me and rob under the natural bridge.
the natural bridge in all its natural glory.
check out the face on that tree!
here are rob and betsy with their cousins mark and sarah (who used to live near maquoketa) at the state park back in the day. i didn't shrink this one for the upload, so you can click on it for more detail. rob has a good, serious explorer pose going on, but betsy is clearly none too impressed.
the front porch swing was a nice place to spend some time on saturday morning before heading out to see the sights.
squiers manor is owned by antique dealers virl and kathy and every room is filled with beautiful old furniture as well as cool details like decorative door hinges...
...and this stained glass window at the end of the second floor hallway.
caves and grapes in an upcoming post...
soleil's also sells a plethora of spiritual texts written by omraam mikhael aivanhov, which you can see behind us. one website i found about him and his teachings says that in 1986 he traveled in the invisible world. from what i can tell, i think he died that year. so, same difference? anyway, the food was great.
do i look any different as a doctor?
check out this post on betsy's blog for further explanation of how rob received his very own autographed headshot of wizzo, star of television (in case you can't read the small print).
you remember wizzo, don't you? he was the orange-skinned, pseudo-middle eastern, kinda creepy wizard/magician on the bozo show who would say "nooney nooney noo!" and wave his mystical magic pendant over things. maybe he even appeared in some of your childhood nightmares?
when i was in grade school, my girl scout troop participated in a traditional rite of passage for chicagoland youth--a field trip to a taping of the show (little did i know, kids all around the country were watching chicago's bozo on WGN). i don't remember much about being there in person, but i do recall watching the tape later and being irked that we were all waving with abandon at the wrong camera. i'm also sure that as much as i coveted the loot that could be won playing the grand prize game--the play-at-home version (bozo buckets--by cadaco!), a year's supply of archway cookies, and of course the schwinn bicycle and the brand...new...crisp ...fif...tee...dol...lar...bill in bucket number seven!--i was secretly terrified that bozo's computer (that is, the bozo-puter. i kid you not.) would spit out my name and i'd have to go on stage and actually attempt to win those prizes.
these days, you might just see wizzo incognito (sans wizard make-up, way less scary) as marshall brodien, cruising around chicago in his benz or endorsing his own line of magic tricks (by cadaco!).
the menu is pretty meat-centric--lots of steak and chops. as if the onslaught of red meat weren't enough, the stage stop is famous for not holding anything back when it comes to the sour cream and butter they provide for your baked potato.
rob, ever the inspector, had to hold up a nickel for scale in this photo. unreal.
now, the houghs love butter as much or more than the average midwestern american family, but even we can only take so much. before our food came, grandma mentioned that after other meals at the stage stop she had asked for a take-home container for her unused butter. at first, this seemed a little excessive to me. i soon changed my mind...
rob showed ultimate restraint by having a one-scoop ice cream cone, my mom had a chocolate soda, i had a chocolate malt and my dad indulged in a black and white sundae (vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, marshmallow topping). delish. as if that weren't enough, we then drove to the elegant farmer to pick up an apple pie baked in a paper bag, their specialty, for sunday's grill-out. after lunch in burlington, which was apparently a stop for mormon settlers heading west, we walked around echo park for a bit. i'm showing ultimate restraint by not including the photo of rob using the tide pen on the special delivery of bird poop he received when walking under a hackberry tree. 
back at the cottage, we played some mildly competitive bola wrap. this is a game rob found out about from his friend and co-worker brian who was nice enough to give him the plans to make his own version. each player gets three bolas (a nylon rope with a golf ball at each end) to chuck at the three-tiered, hurdle-like goals. the idea is to get your bola to wrap around one of the bars (top bar=1 point, middle=2, bottom=3) and whoever gets to 21 first, wins. of course, rob used hawkeye golfballs for the bolas and black and gold tape on the goals. along with bocce, petanque and horseshoes, bola wrap takes its place among the noble lawn games that can be played while holding a beer. oscar is the official hawkeye bola wrap mascot and enjoys sitting just close enough to game play that you're always a little concerned that he's gonna get beaned. 
