A Right-Brain Distraction

When I first started writing this Blog, “The Biggest Ball of String”, my idea was that it would be a
quick way to tell our friends about whatever trip we were on – I could tell everyone at once, and show a bunch of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, right away, I realized that 1) I think way too many things are interesting and I take way too many pictures, and if I tried to blog that, it would probably be boring to everyone else, clog up the system with 1000′s of pictures of green fields, and I’d never finish writing; 2) I think way too many things are interesting, so got sidetracked into telling information about the location – not just that we’d been there, but other things to see, how much some attractions cost, hours of operation, etc.; 3) I don’t necessarily like to write about what I’m doing right that second, because, to be honest, I don’t necessarily want people to know where I am, right at that second… depending on the what, the where and the who….

Anyway! I’m bring this up now because it takes longer to research the areas than it does to just chatter away about what I loved and what I didn’t, and so – and here’s the point – I got side tracked this week, and ran out of time (I didn’t realize it was time for my weekly Sunday blog!)  I could quickly whip something up now, but I want to talk about the Seahorse Ranch (Farm, actually) and want to get the details right, instead of “we went to the Farm – it was cool”, which, by the way, it was!

So, Seahorse Ranch next week. Confession, this week.

In the meantime, the reason I was distracted is because I’m working on an art project, and I always lose track of time when I’m working on something “right brained.”  So much so, that when I am working on something, I have to set the alarm to remind myself that I have other things to do. 

This time, I’m painting a bottle (I can’t show a picture because I want the outcome to be a surprise for the person to whom it belongs…. and I don’t know if they are reading my blog or not… … guess this is one way to find out…)

I’ve had a lot of projects this summer, which is why I went from a “twice a week” blog to a “once a week” blog…

Sometimes, my projects are painting pictures, usually the projects involve sculpting little quirky figurine type things (I call them “My Little Creatures“), and this is my first bottle. 

 

I had already started painting by the time my “Left-brain” said, “Hey! You should’ve taken a “before” picture.” Oh well.  Unless… here’s a picture (edited) – maybe someone will recognize what the bottle is? The part that’s covered is an embossed sunshine…or sunflower…? all clear…

So, that’s that! Hope to be back on track! In the meantime, I am committed to getting something written about the Seahorse Ranch for next week.

St. Louis Arch and the Giant Eyeball, in Missouri

We arrived in St. Louis late, as we hoped - hoping it to be cool enough to set up camp. It wasn't. We didn't even unhook the trailer! We just plugged in the power so we could have air conditioning for the night!

 

(There were, tragically, reports of heat related deaths, from power failures or air conditioning malfunctions... :( very scary. I've heard of that before, but never been so near. Poor people. We decided if the power went out during the night, we'd have to just get in the truck and keep driving.)

 

 

We planned to get up early the next morning and go up the St. Louis Arch. (http://www.stlouisarch.com) I've heard that it's best to go to the Arch early, anyway, before the school kids get there (the sight seeing windows are still relatively finger print and nose print free early in the morning!!)

 

I was also told to be aware that the elevator lurches and creaks as it goes up, at an angle, to the top of the Arch. I guess that makes sense, and I'm glad for the warning, because I imagined the elevator moving more like the glass elevator in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4bydZrQzYA)

Again, with the heat! Because we were pulling a trailer, we had to park about 1/4 of a mile away, which might have been ok (although the temperature by 8am was already around 104 degrees), but we had the two little puppies and they would've had to sit in the trailer, with no air conditioning on, during the time we walked to the Arch, took the elevator to the top, looked around & took pictures, and walked back... so, we had to skip it.

We did drive around and around the Arch, though - partly because we wanted to, partly because some of the roads were closed due to the Fourth of July celebrations, and partly because we ended up lost when we detoured.

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In fact, we crossed the Mississippi river... 5 times!

 

Later, in Wyoming, we met a man who lived in St. Louis, and he told us if we wanted moderate weather, the best time to go visit is between November and February...

 

Wish we could've done more there, but I'm happy with the sights we saw!

 

Just outside of St. Louis a couple of miles, at Laumeier Sculpture Park (still considered part of St. Louis) on 12580 Rott Rd (another find on roadsideamerica.com), is a sculpture of a Giant Eyeball. (There are many sculptures there, but that one was the reason we went out of our way.)

 

Once upon a time, when Evan was maybe 7 years old (see previous posts about Evan), he was mad at all of the adults (us, and his parents). I forget what the problem was, but whatever it was was causing him to be sassy, and he wasn't getting away with it. Or something like that. Bottom line is: he was making me giggle, which made him more mad.  

He finally said in his angry little 7 year old voice: "STOP IT! OR I'M GOING TO HIT YOU WITH MY EYEBALL!! uhhhh I mean ELBOW!!" So so funny! That was it - hysterical laughter. (He didn't think it was funny at all, until finally, after he saw this picture, he appreciated it - of course, as I found out in the last blog - he's 10 now, so that probably helps.)

We went out of our way to take THIS picture for Evan! That being said, it's pretty impressive, if you ask me! It was really worth the trip!

 

Sunday's post will be about Kansas City, Missouri.

Minneapolis, FINALLY!

WE MADE IT! FINALLY! We made it..

I had a list of things I wanted to do and see in Minneapolis, if we found ourselves needing things to do and see.

I wanted to go see the Mary Tyler Moore statue, which is in front of Macy’s. I wanted to visit the House of Balls (before you think bad thoughts, the artist sculpts using bowling balls).

I debated whether or not I wanted to see The Shoe Tree, which also has a couple of bicycles hanging in it, along with hundreds of shoes, but then decided to just keep my eye out for it, if we were in the neighborhood anyway, but not go out of our way for it.

I really did want to see Spoonbridge and Cherry - it’s a sculpture of a gigantic spoon holding a cherry...in case that wasn’t clear. It’s in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center.

I also wanted to go to this Italian restaurant, called Trattoria Tosca , because, so it’s been said, not only has super yummy food, but has dishes for you dog, too! I even bought Daisy & Coco pretty little "dress up" collars, so they could go out on the town!

There are no pictures, because we didn’t go. I’m actually not disappointed - but these places are on my list for "next time" if ever I find myself in Minneapolis again.

(Oh, I forgot to mention The Mall of America. We did consider going (but didn't) - but mostly for the air conditioning...)

It was HOT! SO HOT!

AND we were very busy visiting with friends we hadn’t seen for - it seemed like FOREVER! 8 or 9 months for sure. So, we scrapped the "to-do" list and stayed around the campsite and visited, which, really, is the best way to spend time, isn’t it?

(This is the only way to travel with friends - a list of things to do, for just in case, and the flexibility to do none or just some of it, without stress.)

 

 

The one thing that mattered, though, was the Minnesota Twins game!

Fortunately, that mattered to all of us!

We bought our tickets on line

(http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=min),

 

and somehow managed to pick the EXACT right location!

 

I mean, not just that we were right off of First Base,

but our seats were just out of the sun, the entire time!

Don’t you just love baseball? The whole event just feels like ...summer. Who doesn’t feel like a little kid, when you are singing out "Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks"?

The only thing missing was "The Wave". I assumed there’d be a Wave (which was first done at a Mariners’ game, by the way - Woo Hoo Mariners!!) but nope. Maybe it’s ONLY done at Mariners’ games...? Now I don’t know. Who knows this answer? Anyone?

I didn’t have Cracker Jacks...or peanuts, but I did have a footlong ballpark hotdog, cotton candy, a cooler of some sort, a sip of beer and LOTS and LOTS of water.

Twins were playing the White Sox, and White Sox won. The game was still GREAT! With some out-of-the-park home runs and some base stealing (all the great plays were done by the Twins - so even though they didn’t win, the game was really exciting!!)

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We’re off to see the Jolly Green Giant on Wednesday!

(In other news - I can't figure out how to put a "follow" button on here, so if anyone could tell me that, that'd be great! Also, I can't figure out how to allow people who aren't members of "blogspot" to comment, either... I'm certain it's an easy fix, but I don't know what it is... In the meantime, I'm also blogging on http://biggestballofstring.wordpress.com, which has a "follow" button right there and anyone can comment...)