Illinois

Pie at Blue Springs Cafe

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If you are driving on Interstate 70 around the St. Louis, Missouri or Highland, Illinois area you will want to be sure and stop at the Blue Springs Cafe. We saw their signs advertising their famous foot high pies as we were traveling on Interstate 70 from Indianapolis to St. Louis. We couldn’t resist stopping for a middle of the afternoon treat and we are so glad we did. The pie is delicious. I had blackberry pie with a scope of ice cream and my husband had the coconut cream pie. Of course we both had to sample each others and both were worth stopping for.

Next time we travel on I-70 we are going to plan our trip so we can eat dinner at the Blue Springs Cafe. The food looked so good and is served family style.

The Blue Springs Cafe is open daily from 11:00am until 9:00pm. They are located at exit 30 in Highland, IL. For more information the website is www.foothipies.com. They get a 5 star rating from me on the pies and am looking forward to dinner on our next trip through the area.

Spotted a bald eagle

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Near Pere Marquette State Park north of Grafton, Illinois we saw a magnificent bald eagle in the top of a tree. What a treat to see our National Symbol in the flesh, er….in the feather. Info boards at the park said that in the year 2000 there were 43 active nests of bald eagles in Illinois.

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World’s largest wind chime

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You see some out of the ordinary things on US 40, the National Road. Casey, Illinois has some of those things. The world’s largest wind chimes broiught us to a halt a we drove through this little town. The “coming soon” foundations for the allegeded largest rocking chair was a hoot. I wondered how long the chair has been “coming soon”.

World's largest wind chime

World’s largest wind chime

And it will arrive when??

And it will arrive when??

 

My thoughts after returning to Indiana

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We don't see this in Indiana

We don’t see this in Indiana

Sher and I just got back from a fairly quick trip from Seattle to Indiana. We had spent the last three months in the Pacific Northwest, but were wanting to return to Indiana and family for the holiday season. It had been an intersting time, including our trip out to Seattle (mostly on I-90) and the return trip (mostly on I-80).

The trip back to Indiana took us down through Oregon on I-5. We then hooked up to I-80 south of Yuba City, California. Then it was across Nevada, the Utah panhandle, across southern Wyoming, then through Nebraska and on into Iowa, Missouri, finally across Illinois to pick up I-74 to Indiana.

Some musings of mine when we got back home again in Indiana: the Hoosier farm fields seemed so small compared to the ones out West. Where Indiana fields are measured in acres, the open ranges across Wyoming and Nebraska would be measured in sections. A corn stubble field with a few cattle in Indiana would seem like merely strays when compared to the scores of cattle out west. It was also different when you looked out and did not see any mountains, buttes, or foothills.

Another thing about Indiana: no laws saying that you have to have chains with you like Oregon and other states out west. And I really noticed that things look small in the midwest compared to the big sky you see not only in Montana but other states as well.

It is good to be back “home” for a while, but we are looking forward to our next journey.