Dave and I took a wonderful trip to Peoria this last weekend. It was my first trip back to Illinois since getting married and moving to Connecticut. The main purpose of the trip to go to my Grandma S’s 80th birthday celebration, but we squeezed in some time to visit a couple of other favorite folks too.

We left on Thursday afternoon and zipped through Connecticut, New York, and into Pennsylvania as far as Milesburg where we stayed overnight. We got up early and drove the rest of the way through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and made it to Illinois in time for dinner at my parent’s house. This trip we took highway 30 in Ohio to 24 in Fort Wayne and had good luck with that choice. The 2 lane roads were trying at times, but we were able to make good time anyway.

After dinner with my parent’s, Dave and I went to Bergner’s to spend some money we received from the wedding since there isn’t a Bergner’s here. I realized, once again, how wonderful a provider my fabulous hubbie is when I was wandering around trying desperately to find something I need to spend the rest of the money on the gift card. I am certainly blessed!

On Saturday morning we woke up early to have breakfast with my fabulous friend Jodi. We had a very nice visit and it was so great to see her. She gave me the sweetest little craft she’d made and a gift bag of different kinds of tea. It was a bummer to have to say good bye again, but we needed to be off to my Aunt P’s house for a visit with my Grandma B.

Dave took me on a little road trip on Saturday to Cape Cod. We had a great time driving around, visiting a couple of lighthouses, and dining. I had never been to Cape Cod before and it was nice to see the ocean too! Rhode Island has to be just the cutest little state ever…it took a whopping 40 minutes to traverse the entire state, on somewhat of a diagonal no less! That’s like driving between Peoria and Bloomington-Normal, with traffic. “The Cape”, as the locals call it, is pretty interesting. The lighthouses are really neat, the beaches are scenic and the ocean is amazing. I can only imagine how busy it is out there during the tourist season though so I am glad we went out during the off-season.

On our way home we decided to stop for a bite, but could not find a local seafood place. We drove into Hyannis and found every national franchise chain you can imagine, but we wanted something local and seafood. Finally, when we were about to turn around, we saw a restaurant called Clancey’s and decided to stop there. I had a cup of Lobster Bisque; Dave had a bowl of Clam Chowder. Then we had some yummy crab cakes and our entrée was called Scallops Monterey. The scallops were the ocean variety served over a stuffing/bread crumbs mixture with melted Monterey Jack over the top and it was scrumptious! So Clancey’s was a nice, out of the way find!

On Sunday, we went to mass, had breakfast at Dave’s parent’s house and afterward, Dave loaded the pick-up with firewood so we could keep nice and cozy during the next few weeks. We came home, unloaded the firewood and I took a long winter’s nap while Dave did computer work. We went back over to Dave’s parent’s house for dinner and had a really nice evening.

Well, I have household chores to accomplish before starting our dinner. Have a great day!!