Adventures in...

Adventures have been on my mind a lot lately, and I think that's because until recently I haven't allowed my adventurous side to live up to its full potential. This was all brought into light when my sister and her boyfriend & 2 dogs embarked on one hell of an adventure, driving from Chicago in a wet noodle shaped loop around North America, from Canada to Maine, Washington DC to Memphis, Arkansas to Texas, Santa Fe to the Black Hills, our hometown of Sioux (Sewer) City here to KC and then back to Chicago. Granted this was quite the trip that warranted good reasoning and planning, but it was very much an adventure! Then, just days after my sister & co. left KC to go back to their home city, two of my greatest friends went on their own adventure, moving across the nation to Portland, OR. Well that did it. A fire inside was lit! Dan and I had a mini-adventure planned, a wedding in Columbia, MO. Sure it may not have been as grand as what my family & cohorts had accomplished, but it was a start, especially since I've never been to Columbia.

Well, the wedding setup went great, all except for me forgetting the flower girls' flowers at home (still upset about that, never having happened before), and everyone was happy. So Dan and I ventured from the safe confines of the winery in Rocheport that the wedding was being held at, and found ourselves going out to a great dinner in Columbia... on an MU game night. Now, life inside the restaurant was great. The food was great, wine was great, service was great, but once we left... things were scary. Getting out of there certainly qualified as an adventure! At times of sitting and waiting for droves of Columbia fans to clear the streets for the patient (and not so patient, tee hee) vehicles to pass through the treasured green lights, I had fleeting daydreams of monster-trucking my Nissan Pathfinder out of there, but alas, I refrained. After 20 minutes & four blocks we finally made it out of the throngs & back to the winery to clean up.

Upon returning to our scary little hotel room late that night Dan offered the most brilliant observation I've heard in a long, long time: we were only half-way across the state from our nearest beloved Trader Joe's grocery store in Chesterfield, MO, and we probably wouldn't be back there anytime within the next year. So that was it! We set our alarms and set our brains, headed out an hour late the next morning and drove nearly 2 hours to Chesterfield, MO to go grocery shopping! If anyone has ever gone to Trader Joe's and doesn't have one nearby, I'm sure you understand our logic! If anyone has never gone to Trader Joe's and doesn't have one nearby, trust our logic! Go on an adventure!

We squished all of the wedding stuff to one side of the car, including a custom-made arch of Curly Willow on wrought iron stands, vases, flowers, candles, etc. and filled the other side with oodles of delicious healthy food and 2 cases of cheap wine! On our way home we ate cheese and crackers, tiny champagne grapes & juice and took in the lovely mid Missouri scenery, stopping again in small town Rocheport to see the great old buildings, then stopping back at the winery to buy a bottle and take in the view one more time. We may have gotten home 6 hours later than planned, but having a decent adventure of my own was well worth it.