Illinois Valley Weekend

I'm originally from Illinois - an area a little south of Chicago and west along route 80. It's called the Illinois Valley because it's right along the Illinois River and it's in a valley. The two main towns are LaSalle and Peru and the total population is right around 20,000. Same population as when I lived there! Growing up I didn't really appreciate how beautiful the area really is, so I was excited to go back for the weekend and celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday with many of my family members. The weekend can be summarized in 3 areas - Family, Fun and Food!  

First the Food! My son Tom and I met up at O'Hare airport and rented a car for the 90 minute drive to LaSalle. First stop was before we even left the Chicago area - had to have lunch at Portillo's for the famous Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich. An Italian Beef Sandwich is NOT a Philly Cheese Steak. It is thinly sliced beef marinated for hours in an italian seasoned broth and served on a delicious roll with hot or sweet peppers if you like - and I like! They are all over the Chicago area and Portillo's is just one of your choices. 

That's my lunch - regular beef with sweet peppers - Yumm!!! 

Tom on the other hand has a slightly larger appetite! 

Large beef, hot dog and fries for Tom. And he ate every bite!! 

As soon as we arrived in LaSalle we hooked up with some of the family and my Dad. The discussion was where to go to dinner! My Dad really wanted to go for fish and since he was the birthday boy we let him pick - so first stop Smitty's in Leonore. Leonore is a suburb of LaSalle-Peru population 110!!  Kidding about it being a suburb - it's just a tiny little town about 15 miles away. They appeared to have one restaurant in town - Smitty's! And aparently the entire town goes for dinner on Friday night - so my Dad said we needed to get there at 4:30 to get a table so off we went. And he was correct - the place was packed shortly after we were seated. All you can eat salad, fried fish (Walleye and Cod) and French Fries. And pork tenderloin sandwiches bigger then your head!! 

That bun is actually a large sandwich bun so not exaggerating on the pork tenderloin size! They had some pretty funny sweatshirts too - Where is Leonore? 

Tom and I hadn't intended to eat - but we couldn't resist getting the tenderloin if anything just to see it! And since it was only $6.50 why not? I had a small piece of it but Tom actually was able to eat most of it - and it was good! Not healthy but delicious! We both actually had our hearts set on Peru Pizza for a later dinner - so after we got my Dad home we talked the brothers into heading there for dinner number 2! Peru Pizza did not exist unfortunately when I was growing up - but I can't remember a time I have visited where we haven't gone there. In my opinion it's the best! 

Half sausage and half veggie! It never disappoints!

Now for the Fun! The number one attraction in the state of Illinois is Starved Rock State Park. And it's only a few miles outside of town! The weather was fantastic so Saturday morning Tom and I met up with some of the family there to do some hiking. If you're unfamiliar with Starved Rock let me fill you in. It sits on the south side of the Illinois River and encompasses 2,630 acres of canyons, waterfalls and trails all carved into St Peter Sandstone. It was created by a flood from a melting glacier approximately 14,000-17,000 years ago. St Peter Sandstone is very resistant so it withstood the flood. This type of creation is very unusual for the central plains and that's why it has 2 million visitors a year! In fact on a gorgeous fall weekend with the beauty of the leaves you better get there early before they close the park due to high traffic. There are 13 miles of trails leading to 18 different canyons - 14 of which have waterfalls. 

You might be wondering why it's called Starved Rock. The area was home to Native Americans such as the Kaskaskia, the Illini, the Ottawa and the Potawatomi. The story is that the Illini were pursued by the Ottawa and Potawatomi and chased up to the top of one of the rocks. They stayed up there until they all starved to death - hence the name Starved Rock. Whether or not it's really true is unknown but that's how it got it's name. And it's probably the most commonly hiked trail to the top. 

One of my favorite canyons is the St. Louis Canyon. I really wanted to show it to Tom since he hadn't been there in years so that's where we all met up. It's one of the easier hikes - not really much climbing at all so we got there in no time. As beautiful as I remembered! 

The waterfall is much larger in the spring after the thaw but so pretty in the fall with the leaves. 

Here is one of the hiking group! 

Brothers Dave and Tom, son Tom and Tracy! All in blue!  

Next we headed to the Visitors Center at the entrance to Starved Rock. That did not exist when I was growing up but they have done a great job with it. Lots of great information and cool displays and history of the area. They also do really cool special events which I would definitely take advantage of if I lived closer. You can do leader led all day hikes of every single canyon and it includes a box lunch. Might we worth making a trip back for! 

An arrowhead rich area! My brothers used to walk the farm fields in the spring and fall when the soil was tilled and find them all the time! 

Next we headed to the top of the rock! It's really not a hard hike - seemed so much tougher when I was little. It sits right along the river and the view is beautiful.  And it's also a habitat for the bald eagle - which we did see when we were there!

Tom and I on the top of the Rock! It overlooks the dam and locks - that was always fun coming out to see how the locks worked when we were young.

It's actually worth making a special trip to Illinois to see - and you can stay right out at the Lodge. We drove up to see it - they have added a whole new section of rooms. It's very rustic made of huge logs and has a nice restaurant with good food. Another new area is the outside patio overlooking the park. It was such a nice day it was packed!  

The original part was built in the 30's and has a huge fire place in the lobby. 

It was a great morning and we burned off some of the calories from the day before hopefully! One of my brothers had rented a cabin at Camp Kishauwau for the weekend, so since I hadn't seen it we stopped on our way back to town. Very cool option so keep that in mind if you take a trip there too. It's an old boy scout camp that has been renovated and it's really close to Starved Rock.  

That's a picnic table and fire pit behind their cabin. You can find them on Trip Advisor! 

Saturday night was the birthday party from my Dad so that's the Family part. At first he didn't think he wanted a party - said we could do it another time. But we convinced him that this WAS the right time, and he had a wonderful time. All my brothers came back from across the country - along with various members of their family - spouses and kids. Plus one of his nephews and nieces that we haven't seen in forever made the trip back which really made it a special event! Thanks John and Georgann!! We also invited some of his friends that are still in town so it was a nice group. 

Tom and I on top, me with my brothers and Dad!  

The whole family that gathered! 

Great people - I am blessed!! 

Well the holidays are almost upon us!! I will be staying in town this year - but planning lots of fun things so I will still be blogging about Kansas City. It's a beautiful place with fun things to do all the time! 

I took this picture on my walk the other night! Union Station in the fall - gorgeous! 

The Best is Yet to Be!!! Have a great week! 

Arts Alive!

What a fun night - and it wasn't even a weekend! A great Arts Alive event with my friend Deidre! Arts Alive is a non-profit organization that promotes the visual and performing arts in greater Kansas City through social events hosted by a different organization each month.  

In other words - it's a bunch of people who want to learn more and enjoy the arts while eating and drinking! I like all three! And it's very simple to be a part of it. You just ask to be on the email invitation list and when the events are announced you buy a ticket to attend as quickly as possible. And I mean quick! There are usually only about 120 or so tickets available for each event - and the email list is over 2000 interested art lovers! Each event has 2 parts - typically an art event with appetizers and drinks, and then some type of a performance. 

Part One for this event started at Kemper at the Crossroads. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art has three locations - the main building on Warwick close to the Plaza, Kemper East which is across the street, and the Crossroads. The exhibit we got to see showcased 3 artists that won the 2016 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Awards. 

And as always the museum is free! 

The three artists were at the event and each got to speak about their works. With contemporary art that is always such a bonus for me as it helps me to understand what I'm seeing and experiencing. This is a tough competition with over a 100 artists entering and only 3 selected to receive the grants.

Madeline Gallucci and her beautiful patterned fabric and canvas works. Loved that she even painted designs on the walls of the gallery! 

Shawn Bitters and his volcano conversations. Inspired by the active volcanos in Iceland. Very cool! 

Rodolfo Marion III and his domestic shrines modeled from his past and present. Really interesting. 

We had time to mingle and view the art while enjoying delicious appetizers from one of my favorite restaurants in the River Market - The Farmhouse. All farm to table and their weekend brunch is fantastic! 

Next we headed over to Quixotic for a behind the scenes tour and special performance. I could barely contain my excitement as I have wanted to see this group for a long time. Quixotic is an innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection mapping and live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences.  

I took that straight off their website as I was at a loss for words to describe it except to say AWESOME!! 

The group is based in KC but has gotten so popular they are now performing around the world! 

First stop - the costume room. 

It has to look good on stage and be safe for the performers. 

The show involves quite a bit of dance so they have a dance studio for classes and choreography- and then also a stunt room. 

The stunt room. Really interesting with apparatus and pulleys. 

Then we got to see a special performance put together just for our group. Featured dance with special visual effects, live music by an excellent violinist and contortionists/acrobats. 

The performers introduces themselves post performance and told a bit about their background and how long they had been with the group.  

Deidre and I with Megan Stockman - one of the lead performers and choreographers. She was incredible!  

It was a fabulous evening from start to finish! So many great things to do here in Kansas City - I just need more time!! Happy Fall - I think it has arrived! 

Part 3 - NYC!

How could I be so close to New York City and not visit for a few days? Impossible! I love NYC and haven't come close to doing and seeing it all. So Cindy and I said good bye to the Theta's and the yurts and hopped a train to Grand Central station.  

Top left - beautiful Grand Central Station where we got off our train and were able to jump right over to the subway and head to our apartment on the lower east side - pictured on the bottom. A great room, bathroom and a small kitchen - perfect!! 

We got settled and then realized we needed to grab a tiny bite to eat before heading to Brooklyn to have dinner with Tom and Anna. I used Yelp to locate a good sandwich close to us and we both laughed when it recommended a spot literally right next door to the apartment! 

The Lower East Side Kitchen and typical for the neighborhood, had seating for about 10 people. We shared a turkey burger and it was great! 

We hopped the F train to Brooklyn and made our way to see Tom's new apartment. Loved it! A really great neighborhood called Park Slope and he has a nice one bedroom with a beautiful rooftop patio with a spectacular view of Manhattan. 

We love NY!! 

Anna arrived from Manhattan and we headed over for dinner to a place Tom thought we would like called Lot 2. On Sunday evening they offer a Prix Fixe dinner that includes salad, entree and dessert served family style.  Choice of one but they do have a vegetarian option also. We all loved it!

Delicious salad, flank steak & broccoli with rice and a vegetarian option of fried rice with veggies. Caramel brownies for dessert - Yumm! 

On Monday Cindy and I were up early as we had tickets to visit the 911 Memorial and Museum. That's something I have wanted to do and just never planned far enough ahead to do it. You can purchase tickets 90 days in advance and there are only so many sold for each day. You can take a chance and try and buy one day of but if you have a date I recommend buying in advance so you know you will get in. We followed Tom's directions for which train to take and ended up in exactly the right spot to be on time for our slot!  

The weather was perfect - I couldn't help but remember that the weather on 9/11/01 was exactly the same. 

There are 2 beautiful pools that have the names of the victims carved into the marble surrounding them at the entrance to the former twin towers location. I will admit I have dragged my feet a bit to visit this place. That horrific day is etched into all our minds and hearts - and I knew that it would be a tough morning. It definitely was - but I'm so glad we went. So much time and thoughtfulness has been put into making it a meaningful experience - not just focusing on the events of the day - but of the lives and individuals that died that day. 2,983 people were killed between the attacks of 2001 and 1993 and my favorite piece was a huge wall that had 2,983 blue squares to remember each person - and every single square was a different shade. So meaningful.

No Day Shall Erase You From The Memory Of Time. Virgil 

We spent almost 3 hours there - there is a lot of different parts to see, but we both felt like we needed to wrap it up. But we were both so glad we got to see it. 

Top left - The Vesey St. Stairs called the "Survivors Stairs" because they provided an unobstructed but dangerous exit for hundreds seeking to escape. Top right - The "Last Column" supported the South Tower and was the last piece removed from the wreckage.   

Next up a little lunch. One of my favorite places to grab a great sandwich in NYC is Lennies. They have multiple locations and we easily found one close by. 

Grilled chicken - the sandwiches are big so best to share one - which we did! 

We jumped on the subway and headed to the west side - first stop - the Chelsea St Market.

The Food Network is right above the market! It's a great place where you can get just about anything to eat. 

Next stop The Highline. Located on the west side it's an old train track that has been converted to a public space above the city. Originally built in 1934, the last train ran in 1980. The Highline opened in stages from 2009 to 2014 and is a very cool park like space that has gardens and artwork. And Cindy shared with me that her niece was involved in the design of the space!

Beautiful views of the city and Hudson River. 

What's a day in NYC without stopping at a museum? So we headed to one of my favorites - The Whitney Museum of American Art. The building alone is worth seeing - and it's filled with spectacular art. It has a number of outside patio's offering wonderful views of the city and Hudson River.

Bottom left - Andy Warhol, Bottom middle - Statue of Liberty off in the distance, Bottom right - Carmen Herrera special exhibit. 

That was a full day of sites so we headed to meet Tom for dinner at a restaurant in Chelsea called Westville.  A great little local place that specializes in vegetables - which Tom knows I love! It didn't disappoint.

My entree was all veggies! Brussel sprouts, green beans, zucchini & tomatoes, and cauliflower. All deliciously prepared. 

Tuesday we started off with a great breakfast at one of the most popular and hard to get into spots in Manhattan. The Clinton St Baking Company is rated as having the best pancakes in town - and walking distance from our apartment! There can be as much as a two hour wait to get in, but I was happy to see when we arrived that they had expanded and taken over the space next door - so we got right in! And the food was as good as I remembered!

Blueberry pancakes and eggs with grits and fried green tomatoes - both great! 

We had a small window of time to do a little shopping in Soho so along the way I was able to point out to Cindy a few well known places.

Katz's Deli - famous scene from the movie "When Harry Met Sally," Russ & Daughters - great bagels! Crazy fruit in Chinatown and dog walker with his hands full. 

We did get to shop - mostly at Uniqlo and ended up getting some great deals on clothes for fall. Then we hopped on the train and headed up to the Upper East Side to see The Solomon Guggenheim Museum. Cindy and I both were anxious to visit because the building architect was Frank Lloyd Wright- who's home and studio is In Oak Park, IL. It's a really interesting building both inside and out.

Located at 89th and 5th Ave. Interesting art inside too! 

Is it a visit to NY without stopping at The Metropolitan Museum of Art? I don't think so! I love the Met! It's huge and I can best compare it to the Louve in Paris. Such a beautiful building and packed with extensive collections of art of every genre. Tom told us not to miss the rooftop bar for a spectacular view of Central Park and the city so we headed there first and he was correct.

Looking out over Central Park! 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - inside and out!

We browsed through a few areas - spending most of our time seeing the extensive Impressionist collection. But then decided to take a walk through Central Park since the weather was perfect.  

A musician playing in almost every tunnel.  

We came out of the park right at The Plaza Hotel so decided to take a peek inside. Gorgeous!! Who hasn't seen Home Alone Two which is set there!

Central Park carriage and inside the Plaza. 

We were heading to Times Square and decided to browse down 5th Avenue and do a little window shopping. I definitely can't afford real shopping there! 

Windows at Bendel's - as entertaining as Christmas! And 30 Rock statue. 

This was my final night so we had purchased tickets to see The Color Purple on Broadway. Tom and Anna were meeting us and we were all really looking forward to seeing it. The reviews were great but we were all totally blown away by the emotion and the talent of the performers. At one point when the lead female was singing the audience spontaneously gave her a standing ovation - I have never seen that ever happen! It brought many people in the audience to tears - us included. I can't say enough great things about it! 

Cindy and Anna waiting to go in. Times Square! 

It was almost time to leave - I hated to have to say good bye to Tom and Anna. We headed for a night cap at a very cool swanky place called The Tavern on 51 right off 5th Avenue. 

Dark wood paneling and low lighting - just like in the movies. 

Another great trip in the books - and it was so much fun to share one of my favorite cities with Cindy, spend time with Tom, and meet Anna! Thanks to all 3 of you for making it so memorable!!

Part 2 - The Yurts!!!

From the beaches of South Carolina I headed straight to Westchester County in New York - to spend the weekend "roughing it" with my college sorority sisters. A totally different terrain but equally beautiful. Our fearless leader and supreme planner Kim did a fantastic job of making a memorable and fun weekend for those that attended - some of who I hadn't seen in too many years to count! 

Located in Westchester and great for hiking and fishing. Over 1,000 acres and the highest mountain in the county. 

Arrivals occurred throughout the afternoon on Friday and into the evening - from all over the country. It was non-stop talking and maybe a few glasses of wine as we all got reacquainted down by one of the 5 lakes. 

That's Kim - the hostess with the mostest wearing her original Theta pledge t-shirt! 

The park was gorgeous - and the leaves were just starting to change color.  

Now for the "roughing it" part. We stayed Friday and Saturday night in yurts! Don't know what a yurt is? Well neither did I until recently! They are kind of a cross between a tent and a cabin. Ours were pretty large - had sleeping capacity for 10 per yurt. They were very clean and had limited electricity - one light in the center and one electrical outlet. Not heated which was the only thing that really was a bit of an issue as the temperature got down into the low 40's at night!! We learned our lesson the first night and the second night we were all wearing most of the clothes we brought to sleep in!! And we were still cold! The bathroom was about 50 yards away and heated a bit - so there was a rush in the morning to take a hot shower and warm up. Luckily they were hot showers!! But now we can all proudly say we slept in a yurt! 

Kim had signs on the yurts like bars in Champaign - Kam and Dooleys - so cute! And that's our dining hall in the top left corner.  

Kim led a hike for those of us that were up early Saturday morning - and the overlook was spectacular. Worth getting up for and more great time to chat!

Kim, Cindy W., me, Marysue and Nancy. Cindy M. taking the picture and in the pic on the left. The early risers! 

After hiking we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then a yoga class was available. Yoga - why not??!! 

Benjamin was the teacher and he was great!

There was also a masseuse available throughout Saturday - and quite a few took advantage of that. In a grassy area that was affectionately called "The Quad" Kim had a band play for 3 hours in the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and the bonfire going the whole time. 

On Saturday Kim invited a bunch of her good friends from the area to join us in the festivities. 

And then another band played Saturday night post dinner in the dining hall and they were fantastic. Everyone was up and dancing most of the night. 

Kim put together a great slide show taking us back 40 years. And Cindy showed a video of 2 of our old waiters that she interviewed to get their perspective on working in the house - priceless! 

There were so many great little thoughtful touches that Kim added to make the weekend special.  

Even pansies in pots!!! 

Kim hired a caterer to do most of the food for the weekend - and it was all delicious. I can't even begin to imagine how many hours this all took for Kim to plan. She started the process last year and was on top of every detail - including coordinating flights and transportation to get everyone to the park, renting linens, taking beverage requests, planning activities and being a superb and gracious host!! Thanks a million Kim!!!

I think the trip exceeded everyone's expectations - and was so much fun to reconnect with friends from an important time in our lives. There is already talk of putting another one together maybe next year in a different location. Napa anyone????

My great yurt mates!!! Back row - Nancy W., Nancy H., Bette, Linda. Front -  me, Cindy and Marysue. 

There was a Part Three to my trip so that blog post will be next. I never get tired of traveling!! Thanks for coming along! 

The Low Country

This post is coming to you from Seabrook Island South Carolina - known as The Low Country. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors and the majority of his books take place here - so it's been on my places to visit list for quite some time. I'm here with my best girl friends from high school so I have the Garth Brooks song "Friends in Low Places" lyrics playing in my head non stop. 

Seabrook Island is a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina close to Charleston. It's right along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline next to Kiawah Island, and you must be a member or a guest to enter. What a beautiful place! We rented a gorgeous home right on the beach that one of the girls friends owns and it has been perfect!

Our house!! Right on the beach and a lovely screened in porch facing the water.  

My view every morning of the sun coming up! Most mornings it was just me and the sea gulls watching. 

The low lands are exactly as I pictured - beautiful tree shaded roads with low water alongside with reeds growing around them. Lots of birds and Spanish moss on the trees. 

Some of the roads had an entire canopy of trees shading them - but there was always too much traffic to stop and take a picture.  

The beach was gorgeous - and right outside our door. Beautiful hard packed sand so easy to walk on and not crowded at all.  

Some of the girls enjoying the sunshine! Rain was predicted every day but outside of an occasional 5 minute sprinkle it was perfect! 

Something that South Carolina beaches are famous for is dolphin sighting - and we were not disappointed. Early in the morning one day at sunrise I saw one jump out of the water and flop on it's back - very cool! And almost every day late in the afternoon while walking on the beach we often saw a number of them coming up and out of the water. 

This was taken standing right in front of our house!! 

About a half mile from our house were 5 nature walks we checked out. They went from the road in front of the houses alongside the houses and then through the ground cover all the way to the beach. Remember there are lots of low lying pools of water so where necessary they are like piers connecting you to the beach. Each one was a little different but all really interesting. You could see fish and other reptiles close up. 

Middle left picture is a jelly fish on the beach. Thanks Liz!!! I almost stepped on it!! 

Seabrook Island is beautiful but we decided to take a ride over to the sister island of Kiawah and check it out. Just like Seabrook you need to be a resident or guest to gain access so we might have fibbed just a little to gain access. It is a more established area so seemed a bit more upscale if that's even possible. The main focal point is the Kiawah Island Golf Resort so we decided to check it out. It was very formal and looked to be decorated by Ralph Lauren! But the staff was very friendly and didn't mind our posing for pictures at various points. 

Liz doing her Super Star imitation!! Same beautiful beaches we have at Seabrook. 

Seabrook is about a 45 minute drive from Charleston so one day we scheduled a walking tour and headed into town to take in the history. I used Trip Advisor and selected The Two Sisters Tour.  Our tour guide was awesome! Her name was Mary Helen Dantzler and she is one of the two sisters. I believe she said her family has been in Charleston for 7 generations - so very knowledgeable, friendly and interesting. You do need to schedule in advance because the tours do fill up and by law they can only have a maximum of 20 people on a tour. I booked our group online and they got right back to me to confirm our date and time. 

Mary Helen looks like one of us - but sh'e wearing a hat so we know she's from the south! 

The tour was about two and a half hours and it just flew. Charleston had the first theater, the first golf course and the first whisky. It was founded in 1670 and still has cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and beautiful antebellum homes. It is situated overlooking Charleston Harbor with Fort Sumter across the water. 

They still preserve the technique of hand woven baskets and they are sold on the sidewalks by the crafter.  

A row of painted lady homes. 

The Nataniel Russell House. Liz trying out the joggling board - a bouncing board used to exercise. Made from flexible wood 10 - 16 feet long. Kind of a combination rocking chair and teeter totter. 

There were a number of other historic homes you could tour through so I would like to return and check that out too. We ended the tour with Mary Helen at the first theater in the country - and it's still operating! Then headed for a delicious lunch of southern food at a well known restaurant called Magnolia's. Reservations definitely recommended. 

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens for some - Whitefish and rice with veggies for others. I think there was also an order of shrimp and grits. All delicious! And wine of course because we are on vacation! 

We walked around the downtown historic area a bit more - very easy to get around, and ended up going to a rooftop bar at the  Pavilion Hotel because we heard it had a great view. True!

Check out the rooftop pool!!! 

At the junction of Seabrook and Kiawah Island there is an awesome shopping, restaurant, bar, and grocery store area called Fresh Fields Village. We stocked our house with lots of great food from the grocery store and had breakfast and some lunches at the house. There was a good selection of restaurants so twice we went to a place called La Tela Pizzeria that had what some of us thought was the best pizza ever! They also had fantastic interesting salads and pasta dishes along with a nice wine list. As we were getting ready to head there one night Mary Kelly surprised us with colorful tutu's for each of us!! So of course we popped them on and wore them out to dinner. Because why not!!! Needless to say it got quite a bit of attention from the other patrons - but people were really getting into helping us pose for pictures - and even taking some on their own phones. This is how one really nice woman posed us for pictures - and even asked the bartender if we could sit on the bar!!! I swear it was not our idea!!

Every year something crazy happens. Last year it was matching cheetah pants - the year before fascinators for all. Love these girls!!! Always young at heart.

Another thing we did that we had heard was worth doing was tour a plantation. We picked Middleton Place and were not disappointed. There are a number to chose from and they each have a slightly different focus. Middleton Place has the oldest landscaped gardens in America and are modeled after Versailles. Only one part of the original plantation home is still standing. The home was badly damaged due to fire by Union troops and then further by the earthquake in 1886. The remaining home has been restored and available to tour but no photography allowed. 

Top right - entrance to the original home, Top middle - a small chapel, Top right and bottom are the remaining home. 

Eliza's House on the bottom. Residence for freed slaves that returned to work on the plantation after the Civil War. Chicken coop behind it with chickens wandering around along with sheep and goats. 

Beautiful gardens right by the river - from overhead resembles a butterfly. The statue entitled "Wood Nymph" survived the war because it was buried. 

Since we are all celebrating momentous birthdays this year including Julie's the actual week we were there - we wanted to celebrate our last night together with a fantastic special night. Hege's in Fresh Fields Village had gotten a great recommendation from numerous people so that's where we dined. 

Fantastic!! Top left is my appetizer. Was some kind of a vegetable layered combination of deliciousness never to be attempted by me. Other entrees were halibut, lobster, lamb, pork chops and mixed grill.  

Most of us wearing our matching Tiffany jewels. And amazing desserts we shared! Happy 60 to all of us! 

Happy Birthday memories to each of us from Liz!!! Engraved wine glasses that were well broken in that week. 

Sunset on the beach with girls that have been by my side for a lifetime!! 

Just good bye for now - already planning for next year! 

This trip exceeded my high expectations. It was beautiful, relaxing, restful, interesting and fun! There is something for everyone and every activity level. Seabrook has a wonderful fitness center, horseback riding, golf, tennis, bike riding, kayaking, fishing etc. And there are numerous restaurants available right on the property. There are also condo's to rent if a house is too much for you. In fact I'm already ready to return!!! Hope you make it a great week!!!