Labor Day 2010

This year's Labor Day trip was a little shorter and closer to home than previous years, but still a wonderful day.  The day started off with a homemade breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs and toast (yes, two meats in one breakfast).  After we cleaned up, got ourselves and Fiona dressed, and made a picnic lunch it was time to hit the road.  Time out the door -- 10 AM.  We decided to drive a couple of hours south to the Cape Girardaeu area.  Fiona fell asleep within minutes of being on the road and slept the entire drive down (which was good since that was her morning nap).  We arrived about an hour and a half later at Trails of Tears State Park and drove immediately to the picnic area.  We decided to skip the visitor's center and found the picnic area using the well placed signs in the park.

The picnic area was empty when we arrived except for the guy mowing the grass, but luckily he wasn't directly by the tables and left within about 20 minutes of our arrival.  The tables were shaded and the weather was perfect.  Sunny and 70s, but in the shade it actually felt a little cool.  Once we finished our lunch we packed up and took a short walk down to the (very small) lake by the picnic area.  The view wasn't the greatest, but it was still pretty.

She gave a huge smile right after I took the picture!

It's hard to get a 5 month old to look at a camera without a person or something else to catch their attention.

Next we headed up to the scenic overlook to see the Mississippi.  It was a very short walk from the parking area to the overlook.  The park also has about 10 miles of hiking trails, but we decided to skip the hike because Sean didn't want Fiona to get eaten by bugs and I didn't want me to get eaten by bugs.  Seriously, I think bugs like me way more than her based on past experiences.  So we headed into Cape Girardeau. I think if we go back I'd like to see the displays they have commemorating the Trail of Tears.

The concept of a self-portrait is lost on Fiona.

A picture where she's not chewing on the Bjorn.  :)

Looking north.

Looking south.

We stopped by the Convention Center and picked up a bunch of brochures.  Since Fiona was sleeping again at this point we decided to follow the Rush Limbaugh driving tour.  We saw his brother's law firm and his childhood home before Fiona woke up hungry.  After I finished feeding her we decided to go to the Glenn House, a historic Victorian house.  A nice older couple gave us and another family (with a cute little 3 month old) a tour of the house that included the front sitting rooms, dining room, kitchen and butler's pantry, wash house, and upstairs bedrooms.  The tour was great in that they let us walk into all the rooms to get a close-up view of the pictures and furniture.

Once we completed the tour, we went down to see the murals on the Mississippi River flood wall and walked around the downtown area.  We stopped at the Buckner Brewery for dinner and then headed home again.  Fiona was a little tired during dinner (she had a busy day!), but fell asleep again on the way home.  Got back home at 7 PM.  All in all it was a great Saturday.