cabin, with three bedrooms, two ….
cabin, with three bedrooms, two baths, a complete kitchen, and even a washer and dryer. Most important, it was air conditioned.
Carbondale is home to the University of Southern Illinois. That is the major “industry” in town.The campus is impressive, but the rest of the area has had better times. The grandkids were glad to see us. On their first visit to our home in the woods they were thrilled to find a ladder leading up to a large loft with two beds. They soon hauled a box of toy blocks up to the loft and began building a castle in the sky.
Being Californians, we were of course interested to find a “wine trail” boasting a number of local wineries. The Pomona Winery had closed early on the day we visited. However, Linda found the co-owner, a man named George, doing some bookkeeping, and he graciously interrupted his work to conduct a wine tasting for us. Imagine our surprise when George had only “non-grape” wines. We had never heard of “non-grape” wines, but his have won many awards and we found them delicious. We bought a bottle of strawberry wine and one of blueberry and thanked George for introducing them to us, along with his enthusiastic instructions on using wines in cooking.
On the weekend, we made a side trip of 110 miles to Newburgh, Indiana to visit Sherry and Mitch, friends we met in Sedona, Arizona earlier this year. They took us to dinner at The Landing, a local eatery with a stunning view of the mighty Ohio River. We also were entertained for brunch by Sherry’s mom, Donna, whose beautiful home contains fine furniture crafted by her late husband.
Feeling the wind at our backs, we drove 235 miles from Newburgh to Springfield, Illinois, where we visited the Dana-Thomas House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, the old state Capitol, where Obama announced his campaign for the presidency, the handsome Lincoln House, and the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Then “home” to Carbondale for our last three days with the kids and their father.
It was a full two weeks. It is fun to roam, but also to return home. To our delight the new LW pool is open. We enjoy seeing friends at water aerobics and our lovely weather here at Seal Beach.
