More Vacation

The next day, Nick and I went with my nephew to Backbone park. This is a great park with lots of rocks to climb on. Nick was a great sport and climbed up. In the picture above, I am looking down at the car. It is there in the trees. Unfortunately, couldn't move the tree or the rock to get a better picture.

But before that, we went to the beach. Yes, there is a beach in Iowa. The Mississippi River has a lot of sand bars on it and this beach was one where I spent many summer days as a teen.

Then we went to the North Buena Vista Grotto. This is SOOOOOOOOO much better (NOT!) than the Dickeyville Grotto. Note the fluorescent light as Mary's Halo. (click on Mary to see!)

Restroom sigh at the Potosi Brewery. I love the glasses in the hands.

And here we are in a cleft in the rock that Nick climbed so bravely!

Home Again

Well, Nick and I are home from vacation.

I guess it was a good thing, the problem is, you can never have a vacation without having to to return from the vacation. (ok, if you DIE on vacation, then you don't have to return, but we won't go there.) So now I am in the process of returning from vacation.

I have to work tomorrow. Well, at least we have new people working and my shifts have been reduced. This is good in that I will have time to get church things done.

But vacation was a good thing. It was time to get away from work and the problems of the day. We visited with my parents and family and also traveled to visit the "roadways of my youth" and some friends.

We visited some long-time friends of Nick on the way there. We had a nice chat and some good food! Unfortunately, the air mattress decided to give up the ghost in the middle of the night and the dog had killer breath.

We finally made it to my parents house and were treated to home made beef stroganoff. I love the stuff! And so stuff is what I did. Yum!!


The next day we went to the Amana Colonies. On the way there we found this road. Yes, it is a real road. I want to live on it!! It really wasn't that hilly, but the name was great. On the way home, we found the most BORING gay bar in existence. Club Basix is interesting in that it was a McDonalds, but we don't need to be paying for beers to be ignored by the Bartender. (He was not cute either!) He gave us our beers and proceeded to turn his back on us and watch the tennis match. No tip for that twink!

More later!!

Vacation Day 3

These are my parents. They are responsible for the genetic experiment that has become Benton Quest. I would have to say I am thankful for that. They have been married for 50 years and in this society, that is something to be proud of. I think they are great parents!

Here is the whole Quest clan. I am the youngest of the kids. We start with my sister and brother in the middle and then my other sister and me. Girl-Boy-Girl-Boy.

Nick and I with my folks. My folks are very accepting of Nick and have welcomed him with open arms.

After the brunch for my folks, we hooked up with a friend of mine from high school. Betty and I have been in plays together and have a long history. The town she was singing in was New Diggings, WI, this is an old mining town in SW Wisconsin and is a party mecca. (Becoming a gay mecca too!)

We drooled over met some of the local family members and even got a photo of David.

Oh, you wanted a picture of his FACE! Sorry!

We headed home and on the way saw some dinosaurs out in the fields. I guess Juraissic Park is alive and well in Wisconsin.

We got home just before the storms broke. We saw them brewing on the horizion and as we pulled into my parents' driveway, the sirens began to blow. It was quite the storm cell, the emergency radio wouldn't finish one warning before another warning would break in. Luckily nothing was damaged.

Day Two of the Travel

We made it to Illinois and went to Galena. It is a quint little town.

Of course, there are restroom.

This is (arguably) the largest letter "M"in the world. It is 241 feet high by 214 feet wide.

This is the view off the top of the "M". In some ways this also qualifies as a rest room photo. (LOL!)

And now, what you all have been waiting for.......

Ben's Butt!

Granted, I was only two at the time.

The Trip So Far

Here is Nick outside of the restroom at the rest area on I-69

Nick was wondering if it wouldn't be better if we used another restroom. But if they wanted us to pee on the other side of the lobby, who were we to argue...

Here is Nick outside of the restroom at the rest area just inside Indiana going south on I-94. We actually got to use the restroom here, we didn't have to pee in the lobby. ;)

Nick is standing outside the lodge at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. We found the restrooms and then we went out and climbed up to the top of Starved Rock.

You can see the lodge here. This is taken from the top of Starved Rock looking back at the lodge. There is a large series of steps down, and then another large series of steps back up. But it was a nice day for a walk.

Now we have Nick outside the restroom at the Ronald Reagan Home in Dixon, IL. Actually, the home is next door. We went to the gift shop where Nick bought a shirt, but we did not go through the home. Actually, I was the one who used the restroom here, but since I had the camera, Nick had to be in the pircutre.