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Published: October 11th 2007
Our first morning in the company of the Messmores, saw us being greeted by A homemade breakfast speciality of Joel. Sausage and gravy! it was delightful. To be honest when I first saw him dish it up I didn't think much of it. But how wrong I was. Alec was not that impressed! Well he is hard to please. Joke.
We packed our bags and made our way to the Chestnut Mountain Resort in Northern Illinois. Nanny and Grandad Simpson were going to meet us there. It is there where the Messmores were having their family reunion. They have one every two years and we had been kindly invited to attend this one. The drive was not too long, Joel took us along some scenic routes alongside the mighty Mississippi river. An amazing sight it most definitely was. Joel allowed us to go outside and take some pictures of the scenery. opening the car door and into the heat was intense, but what was on offer beyond that was fantastic. I had never seen the Mississippi before and was astounded at its sheer scale and size. It made the River Thames look like a puddle.
We moved on, the
Mississippi
Nice view of the mighty riverjourney would take us around four hours to complete, it was one of the most interesting journeys i had ever been on. Cora was sitting in the middle of me and Alec, she provided us with her dry sense of humour. Cora can come up with some very funny lines. We tried to get her talking in an English accent. She tried but failed miserably!. Ha Ha. The journey drove us through small towns on the river side, which literally took 2 minutes to drive from one side to the other. We Stopped off in a town called Port Byron. A fantastic, quiet town overlooking the River. The towns we passed through were so elegant and had their own character and style about them. The sun would gleam from the River and sparkle the towns into life, Which might I just add were completely deserted. Each small town we went through had a post office, a church, small shops, and a vast array of fast food outlets. Joel knew a lot about the Towns and their history as he grew up around these areas. A very good Tour guide might I say.
Arrival at the Chestnut Mountain resort was
Chestnut Mountain Resort
The view of the surroundings, Iowa is in the distance after around 4 hours. I have no idea how high we were up but it was a lot cooler than down below. A very pleasant 70 i think. More like what we were used to back home in the UK.
We all checked into our rooms which was a huge room suitable for around 8 people. Me and Alec had the sofa bed. (shared again!)
The resort itself is a ski resort in the winter. A walk outside saw us overlooking the Mississippi. The view was out of this world. On the horizon, the other side of the river was Iowa, a different state. so one side you have Illinois and the other you have Iowa. The area was very green and forestry, reflecting the bright sunshine from above. We were high up, you could see the various levels of ski tracks going all the way to the bottom. All around the resort were chair lifts. These took you down to the bottom of the hill and back up again. You could imagine the setting in the heart of the ski season, full of budding ski enthusiasts. The hills and surrounding areas covered in thick, crisp snow. a
Group picture overlooking the River
Left to right: Joe, Beth myself, Alec, Megan and Cora perfect Christmas card picture I would imagine. But we were here in the heart of the Summer and there were beers to be consumed and a party to get to!!!!
By this time a few people started to arrive, we were introduced to a few members of the family. More importantly, Beth, Joe, Sarah and Scott arrived with the beers!! As I mentioned before Beth and Sarah are Joel and Diane's Daughters. Joe is Beth's boyfriend and Scott is Sarah's Boyfriend.
Joe and Scott had a huge and I mean huge crate, filled to the top with ice and various beers. I could sense a very heavy and enjoyably night was in store for us all. I don't no what gave me that idea!! ha ha.
I soon cracked open a beer. Alec soon followed. A lot of us went up to the room. where we stayed and chilled for quite a while, we were introduced to a few more family members. One of them I will never forget, Marsha. Or who I would later refer as the 'Queen of Rum n cokes' She was a very like able and energetic lady. More of her later as
I think she knows she got a little bit drunk! Megan, Marsha's very pretty daughter was introduced to us. She loved our accents! All of us were just getting along nicely, chatting, drinking and nibbling on the huge array of snacks Diane had provided.
Once again I tried to get them all to speak in an English accent, Beth was the funniest, she sounded ridiculous! 'cuppa tea' they tried to say, but it sounded like they were saying 'cuppa tay'. I Even tried to talk in an american accent. Which I thought was pretty good, but it sounded southern to them. 'Hi y'all' i tried to say. Whatever I tried to say they all laughed. A very good feeling.
This was a moment I loved so much, 2 English guys sitting in a room full of a brilliant American family, who were curious about our lives and our countries, questions flowed like the beers down my throat. I love talking to people from different countries and cultures.
Soon before we knew it, it was time for us all to go downstairs for the party. A room was hired for the bash. In actual fact it was like a
Scenery picture
Cora, Alec and myself overlooking the resort. typical wedding reception hall we hire out over here. It kind of felt like home, instead we had the sun and Mississippi outside instead of Cloud and the Thames.
As soon as myself and Alec walked through the door to the hall we were introduced to many family members. I loved the way Diane introduced us to everyone "These are the guys from England" it felt like I was some kind of celebrity.
There was in actual fact a free bar for us all to enjoy, that was music to my ears. You don't hear the words 'free bar' very often so when you do hear them you take full advantage of it. 'pint of bud please mate' I said in my very best English accent within seconds of hearing those immortal words. The barman duly obliged. Well done lad. The bar area was then swamped by youngsters. We all ordered a shot of 'something' once again American shots are bigger than ours back home, but i wernt complaining. The shots were lined up and all 15 of us downed them at once, a very good scene.
Myself and Alec were chatting to various people for ages,
Manchester United in Illinois
advertising the United badge. everyone of them loved our accents, even though half of them couldn't understand poor Alec's'. I was acting as the trans-later again! Most questions people asked were smart, however the occasional not so smart question crept in "do you have cars in England" (a favourite of mine) "do you have pizza hut?" "Do you have the same sun?" OK, well not quite the last one but you get my drift. ha ha. But every single person we met were so friendly. I have not got a single bad word to say about any of them. fantastic bunch.
More and more beers flowed, I was filming a lot of the action on my video camera, memorable footage indeed. You could tell people were gradually looking and acting a tiny bit worse for wear. All the more fun if you ask me. Diane and Marsha were two perfect examples of this. They were our personal beer bitches. and were constantly on tap. They were laughing and giggling uncontrollably at times. A fantastic pair, they were like born again teenagers! You had Diane with her 100th beer and Marsha with her 2000th Rum 'n' Coke. Very funny people. If a little drunk.
Ski slopes
Obviously no snow in the summer. All the girls were drinking like there was no tomorrow and they say us Brits are binge drinkers. Not a patch on these people. Even Andy was drinking and he wasnt even legal. good man.
The whole atmosphere inside the hall was fantastic, everyone was so happy and enjoying themselves.
after many more beers, myself and Alec were dragged onto the dance floor by Megan and Beth, who were both very drunk. I moon-walked the night away naturally!!! Well not quite. I requested a song from the DJ. An Oasis classic was calling. I requested 'Roll with it' I had to get an English feel into the room somehow. I carried on trying to dance, it was more like a drunken shuffle. The feet-and-arms-don't-no-what-to do-with-themselves kind of dance.
The rest of the night was a blur, but I heard from the others the following morning that I wondered off on my own, no-one knew where I was, they sent out a search party, a very drunken search party if you will but still some kind of search party.
no-one could find me for an hour, and to this day have no idea where i wondered off
Ski slopes
The chair lift. Quite cold on them it was. to. They then said I locked everyone out of the room where we were staying for the night. No-one could get in. They were all stuck outside. ha ha. They said that I then opened the door and I then simply just fell on the floor and went to sleep by the door. Joe picked me up and tucked me into bed...next to Alec.....again...
What a night though!
BEERS CONSUMED 15 (APPROX)
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