Two weeks ago, our New Mexico friends, Cheryl and Dave, made a second stop at our house.  In August, they stopped here on the way from their home in New Mexico to their daughter’s home in North Carolina.  (Their other daughter lives in Hawai’i.  How’s that for being spread out?)  This time they were on their way to Cheryl’s college class reunion in Chicago.  We started having fun by having lunch, soon after their arrival.

D and C lunch

It was a rainy day, but we capitalized on a break in the showers to visit the Historic Main Street district of St. Charles.  Dave likes to geocache and had identified four caches in the heart of the area, so we looked for them as we walked along the street.  Clues for the first geocache indicated that the first map of St. Charles was a part of it.  I remembered seeing something about the first map when we were visiting Main Street with Julian last summer.  We were right in front of the First State Capitol/Missouri Historical Society building, so I went in to ask one of the workers about the map, only to discover all of the employees gathered around a table in the back room celebrating a birthday.  (They offered me a piece of cake.)

When I inquired about the map, one of the men asked, “Are you geocaching?”  I said no, I was helping a friend.  The man pointed to the map behind the party table and said, “There it is.  And the next one is the Peck Brothers sign next door.”  Wow!  Am I good or what?!  I’ve never geocached before and I found two before Dave did!  I shared the information with Dave and he duly recorded the finds.  We continued our walking tour of the district and then meandered down to the riverfront path where Dave identified another geocache location.  He found it without too much trouble and we continued walking.  We arrived at the final geocache location a little later but, even with all four of us looking, we couldn’t find it.

Geocache find: the Peck Bros. sign

Geocache find:  the Peck Bros. sign

Our dry weather window was closing and it was starting to sprinkle a little, so we decided to reverse our direction and circle back toward the car.  On the way, Cheryl and I went into the Little Hills Winery shop where we each bought a bottle of wine, making it a good day of shopping.

In the evening, Ted and I planned to take Dave and Cheryl to The Hill in St. Louis for an Italian dinner.  It’s well known that there is no bad food on The Hill, but when we left, there was a strong thunderstorm passing over.  We decided to eat closer to home and headed for one of our favorite local Italian restaurants, Fratelli’s.  The food and wine were delicious and the conversation was even better.  The scotcheroos at home were pretty good too.  Cheryl asked for the recipe.

We started the following cool morning with a warm beverage from Starbuck’s, then headed for the Arch.  Ted and I have lived in this area for 43 years and have never gone to the Arch in October.  It’s unlike any previous experience we’ve had.  Our skip-the-line tickets were for 11:00 a.m. and we arrived at 10:40, ready to ride but prepared to spend the usual recommended hour getting up, looking around, and coming down.  We were down by 11:05.  With no lines, we presented our tickets, walked directly to the tram cars, waited for the tram to arrive, got on, and took the six-minute ride up.  Unbelievable!  We spent some time in the tram car taking pictures.  Cheryl and I took turns so we’d all get into a picture.

Cheryl's turn with the camera

Cheryl’s turn with the camera

My turn with the camera

My turn with the camera

Of course, there was the obligatory photo at the top to be taken, so we asked a nearby person to take our picture.  He said he’d be glad to and asked where we’re from.  Ted and I said “St. Louis” and Cheryl and Dave said “New Mexico.”  “Where in New Mexico?” asked the man.  “Las Cruces,” replied Cheryl and Dave.  What are the odds that this man’s son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters had just moved to St. Louis from Las Cruces and were standing right there?  It is definitely a very small world.

D and C all arch

Photo by the father of the Las Cruces family

After we were back at ground level, it was time for Cheryl and Dave to head for Chicago.  We slowly worked our way back to the parking garage, took a few pictures of the Arch from the ground, exchanged hugs and good wishes, and went in different directions.

Today’s mail brought me a postcard from Dave, sent from North Dakota on their way home.  He knows Ted and I are looking for a reason to go to North Dakota because it’s one of only three states we haven’t visited.  He noted on the postcard that he wishes I were there and he thinks I probably wish the same.  New Mexico is another of the three states we haven’t visited.  Ted and I are looking forward to our Southwest U.S. vacation in October 2017 when we plan to attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and to visit Cheryl and Dave in Las Cruces.

Parting shot of the Arch

Parting shot of the Arch. Today is the 50th anniversary of setting the keystone piece into the Arch.

Today, Ted and I went back to our school volunteer duties.  He is working with the same teacher as last year and has two new second graders who need to improve their reading skills.  He said they are great kids and are very excited about reading with him.

The secretary and several of the teachers were so happy to have me back, they hugged me when I arrived at the Success School.  I worked with three students today and had a good time.  Ted, my student from last year, has decided to take the GED Options class.  I’m so glad!  He has several more failed classes to repeat, and will have a much better chance of graduating with his class if he spends the year preparing for his GED.

The classroom in which I tutored a few times last year got a facelift over the summer.  The washer and dryer are still there, but all the miscellaneous junk has been moved to a far corner in the “L” of the room and has been replaced with tables and chairs.  The ceiling-hung electric cords for the power tools have been replaced with arts and crafts-style colorful felt parrots hanging from the ceiling.  (I wonder who came up with the parrot theme.)  The room is now used for the daily opening assembly, among other things, and looks pretty good.

Best of all, I had a happy surprise.  As I walked toward the office between classes, I recognized the woman coming out.  It was Cat, one of my former GED teachers.  I knew she was working for the St. Charles School District, but I didn’t know she was working with the Success School kids.  We had a brief and happy reunion.  She was a very good GED teacher and, for her masters thesis, she put together a How to Get Your GED in 60 Days book with a study curriculum for each day.  Another one of my former GED teachers works as a part-time counselor at the Success School.  We GED teachers love to help the underdogs in academia.  It’s a small world, for sure, to have three of us from the SCC GED program all working with the same kids now.

A quick between-classes picture of Cat and me.

A quick between-classes picture of Cat and me.

My brother Tom’s son, Brandon, was married in Dyer, Indiana last week, and we attended the wedding.  It was fun to get together with family and to catch up with each other.

"L-

The wedding was at Meyers Castle and it was very nice.  The bride and groom were going to make a last-minute indoor/outdoor decision, based on the skies.  Based on conversation among the guests waiting with us for chairs to be dried off, the wedding party were apparently some of the few who did not look at the radar before making the decision.  A huge area of heavy rain was just outside the town at the time of the ceremony, but the call was for an outdoor wedding.  We were sprinkled on a little bit, but everyone was inside before the deluge hit.  The pastor did a world-class job of including all the important information, as well as some pleasantries, while keeping the service moving along ahead of the rain.

During the ceremony, Brandon made promises to Damon (his soon-to-be-adopted son) to always care for him.

During the ceremony, Brandon made promises to Damon (his soon-to-be-adopted son) to always care for him.

You may kiss your bride.

You may kiss your bride.

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R: Brandon, Maddie, JoEllen, Tom” width=”800″ height=”600″> L–>R:  Brandon, Maddy, JoEllen, TomAnd then it was time to party!

The venue was beautiful and romantic.

The venue was beautiful and romantic.

Damon dancing with his grandma.

Damon dancing with his grandma.The winner for "most unusual wedding cake topper."

The winner for “most unusual wedding cake topper.”Ted and I had a good time, and we wish Brandon and Maddy many happy years together.

Brandon and Maddie forever

Brandon and Maddy forever

We had a wonderful time this afternoon and evening visiting with our friends, Cheryl and Dave.  We met them on our European river cruise last summer.  They live in New Mexico and are on their way to North Carolina to visit their daughter and grandson, with lots of interesting stops along the way to geocache.

It was great to talk about our families and to exchange travel adventures with them.  They went to Australia in January and spent some time with another couple we met on the river cruise, Tracey and Mark.  We hope to visit Cheryl and Dave in Fall 2017 when we go to the balloon race in Albuquerque, and we want to see Tracey and Mark when we go to Australia–maybe in 2018.

What a pleasure it is to travel, make new friends, and then spend time with them again.  Thanks for including us in your travel plans, Dave and Cheryl.

This is the picture

I forgot to have our

dinner waitress take

of Cheryl, Dave,

Ted, and me.