By Carol Drake

We started out Friday morning under dark skies and rain thinking that we would be spending a lot of time in doors. But we were lucky; as we entered Alton about 3hrs later; the skies cleared, the sun came out & except for the wind we had a wonderful Friday afternoon. Bill, Sarah, & Lorie rode in Bill’s car. John was very nice and volunteered to drive his Van and bring the bikes. I rode with him. The first to arrive in Grafton about an hour ahead of us was Bonnie. She checked out some of the local shops & told us which winery to avoid; of course Sarah had to check it out anyway on Saturday because it advertised “doggie treats” –scary?? Well, the owner got upset with her for making her dog bark & Sarah left without a purchase (a good move on her part).

Del & Susan, Monte, Becky& Paul all arrived later that afternoon and we walked around & checked out some of the local shops that were open. The Native American shop was a favorite. Some ventured to Alton to donate to the River Boat. Steve & Ruthanne were the last to arrive on Friday. Elizabeth joined us on Saturday, but Dr. Mike ended up having to work and couldn’t make it. We missed you.

“The hotel had the antique, warm feeling of a bed and
breakfast without the "ichky" feeling of staying at your aunts
house. They modernized it beautifully without loosing its original
beauty!! “-Quoting Ruthanne.

We had dinner at Michael’s in Grafton on Friday evening. Nice but probably not a repeat. After dinner, some ventured to our own patio with some drinks & snacks & had a wonderful evening chatting, checking out the river & we even saw a shooting star. A few who didn’t think it was warm enough to be out on the deck went to the Saloon in the Hotel to listen to some “music”.

There was a report of Monte hitting a calf “baby bull” with his truck on the trip down. This was reported by Becky and Monte( Paul was silent-turns out he’s not a good “story-teller”). As we found out the next day after Monte was awarded a bobble head cow for his dash; there was a lot of “bull”. He confessed they had made up the story; but we let him keep the award anyway.

Saturday was a perfect day near 70,no wind, lots of sunshine. 6 of us biked the 13.5 around trip trail to Pere Marquette State park- it’s a beautiful trail right along the Mississippi but lots of hills a great workout. We also got to see herons & eagles along the way. Bonnie was the primer biker. Others went hiking or sightseeing. Rumor has it there was some “tailgating from Del & Susan’s car while awaiting for the ferry. The only group disappointed was the horseback riders. It was too muddy to open the trails. We changed clothes and headed to the winery about 4 blocks away for some wine, bread, cheese, & a campfire.

Now the surprise of the day was John Zschau’s brother Dave & his wife Dava showed up in Alton with their boat (a 23 foot Crownline- “Gottaget”) and gave anyone who wanted a ride on the Mississippi-what great fun, of course they are on Susan’s “list” now because Del is even more sure that he wants a boat of his own. But a big THANK YOU to Dave & Dava. They joined us for dinner in Alton at a wonderful Seafood Escape Restaurant & we ate, laughed, chatted, and had a great dinner with much-varied topics of conversation. We all enjoyed watching Becky & Bill tackle crab legs.

We headed back to Grafton & the Hotel where we gathered in our hall living room area & played cards & shared some wine & Bailey’s until about 1:00am.

I did get this report from “newly wedded” Sarah-

“Lorie, Becky, Ruthanne and I called my sweet husband Pat when we got back to the hotel after dinner Saturday. We sang, "You are my Sunshine." He put the phone down for a few seconds but could hear us anyway.”

Isn’t love grand !!!!

We woke Sunday to the sound of rain. No horseback riding or German Fest or hiking. (Sad faces) We enjoyed breakfast, checked out and headed to Alton to check out some Shops before heading home.

All & all everyone agreed it was a very nice weekend and all I heard from said they would go again. A wonderful group. The weather could have been a little better but I would recommend this trip to any & all. A variety of activities, beautiful setting, inexpensive and only 3 hrs. away.

Only one more thing to note- cell phones don’t work in Grafton !!!

Thanks again to the group it was FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!

More pictures from Becky Morgensen