A Great Saturday

I grew up in a paternal family of mountain lovers. The unspoken credo recognized there is "pretty", and there is "beautiful" landscape. To experience the latter, you must head westward for 14 hours, into the dusty and desolate mountains of Colorado. Granted it is beautiful there, but this philosophy skewed my thinking throughout the years. Only now am I discovering the true beauty of my home state.

Missouri does not have huge dominating peaks, but it has a majesty of rolling hills, impressive forests of trees, with rivers and lakes that are full of life. We did some exploring of our neck of the woods on Saturday afternoon. Missouri's "Wine Country" is partly located a short 1/2 hour drive out of town in Augusta. A beautiful and small town quite near the meandering banks of the Missouri River. This area has great hills, and a wonderful history dating back to Lewis & Clark. The spirit moved us, so we decided to explore while we still have the chance. Here is a picture of G hanging on a winery terrace outside of Augusta. We were in the middle of a feast consisting of sauerkraut & brats, cheese, and veggies. To top it off we washed it down with a vintage Diet Coke.

Yessir, that was a grand day. Beautiful wife, beautiful scenery, great food....beautiful life. We even cranked Elton John's "Benny And The Jets" on the drive out. Ain't life grand when you love where you live.

As the saying goes: You won't love where you are, if you didn't love where you came from. I came here from CO, via OK, via SW MO. Each great places to be. I certainly miss the tall mountains, but it's the Mountaintop experiences that I don't want to miss out on (whether at 10,000 feet or 740 feet in elevation).

I hope you're experiencing some of these mountaintop experiences in your life. Come to think about it-I experienced alot of those with my Dad and Uncles/Cousins out there in the dry and dusty mountains. Even on those long, flat stretches of road in between. It's nice to be able to appreciate where you come from, and simply enjoy the journey.