Saturday April 9th we started on another adventure with the Sisters. There were 7 of us from 13 to 82. We met at Connie's to begin our adventure.Which started off with a new invention. We call it the Purse Pole and no home should be without one. There is a patent pending.
We decided to ask some granddaughters this year. I think they had a good time and although we haven't voted on it, I believe they will be asked back next year. We left Connie's about 9 A.M. and with a quick stop at the church for Connie to leave a salad and another quick stop for Kirby and Angie to get some caffeine, we were on our way to Marcelline Missouri.. It was cool and a little foggy when we left but by the time we got to Missouri the sun broke out and it was a beautiful day. We planned to go to Mom's Cafe for lunch. The lady who runs the B & B told me about it. I had looked up the address on the Internet. But the address we went to was a private home (thanks Map Quest). We asked a lady out walking (stranger #1) where it was and she gave us good directions. It was actually called Ma Vic's. The food was good. Connies tenderloin looked like it had wings. 
After lunch we were off to the museum. Some of us opted to walk the short way while the rest drove. We walked through Ripley Park. It was a pretty little park that had a couple of rail cars, a pretty little pond and some playground equipment. As you can see the weather was great. Sunny and warm.
The museum was in a restored railway station. The people who were there were all volunteers. The lady who did our tour had actually had Walt & Roy and their wives stay at her house. She was very knowledgeable. The downstairs was a lot of letters that Walt had written to his sister Ruth and other documents, some railroad memorabilia and a short movie you could watch.
These were a couple of old Mickey's.
The upstairs had miniature Disneyland. This is Cinderella castle.
This is the famous tea cup ride. 
The upstairs was a work in progress. As you can see some people didn't heed the warnings! There was also a train watching area as Marcelline had over 70 trains a day come through. 
This is one of my favorite pictures I took this time. We were leaving the Museum and heard a train coming. Cindy and Katlin decided to go a get a picture. The engineer blew his whistle just as Cindy was trying to take the picture and I snapped this one just in time. Funny. Next we headed a few miles away to the actual boyhood home of Walt. The home itself is occupied so you cant' do through but you can go to the Dreaming tree and the barn. The tree is in sad shape. The family had planted another to take it's place so it won't be lost totally. The tour lady told us Walt often was in charge of taking care of his little sister Ruth and would take her out under this tree and draw picture of woodland creatures (mice) and make up stories to go along with the pictures. 
This is the family barn. They called it Walt's happy place as he spent a lot of time dreaming and imagining there. They called it the start of Disney's Imaginerring. Everyone can wirte their name or a message on the inside of the barn and so we all did.
Next it was time to check out our B & B. It was called the Uptown Theatre B & B because it was above the theatre. Go figure. We stayed in the Disney Suite and it was more like an apartment. It had 2 bedrooms, a living room with a hide-a-bed, a dining room, and small kitchen and a very small bathroom. I mean very small. I should have taken a picture of it but didn't. It was all decorated in Mickey Mouse stuff. Everything was Mickey from the bedding to the dishes and everything in between.
This was one of the bedrooms and you can see what I mean. The beds were very comfortable. This bedroom had a bonus. There was a secret passageway down to the theatre from this room. The younger ones went down and explored. Then we played some games and laughed so hard we worked up an appetite. You would kind of think all we do is eat on these trips wouldn't you?
We went accost the street to the end of the block to a Mexican restaurant. My food was good but there were a few who thought they didn't get what they had ordered. And maybe some mystery meat was involved. Ay ya ay! Back to our B & B for more games. The owner (Debra) was supposed to hook up a DVD player so we could watch a movie on the big movie screen. But she had to take her mother (who was on crutches) to the Prom so she was later thatn she thought. I didn't ask but I guess her mother didn't want to leave before prom was over. She finally got it done about 9:30. Some of the younger ones (the ones with babies) were already sacked out for the night but 4 of us trooped down stairs in our PJ's and watched Little Fockers. Debra made us fresh popcorn and it was the best I ever had. None of us could stay awake till the end of the movie and it was kind of cold down there so we went to bed around eleven. I had trouble getting to sleep but after I was out I slept really well in spite of all the trains that went through. 
We had the best breakfast or at least one of the best we had ever had at a B & B. She made a potato and egg and ham and cheese quiche and made one without meat for Kirby. We had all kinds of fruit, blueberry muffins, and Mickey Mouse waffles. You can see his shape in the picture. Notice all the Mickey stuff. Even the silverware had mickey cutouts on the ends. The plates, cups, glasses and napkins all had mickey on them and see the salt and pepper shakers with the ears. 
Then we all went down to tour the theatre. I got to sell tickets and I put Cindy behind the candy counter. Then we all trooped in to have our 15 minutes of fame on stage. I don't think ours lasted quite that long but we had fun posing.
We left Marcelline about 10A.M. and headed for Chillicothe to see the home of sliced bread. 
On the way we stopped to see the Locust Creek covered bridge. It was a 1/4 mile hike back to it and of course a 1/4 mile hike back. It was probably the longest covered bridge I have seen. Because we had a little detour in getting to the bridge and then the walk back we were running a little late getting to Chillicothe so we only did a drive by viewing of the murals. I would love to go back and take the time to go around and see them all. The same lady had done them all and she is very talented. For some reason it took us much longer to get home and we were all pooped and ready to relax. Cindy still had an hour and half drive home. but everyone made it and had a good time. Should do us till next year. 
