Starved Rock

 Today was our big trip to Starved Rock.  Ruth planned it, took mom for a trial run to make sure the chair would work, got Spark and Dan to hook up an inverter for the electricity and even researched the best options for mom. We all started arriving at mom's just before 8:00 am to get everything packed in the wheel chair van. Rachel, Diane, Ruth, mom and I fit just fine. The wheel chair and the commode was put in the far back.  The van was on empty so we had to stop for gas at the station on Airport road and took guesses on how much it would take to fill it. Diane won as it only took $115.00. The tank wasn't as big as we thought. We started down the road when Diane's door swung open. The van is older and the latch stuck. She needed to roll down the window and pull the latch from outside to get the door to shut.  Of course I as the driver didn't bother slowing down, Diane likes to live dangerously. We had an easy trip and arrived before 10:00 am.  Below Rachel was showing mom the bear in the lodge. 

Since we had time to kill we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful morning. The sun was out and there were tables set up outside on the top of some pretty steep cliffs. There were plenty of signs warning people to stay on the trails and no climbing over the guard rails. We found a big carved bench and a man was gracious enough to take our picture.

That was next to the gift shop so of course we went in to check out the over priced merchandise. 

We were ushered into the dining room at 11:00 am and given menus.

Just then Diane got another rental for her Gulf Shores condo from a repeat customer and this time it was for a week in October. She was busy answering while the rest of us looked at the menus. 

The package Ruth found cost $55.00 and included lunch from the menu plus a soft drink/coffee/tea, a trolley tour and a boat tour and lasted 4 hours.  Lunch was really good. Mom and I both ordered the cod dinner with fresh green beans and potatoes.

Ruth ordered the chicken fried steak also served with potatoes and green beans.

Rachel ordered the pot roast.

and Diane ordered the chicken salad croissant with home baked chips.

Lunch was scheduled for an hour so by noon we had to line up for the trolley to take us to the boat. In the picture below we are loaded on the trolley and had the back of it to ourselves. BTW both Diane and I were trying to take a selfi and we decided we must not be very good at that. 

Our tour guide told us lots of information about Starved Rock on our way to the river. Below we are getting loaded on the boat for our river tour.

We saw lots of beautiful scenery and some of the Asian carp as those jumped out of the water close to the boat. After the boat ride we were back on the trolley and taken to a park to see some bison. 

The next stop was the lock and dam. That was very interesting.

The building was like a museum with a lot of the birds of the area mounted on the walls. While we were there a pontoon boat was brought into the locks. Ruth took that opportunity to have mom stand a couple times at the railing.  Below is a short video of some of our trip.

We arrived back at the lodge at 3:00 pm and made our way back to the wheel chair van for the ride home.  The recliner worked perfectly for mom, she was comfortable on the ride there and on the ride home. 

Diane took that picture. Mom could have the chair all the way reclined and sleep if she wanted. We decided this was the way to travel and the trip was good fun.  IF you would like to see the pictures from today click HERE.

We dropped Diane off at her office before heading to mom's. Once the van was unloaded and mom and her chair safely back in the house I left for home. I finally got the information on Rocky's transportation. He is supposed to be picked up on Wednesday BUT they are bringing a semi truck and trailer which means I will need to haul him to the water tower.  The owner is going to get me the driver's name and number so we can get that arranged. The Yucca plant right outside our door is in full bloom. This picture was taken yesterday but I forgot to post it. 

The white flowers behind are hydrangea. Funny that both produce white flowers. Mark had no idea what color they would produce when he planted them. 

Oksana was teased and is still in but not covered. I'll need to check her in the morning and get that done if she is still in there. The colt was taken up 2 gallons of milk and now I'm getting ready to hit the sack. It wasn't a hard physical day but for some reason I'm tired.