into the heartland.

my final days in st. louis were really great. i've lucked out in getting some pretty amazing food out and about (mostly thanks to my wonderful friends and their great food recommendations). for tuesday's dinner, i ended up at the atomic cowboy for what my friend dan attested was the most delicious veggie burger in town. it was quite tasty indeed! we also ordered some fried plantains served with a honey dipping sauce. yum.

fresh, local produce.

WEDNESDAY
i spent my wednesday exploring a few neighborhoods with my good friend kelly. we went to the soulard farmer's market so i could pick up some fresh produce. i ended up with a few plums and a box of raspberries.

i got a hawaiian sundae.

afterward, we stopped into park avenue coffee to enjoy gooey butter cake, one of st. louis' finest dessert options. kelly settled for peach and i got the red velvet. once we stuffed ourselves silly, we declared it nap time before going out to dinner at local harvest cafe. i ordered the vegan chili with a house salad and a glass of crisp riesling. talk about delicious and fresh! we topped the evening off with mr. wizard frozen custard. great way to end a summer night.

THURSDAY

i love rest areas.

i was up early to head off to lawrence, ks to visit my grandmother. the drive wasn't too bad. i got there just in time for lunch, so after a little bit of chit chat, we headed over to the salty iguana for some delicious spinach and cheese enchiladas. then we headed back to my grandma's house to catch up on everything that's been going on in our lives lately.

look closely at the bull on the right.

my grandma recently had some surgery and is doing really well with the recovery. we looked at some of my photos from massachsuetts, watched jeopardy and the news and then decided it was time for dinner at mariscos. i enjoyed a delicious salad, tomato basil soup and corn on the cob. i even snuck a few rings of calamari (oops!). it was just great.

FRIDAY

erica and i at cosmo.

an early morning yet again...this time driving down to tulsa, ok. i actually made it into town relatively early and met my cousin erica at cosmo cafe. i hadn't seen her in about 5 years, so we had a lot to catch up on!

traffic in oklahoma. life is good...?

eventually, though, i needed to get on the road again and she needed to head off to work, so i hopped in my car, set the gps to houston and headed on my way. the traffic gods had been good to me for the entire trip until i got just outside of tulsa where i hit some really nasty construction traffic near a toll booth. it took me 45 minutes to go less than 2 miles. and then i had to pay 2 dollars at the end because it was a toll road. not entirely ideal. however i continued on my journey and eventually made it into TEXAS!


(more to come on texas in my next entry)