Geo: 41.9942, -88.2922Today brought an end to my mini-vacation. It started with a good breakfast at the Drury Inn. The selections included: waffles, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with peppers for making a spicy wrap, sausage, biscuits and gravy, breakfast potatoes, oatmeal, pastries and cereal. I really enjoyed this hotel and will use this chain again if it is in an area I am traveling to.It was already 77 degrees and humid when I left the hotel at 7:30 so I was glad my trip was at an end. Saturday and Sunday were comfortable for walking and being in the sun. Monday and Tuesday were not. I encountered a small amount of traffic heading in to St. Louis, but that cleared out as I got closer to the city. I crossed back over the Mississippi and headed ... read more

Geo: 36.0632, -94.1579After some much needed relaxation at the Weaver Inn in Mansfield, it was time to head out en route to new sites and a new state! Breakfast on Sunday did not start until 8 so I did not get on the road until 8:30. My total trip today was projected at 162 miles so I had plenty of time to stop along the way as needed.My first stop today was Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. This is a national park site and is located just outside the town of Republic MO. It took me a little under an hour to drive to the park and it was easy to find, which I always appreciate. The exhibits in the museum are free, however there is an entrance fee for the tour road. The fee is $15 ... read more

Geo: 37.1067, -92.5806Today was a driving day. I love road trips to new places because you get to take in all the sites along the way. Flying gets you to places faster, but you don't see much from a plane. The first half of the trip today was along roads I had traveled before. The second half was all new to me.I spent last night in Itasca at my parents house so I could drop Isabelle off for her vacation. That made for easy access to I-355 to get my trip started. Then I-55 all the way to St. Louis. I haven't been this direction since Renee graduated from ISU, but the route to Bloomington seemed the same. I was hoping to see the capitol dome in Springfield, but I couldn't find it while going past. ... read more

Geo: 41.975, -88.0072 Monday morning I got up early, hauled my luggage uphill to the train station and got on the train to the Brussels Airport. Signage at the airport was great and it was easy to get to the right area to check in for my flight. There is a lot of security happening at this airport! I was asked questions about my bags before I could check in for my flight, had to go through security and then was asked about my bags and if I bought anything in the airport before boarding. These Europeans are on top of things! There was a delay in backing out of the gate because of some computer issues in the tower. Once that was sorted out, we took off, had an uneventful flight and landed at O'Hare. ... read more

Geo: 50.8371, 4.36761So yesterday I thought Brussels would not have enough to offer for more than one day. I was mostly right, unless you want to go to a lot of museums. I don't want to do that so one day was fine for me.First, the Novotel has a huge buffet breakfast! Yogurts, veggies, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, baked beans, potato cakes, cereals, pastries of all kinds, breads of all kinds and pancakes. There was a variety of juices, chocolate and regular milk and a coffee machine that looked fancy but I did not use. I really enjoy the yogurt that is part of the breakfast. I had it at the last two hotels as well with a variety of fruits to put on it. Here there were apricot halves that seemed to be soaked ... read more