Here’s a Story of a Trip to Mermet

Put the title to the theme of the Brady Bunch tune!

Yes, yes I just said that.

Last Thursday after I got out of class, we had plans to meet up with some friends and head to Mermet Springs for a weekend of scuba diving.

When I left the school I was supposed to be reading/listening to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and all I could do was sing the Brady Bunch Theme Song.

When I got to Jared and Karen’s house, I mentioned that and the rest of the weekend, EVERYONE was singing it. We met up with a bunch of friends at Mermet Springs (Metropolis, IL) and they got involved singing it. Craziness!

Half of the larger group left different times on Thursday, the rest left on Friday. We left around 11:30 so we didn’t have to haul tail to get there.

Once we got to Springfield, everyone in our truck (there were 6 of us… Hubby, Jared, Karen, Memaw, Abug, and me) was hungry. I started listing different restaurants we could eat at. Eventually we chose Red Robin, YUMMMMMM! 🙂

Now our trip was 6ish hours and I drank at least 2 glasses of Sweet Tea. Not my smartest move :).

Now unless people are just meeting me for the first time, they’ve learned that I take pictures of everything. But I tried not to get on people’s nerves this trip so I mainly just stuck to pictures of my food and/or hubby’s food. I just try not to annoy people too much. Just because I like blogging and pictures doesn’t mean others do…

I went with The Southern Charm burger. Black Angus patty glazed with brown sugar and topped with candied bacon, honey BBQ sauce, sharp Cheddar and caramelized onions on a toasted Ciabatta bun… although they were out of ciabatta buns so I got it on a jalapeño bun. I got a side of Parmesan Fries. Squirrely girly loved the fries. I couldn’t get her to eat hamburgers though. Some days you pick your battles :).

Hubby went with the Burnin’ Love. Topped with fried jalapeño coins, salsa, Pepper-Jack, lettuce, tomatoes, and chipotle aioli on a jalapeño-cornmeal kaiser roll. It’s love at first bite. He went with a side of Sweet Potato Fries. I should have tried a bite but didn’t get to. He liked it though so that’s really what matters!!

Once we were all stuffed, then it was time to hit the road.  You know, the long drive to Illinois (via Kentucky).

My friend Doti is from Mtn Grove. I was being mean sending her pictures of her home exits. I had to do something to pass the time on the long stretch of open road. I could have been reading… but I can’t read in a vehicle. It makes me sicker than sitting in the back seat does and the back seat can kill me… ok maybe not kill but it makes me sick.

We stopped somewhere around Van Buren to stretch our legs. Squirrel girl thought she’d take over driving for a bit. Of course, she can drive a 6-speed manual transmission!

The closer we got to Illinois, the closer we got to the rain. At one point hubby had to jump out and throw my school bag in the trailer so my laptop didn’t get wet. Finally, we saw a rainbow across the road.

Then Karen noticed out the window there was a double rainbow. The second one was just extremely faint.

At one town we stopped at, they had fireworks. The guys thought they’d be ornery and the rest of us were just along for the ride. I thought it was funny though that we found a firework called the Scuba Diver. Sweetness!

When we started the trip we decided that we’d eat dinner in Paducah, Kentucky. Normally you cross the Mississippi River over one bridge and then immediately go across another bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky. Instead, one bridge was out so we had to reroute.

Then Jared thought it would be fun to point out we were crossing a huge bridge over the big rivers built by the lowest bidder more than 50 years ago. Hubby said no, it was just 30. Oh like that makes me feel better. ha! And you have to wonder what they were doing to the other bridge because I’m sure they were both built around the same time.

We finally made it to Kentucky.

We got to view a beautiful sunset over the Mississippi River. I used this picture for my 2nd 365 project and silly me said it was over the Missouri River… I pointed out you could see Missouri in the background (where that bridge is) and accidentally typed the Missouri River instead of the Mississippi River so I got questioned and had to fix it. Oy!

Then we were trying to decide where to eat. It was late enough at night that our good traveler (squirrel girl) was getting hungry and cranky. We finally decided on TGI Friday’s since I mentioned it back in Springfield. (picture was taken Sunday during the day, it wasn’t this bright after sunset. ha!)

They brought her a kid’s menu and crayons. She colored… aka ate crayons for a bit. Then I started entertaining her with the reverse camera on my phone. Normally I don’t do that, but she was soooooo tired that how could I not. It was around 8:30 or so which is around her bedtime. And even throwing her fits, she was a doll.

She even took her first selfie.

Finally, our food showed up. Hubby went for a Smoke Stacked burger. I kind of giggled because he had a burger for lunch, but who am I to judge? ha! I love hamburgers too.  Beer-braised sausage & onions, Asiago & cheddar between two fresh hickory-smoked burgers with sweet Memphis seasoning, melted sharp cheddar, Tennessee BBQ sauce, BBQ ranch aioli, applewood-smoked bacon, and coleslaw. I guess when you look at the ingredients… how can you go wrong?

I went with my favorite… The Sizzling Chicken and Cheese. Garlic-marinated chicken breast served over melted cheese with onions, peppers, and creamy mashed potatoes.

Paducah, Kentucky is just right across the state line from Metropolis, Illinois which is where we were staying. We stayed at the Super 8 this year like we have the previous 2 years. It was great because they’ve done us good, especially last year!

Haha, the worst thing… we had a full-size bed for hubby, Abug, and me to share. It was a bit snug, but we’re snugglers so it’s all good, right? My MIL took the other bed. And then it was time to sleep!

Zonk!