543.9

We have the smell of baking banana nut bread wafting through the Lilac Thicket this afternoon.  It smells like heaven.  If it gets the Professor's 2 thumbs up I will share the recipe.  I found a bag full of over ripe banana's for 99¢ on Thursday morning at my HyVee and I knew that my dear and darling husband wouldn't touch them.  I beat them all up and then measured out ½ and 1 cup portions of them and tucked them in the freezer for my next venture in banana cooking, maybe a cake or cookies!  I have been skimming through my cookbooks for a Date Nut bread recipe.  I found one in a 1962 Good Housekeeping cookbook.  I will give it a whirl later.


I want to make some chili and have the hamburger thawing on the counter.  I love chili and there are SO many ways to use it.  I am thinking lunch at work!

The Professor and I travelled 543.9 miles in two days!  We drove down through Joplin and hit Arkansas, swung east and went through Eureka Springs and then headed north up US 65 to Branson.  We spent the night in Branson, we is poor as church mice so we took in nothing but the motel room.  We did have a lovely view!  Yesterday morning we headed out at 9am and swung into a gas station only to see:

Well my heart just about stopped but they didn't open for another hour and I really didn't have money to spend so we resumed our trek home.  We jumped back on 65 north and hit Springfield, headed west for a moment or two and then took Missouri 13 to Missouri 7 until we ended up right by the Professor's church.  We were a hop, skip and a jump from home.  We wanted to make sure our Orphanstinkels were okay.  We had left them with access into the garage with plenty of water, food and their sleeping cushions.  They did miss us and met us at the kitchen door.  Bless their little puppy hearts they didn't touch a morsel of food!


So the purpose of our trip was to view the autumn colors in the Ozarks.  What a disappointment!  Most of the trees were still green, in fact our trees here are more colorful!  We did very much enjoy our road trip and the Professor got to see some of his new home, Missouri.


South of Joplin we took a wrong turn and found:

The Professor has admired George Washington Carver for a long time.  He read about him when he was younger and Carver had really impressed the Professor.  You know there is no such thing as luck, we had no idea this monument was there and this really was the highlight of the trip for the Professor.

This the furniture that Carver retired to each night, the bed the quilt, the steamer trunk the bed table and bible.

There were lots of exhibits with items Carver used in his studies and experiments.

This the cabin that Carver was born in.  It was quite small

There were lots of stones on the ground around the property with quotes of Carver.

There were busts and statues all over too!

Carver was fascinated by needlework, I mean who knew!  I think this is tatted, it is gorgeous!  This place was a wonderful place to visit.  It was crawling with home schooled children the day we were there.


We didn't take any pictures when we were in Eureka Springs Arkansas.  Highway 12 was a narrow 2 lane road this steep hills and hairpin turns for 50 miles or so.  There was no place to pull over to take pictures.  God as my witness the Ozark Hills are the most amazingly beautiful place, hillbillies are darn smart they settled there because to gaze morning, noon and eve at that magnificent creation of God seems darn ingenious to me.  The road on our right was a drop off with no or few guard rails.  The road on our left was a steep incline.  When there was a break in the trees I wanted to witness the beauty but was afraid to take my eyes off the road.

Branson was a very bustling place.  Traffic was horrible and it took me a while to find our HomeStay Branson Inn.  Our room faced the east and this is a picture from our motel door.  It was a pretty view.

On 13 North we did stop at an arm of Truman Lake which was right off the highway.

Pretty little wild flowers were growing in between the rocks there.

It was a beautiful day even if the lack of a smile on the Professor's face in this picture makes you think otherwise.  I mean he spent 48 hours non-stop with his lovely and entertaining wife, who could ask for more?


Tomorrow it is back to work and our lovely weekend comes to an end.  I hope you had a lovely weekend with your loved ones too!