rantings of a Blue Hair Wannabe: A Road Well Traveled: 2014.1 New Travel Partners

Ah....summer.
How I love thee.....finally......you are here.

I has been a long, never-seeming-to-end winter. All I can say is.....snow days!

I finally packed up my classroom, spent a couple days at home getting life in a kind of order and.....
.......I'm OFF!

This year I am road tripping with Mommy and Daddy! They have been so overjoyed on our trip today, anxiously awaiting to see what adventure awaited us around the next bend in the road.

Dad getting gassed up!

Our first stop was in Effingham, Illinois, along I-57. Daddy kept asking, "How far off the road do we have to drive?" Dad is not one to go off the beaten path....never has been. He was definitely out of his comfort zone on this trip.

I picked this first one, because I really thought he might like stopping at a replica of a 1910 gas station. It was pretty cool to see. The idea was you can pull your car up and have a photo op "filling" your car with gas. I was worried that the mighty Durango might not fit in that little drive, so I didn't mention this opportunity to the parental units. I could just see the news crews showing up to show the crazy Iowa family that got stuck at the fake gas station.....yeah - I would have waved!

The bonus was a museum call My Garage with a Corvette display and some awesome VW stuff! Did I mention that this was FREE?

A nifty VW Cow!
I named it Farfegnugen.

High five at the Drive-In!

The coolest thing we found in the gift shop was this awesome bucket of PIGS! The idea is to take the pig and photograph it where ever you go on vacation. Guess which piggy came home with me?

"Pick me, Pick me!"

Yup....do you see him peeking? Have Pig....Will Travel!

On our way out of Effingham, the pig showed us the other site they are famous for....

The Cross at the Crossroads.
It is located at the junction of I-57 and I-70.
Holy Buckets was it TALL!
That'll do pig, that'll do.

We did a Dad tourism trip for our next site. It goes kinda like this.....

"Hey, look! There is that Mini Washington Monument you wanted to see! Quick pull out your camera and snap a picture! Why even stop at that one....it is soooo close to the road!" This is Dad's idea of vacation. You can see the sites of DC and never have to leave Illinois! Whoo hoo! Bonus points!

Our final stop for the day was Metropolis.......the home of SUPERMAN! I was so excited to get my picture with the statue, or maybe even see the Man of Steel HIMSELF!

Little did I know that it is Superman Celebration Weekend! I am talking carnival rides and a Superman on every corner. This became another dream vacation for Dad. Drive by photos, no museum lines....no funnel cakes. Ugh.....so not fair!

This is as close as we could get without having to walk blocks through the chaos. The small bonus was a twofer. The huge statue AND the Man of Steel. Thank goodness for a telephoto lens on my camera! If only a shop would have been open to get a cape of my very own....dreaming now, I know.

So we got turned around to head back out of the mighty Metropolis and finally......