By self-isolating during the pandemic, we remained healthy but lost our sense of adventure. While talking with an acquaintance at the grocery last week, a woman about my age, I found that Bud and I weren't alone in our hesitancy to 'get back out there'. (There's probably a word - maybe a new one - to describe this phenom.)
We decided on baby steps and planned a two-day adventure back to an area where I once briefly lived and the town my youngest granddaughter now calls home. We are still avoiding weekends which are generally more crowded and asked Dominique if there were any week days that worked for her. Those were Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. As it turned out, those days were perfect, sunny and temperate, while before was extremely hot and since we have been getting the rainy days we so desperately need. Here are a few photos from the first part of Tuesday afternoon.
We arrived about 12:30 with plans to go almost immediately to lunch. But first a quick tour of the home Dominique shares with her partner, Ian.
Starting with a walk around outside admiring the garden beds.
Grandpa Bud and Dominique bonded over their love of running many years ago.
Ian bought this old Victorian several years ago and has been working to restore it authentically.
Rebuilding the porch/deck is the current project. Their big shade tree in the SE corner of the yard was lost during the very destructive derecho last August.
Mt. Vernon has so many beautiful old homes. Their's is just one of many on this street.
I should have taken more interior pictures. The woodwork, floors, stairs, lighting fixtures, floor registers, etc. are all so gorgeous.
This photo is the living room - on the front of the house where those three windows are in the above picture.
I moved to Mt. Vernon with my 5-year-old son in the summer of 1967 and worked in nearby Lisbon. But with all the exploring I did of the area, I never made it to Sutliff, or even heard of it. Now Baxa's Sutliff Store and Tavern is a popular destination for dining, music and viewing the Cedar River and the bridge across it.
Before we went inside to order lunch, I spied this stunner and had to take some pictures. I became a Mopar fan as soon as I started grade school and heard the older kids argue about which was best, a Ford, Chevy or Plymouth. My Dad had an old Dodge sedan when I was little, but bought a brand new '49 Plymouth the fall I started first grade.
The beauty in this photo is a 1956 DeSoto Firedome. It was love at first sight for me.
After enjoying lunch on the patio, we started across the Sutliff Bridge over the Cedar River. After a new bridge was built in 1983, this old bridge was slated for destruction, but it was saved and ultimately placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bud and Dominique are standing on the eastern span of three which was washed away in a flood in June, 2008. That span was replicated and replaced four years later at an estimated cost of 1.7 million dollars. The original bridge cost was around $12,000 when it was constructed in 1898.
A view upriver with the new Sutliff Road NE bridge across the Cedar barely visible. Note the many sandbars evident because of the low water levels.
I was intrigued by the flocks of pigeons on those sandbars. I wonder what they were eating?
Grandmother and Granddaughter midway across the bridge. 💕💞😎💛
Taken from the west side of Cedar River. The advantage of being here during the week is having the bridge almost entirely to ourselves.
The second full day of summer - such a beautiful and perfect afternoon. And it's not over yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment