a bunch of driving around looking at stuff. Then we went to Fall Creek for a little hike. Fall Creek is a narrow gorge cut through the limestone bedrock. A trail leads along and above the creek from one waterfall area to another and under an old stone bridge. Some of the pictures are on Ellen's camera and I will have to add them later. We walked back along the edge of the creek which was actually quite muddy.

After Fall Creek we headed back into town, stopping by the cemetary to say hello to the grandparents. Then we hung out at Ellen's for a bit and then hit the Maid Rite for a famous loose meat sandwich.

I am looking forward to my outing tomorrow with Kim and SuZann. Oh, and Ellen and I also went to this cook creek bed today that has tons of fossils in it. I picked up several good pieces to bring home with me.


Pictures: SuZann and Kim at the Wall, Fall Creek and pictures of my cute sister.