Sluggy's Solo Road Trip.....Part 3...IL to WI

Monday Den had to return to work so Sonya Ann and I were on our own to get into trouble.

So what did we do?

We went thrifting.
I found a few things.....a book and this interesting item......

A most excellent buy.....

We also got lots of clothes, Sonya Ann found some good buys for her whole family.  I found 2 l/s shirts for #2Son and a thermal nightgown for me, all marked $3.99.

But Sonya had a nifty coupon for 25% off plus since she's on their list or something so we got an additional 5% off after the 25% was deducted.  This made our finds even better!

I picked up these Picasso plates too.  I thought they were neat and might make good eBay fodder.....if not, I'd like to keep them......

Then I wandered over by the glass case where they keep the "big ticket" items at Goodwill......sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?, having big ticket items at Goodwill. ;-)

I saw this box over there......

Do you see that it's priced at $19.99.
Yikes!  Kind of expensive for Goodwill, huh?

But you'll notice the box also says "Longaberger" on it.
Hmmmm......

Now some of this Longaberger stuff is pricey and goes for good money long after it's manufactured.
My mother had some Longaberger baskets given to her by her friend that I inherited.  I am not "into" baskets per se and certainly not into Longaberger baskets so my plan was to sell my mom's baskets.
Well, of course, after researching the baskets my mother had left me, they were not worth selling. 
Sigh.
So they are still sitting in my bedroom closet.

Anyway, I saw that name on the box so I had to take a look.
It says this is a Collector's Club piece.....so you know they weren't produced in vast numbers like their ordinary baskets.
And here is what I found inside the box.....

It's a replica of an old fashioned beehive "skep".  Before wooden framed beehives, keepers kept their colonies in wicker or straw skeps. 
It sits on a solid wooden pedestal and has a metal top with a bee on it.  There are metal silver/pewter colored bees on wires that you can attach wherever you wish on the basket.  It's hand signed inside and dated 2010 and comes with the Longaberger tag still attached, another tag that was in the box and the original box and cardboard packing.  It's never been used from what I can tell.

Now I don't know what this cost new at retail and I had no clue if it was worth anything now and valued by collectors.

But......all yellow stickers were 50% the day we were at Goodwill, so it was suddenly only $10.
And the 25% off coupon plus additional 5% off made it a $7.12 + tax deal.
I thought it was cute and if push came to shove and it didn't sell on eBay I'd actually display it and enjoy it.

Sonya brought up eBay on her phone for me but we couldn't look at the closed auctions to see what these sold for, if any had actually sold.

When we got back to her house and on my laptop, I was bummed to see I would be enjoying those Picasso plates for years to come(lol), and pleased to find a closed auction where one of those Longaberger beehive baskets sold in late June for $160 or so.
Sweet! 8-)))
(More beehives have come onto eBay this Summer and the price has gone down but still enough to make it worth my while to buy and sell there.)


After sifting through the junk fine quality merchandise at Goodwill it was lunch time and the place Sonya wanted to take me for lunch was closed on Monday so we found this little Chinese restaurant.  Not crowded, nice inside and the food was good.
Chinese restaurants are often a crapshoot but we rolled snake eyes on this one!

After she got some food in her Sonya was more amenable to letting me take her picture.....

And then her true colors came flooding out.....

I got a great fortune cookie fortune......

 

 

On the way out we took a selfie......

 

 

Geez, am I really that short!?!

We went back to Sonya's house after our late lunch.
It was time for some liquid refreshment and I popped the top of this pineapple flavored hard cider.....

I give it a thumbs up!

Then I staggered wandered out in the backyard.

All this talk about how Sonya Ann has a black thumb is bogus.
Look it what she grew this Summer!
Maters....

A whole bed of tomato plants and nary a one was dead or dying.

And her herb bed next to the backdoor was just bursting with dill and basil and other green things.
She really has a very nice gardeny backyard....much better than mine, but that's not saying much. ;-)

I wandered back inside because we had to find a deal for dinner.
I went to Restaurant dotcom and found a place down by where Den grew up.  Went to their website and saw they had a Steak Dinner special for $9.99 on Mondays.
Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner!!

When Den got home I gave him the bottle of Hub's latest home brew that I had brought.  I filmed his tasting of it for posterity......




Once DJ got home we were on our way to the restaurant.
I knew we were in a classy establishment when I spied this fine art over the bar........

 

 

Poker Dogs.....the mark of a fine eating place.


Here's a shot of our table while most of us were in the restrooms.
Notice the bar to the left and 2 video poker machines on the right.

Sonya spent the whole evening waiting for those 2 people to vacant the poker machines so she could gamble.
They only got up to get change from the change machine on the wall or to get another drink at the bar.
Poor, poor Sonya.....she was stuck with our sparkling conversation all evening.

Soon our steaks showed up.......Mmmmmm.......

We left stuffed to the gills and between the Dinner special price and the gift certificate this meal didn't break the Bank of Sluggy!

As we left the restaurant I convinced everyone to pose for a group shot to commemorate our evening.
I got this shot of the Sonya Ann family.....

Sonya Ann took a selfie of all of us.....

Well some parts of some of us got into that shot! lolz
I never noticed before what lovely lips Den has..... ;-)

After that fail, Den took this group shot.......

This is a rare photograph indeed.  Everyone is smiling.  Even DJ!


This Dog & Suds was next door.   I have been promised a meal here the next time I come through this part of Illinois.

My question is....."What's a Texas Tuesday"?

On the way home Den drove us by a couple of houses in the neighborhood he grew up in.  I didn't get a picture as I was in a steak coma but he lived in some nice digs as a teen.

We kicked back at Sonya's house and knocked back a couple more drinks.


Tuesday morning I packed everything up and we attempted to load up the Sonic.

The Sonic which spent most of the time here on the front lawn.

I have to say that packing the car was like Sonya said, "a game of Tetris".
She must have been an awesome Tetris player back in the day because we fit most everything in the trunk.

There was time for hugs and one last selfie before I shoved off for points north. 
I had an awesome visit and I look sad that it was over already.

I got onto the Interstate heading to Milwaukee, WI.

Traffic wasn't bad, even though Sonya said it would be.
I cruised right into this place.......

Sprecher's Brewery

I stopped here for this.......

Really good Root Beer.
And I got Hubs and #1 Son some of their beer offerings.

3 rooms of gift shop with really good prices.
I even got a free 12 case of root beer when I bought X number of beers.

 I didn't have time to take the Brewery Tour since I still had about 5 hours of driving ahead of me this day.

I picked up some Root Beer Brats and Root Beer Mustard.

Both were wonderful!
But I have to say those brats were a PITA during the rest of the trip since I had to keep them continuously chilled, no matter where I was staying--house or motel.

This was an interesting novelty item--a Styrofoam cooler shaped like a car engine with slots for beer/soda cans on the sides so you didn't have to open the cooler to get a drink out and could keep other items cold too inside.

Loved this sign in the window of the gift shop.

I ended up buying 3 cases of soda and/or beer.  Luckily an employee used a hand truck to wheel it out to my car, but then I had to figure out how to fit it all in this tiny car! lolz

And do you like my new T-Shirt from Sprecher's?.....

Within an hour I was back on the highway and heading into the Great White North.

The skies were threatening rain off and on most of the day.  Rain clouds now....

Blue skies later......

This was the whole day.

I stopped after an hour of driving in a tiny town to get gas and something to eat.
Tiny town with grain elevators and a drive-through liquor store across from the gas station.
Now that's progress.....

My driving lunch--a protein shake(nasty and chalky!)and a leftover English muffin egg sandwich from their breakfast offerings.
$7+ for this....geez!

Only in this part of the world(or Pennsylvania)would you see a sign like this.  Too bad I wasn't stopping near here. So sad I had to miss the Polka Days.

 

 

I drove and drove.....and then drove some more.
I drove through Fond du Lac.
I drove through Osh Kosh and saw an outlet mall with an Osh Kosh B'Gosh store! lolz
I drove through Stevens Point.
And I finally got to my destination, Wausau.
Fortunately for you I didn't take any more photos while driving.

But here a picture of my friend Blanche's cute little house where I stayed for 3 days.

I met Blanche through a group of online Beanie Babies collectors.  This group had 2 conventions back in 1999 and 2000, outside of Minneapolis and outside of St. Louis, respectively.
Blanche came to the Minnesota gathering in 1999 as she lived outside of Minneapolis back then and that's where we met.
She sent an open invitation when she moved to Wausau to come stay with her.
I bet she didn't think I'd actually get the nerve to drive up there and see her. lol

Well I did. ;-)

Blanche had plans to meet up with her daughter and her family at Texas Roadhouse and treat us all to dinner.
Her family was lovely as she is and we had a good meal.

I about fell into bed at 9pm I was so worn out.
So ended Day 6 of my trip.

Until the next installment,

Sluggy

 

Sluggy's Solo Road Trip.....Part 3......Hijinx in IL

Sunday morning dawned and I dragged myself out of bed at the crack of 10, after an evening of too much liquid refreshment.

Sonya Ann had big plans for us today!

I had spoiled one of her surprises because, well....I must be a mind reader.

I was poking around on Restaurant dotcom for some place to take her family out for dinner while I was there and was hopeful that I could find a gift certificate on that site being offered so my dollars would stretch a bit further.
Let it never be said that Sluggy turned down a deal on purpose. ;-)

I saw a place that looked like fun and it was right in Sonya's town-a real for goodness sake's Tea Room.

So I had emailed her about it the week before I had set out on my journey asking if she'd like to go to this place.
And she shot back that I had ruined her surprise because she had a Groupon for this place and SHE was going to take me there!
LOLZ
Great minds think alike, right?

So even though it was no longer a surprise we happily set out to have some tea on Sunday,  the three of us-Den, Sonya and me.

Our table ready nor not for us.

Sonya Ann had eaten at this establishment a few times in the past few years.
She warned me that if I got the Tea Tasting Service and not just an entre and a drink I would leave hunger.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and get the Tea Tasting Service anyway.

Well I must have pissed Sonya off for going against her advice because the next thing I know, she is knocking over the water goblets on the table and making a spectacle of herself!

Ok, maybe she just knocked over her own water goblet(hey!  they were plastic and top heavy!)by accident and soaked our entire table and place settings and the waitress and hostess had to come over and change the linens and redo the table setting.

Personally, I just think Sonya likes to be the center of attention wherever she goes......

I considered making an even bigger spectacle of myself and flipping the table completely over just to take some of the eyes in the room off of her because, yeah, I am thoughtful that way.

Sonya pre-spectacle reads her menu.

After the ruckus settled down and Sonya stopped turning beet red we ordered our food.
And this is when I noticed that our waitress was wearing a teeny tiny top hat, jauntily cocked to the side on her head.
Sort of like this.......

Me recreating our server's headgear at the Tea Room in the costume store down the block.

She reminded me of this SNL skit HERE and it was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

My very large tea setting.
My Tea Service started with a buttery scone, a plate of whipped butter, lemon curd and jam and a pot of Cranberry Rose Green Tea.
I drank 3/4 of that pot(each pot held 4 full cups), then my "main course" came.
This consisted of a 2 tiered silver serving tray with 6 muse bouche sized bites on it, 3 savory and 3 sweet selections.

Along with this course I was served another full pot of tea, this time a darker, richer blend that tasted and smelled of coconuts.
The tea was fab-u-lous and I drank it ALL!
4 more cups......

After 7 cups of tea and very little food I had to visit the ladies' room before we left.  I could feel the sloshing all the way on the walk to the back of the restaurant from our table.

The ladies' room at the tea room.  Full of tchotchkes.  (Make note of the hat on the shelf.)

So after looking around and photographing at all the crap in the bathroom, because that's just what I do...... what did I do?

I put on that hat and took a selfie.
Yikes!  What a face.....

More hats hanging in the hallway.....

The staff was very knowledgeable about tea.

There were many tea mixtures to choose from.

Hey!  This sign is wrong......after all, Sonya and I were in the room too.  8-)

Fancy teas in corked bottles lookin' very fancy(and expensive).

 

Where there is tea, there is happy Buddha.....actually this is not a Buddha but a Hotei(Japanese) or Pu-Tai(Chinese), a Zen monk.  See, you learned something on my blog!
You're welcomed.

Unfortunately while dining we overheard the owner telling someone that the Tea Shop is closing later in the month.  The owners are moving on in life and the shop is for sale.
What a shame.....it was such an interesting place.

And this kills me to say it but yes, Sonya, you were right.
I WAS hungry after we left!
And I had to pee like a demon the rest of the day.   7 cups of tea will do that to ya! ;-)

After we finished our lunch, we wandered down the main street of Sonya's town.
First we ducked into a thrift shop to browse.

I found a fascinating book I should have bought and sent to Ur-spo and Someone.......

 I am sure they would have learned many things from this tome.

Then I passed up this Jonas Brothers window valance......

 Not a good move, I know......


Uh oh!  The clown section......hold me please!

 

And there was no "Enter at Your Own Risk" warning signs either!
What's up with that?!

Sonya and I pose with her awesome find.....a rare piece of artwork.
Well maybe not so rare.
After all, she went home and painted over it.  I think the frame was worth more than the copy of a painting....

Next we went to Vegas!
Sonya Ann is always talking about going to Vegas, isn't she?
So we just went........

And it was nothing like I've heard it is like! lolz
Where are the free drnks?  Where are the Cirque shows?  Where is the gambling for gosh sakes?!

After that we headed back down the street.
Unfortunately(or maybe fortunately)for us the antique shop with the 300 creepy mannequins in it was closed on Sunday.
We can save that for next time.

So across the street we went to here.........Something Sweet ..............

A candy and chocolate shop.

And you know it was a high class joint by the photos of the owner on the wall with famous people.......

 The Soul Patrol stops here.

And famous has-been magicians too.

Of course he comes here!
After all Vegas is right across the street from here!!

Then I saw the sign over the chocolate production area that made this whole trip worthwhile.......

Well you know I had to say something about THAT now, didn't you?  ;-)

I had some local peach ice cream in the Chocolate shop and Den bought a box of truffles(which they say are most excellent!).  They should be.....they cost enough......

Then it was in the local novelties/costume/joke shop before we blew downtown......

Sonya Ann zeroed in on this product a little too quickly...hmmmm......

And the female version......."Wait!  Was that slutty?"

A bathroom log for the truly anal retentive.......hehehe

Cute puppy mugs......

Funny and suggestive hand soaps.....

A gift idea for anne marie........

Then we entered the "Must be 18 to enter" Section of the store.
Here are the "tame" things I can show you......

I wonder if these would look better on me than my Vera's?

I know a few men who should wear this shirt.....

And this so inappropriate on so many different levels......Mr. Penis Head (now with balls mustache)........

I dare not show y'all what I actually bought in this part of the store!

Then I found some new jewelry.....

Then it was over to the costume part of the shop......

I just had to try this shark fin on.


Look Lorraine, steam punk stuff!

And here is Sean's aisle.......

Sadly there were no Green Lantern outfits.

Is it me?.......

We bid goodbye to the Joke shop.  That was a lot of laffs.....

Then Den took us to a place that was even more fun just over the line in Wisconsin.......Woodman's!

This is a humongous grocery store but even better.......it has a humongous liquor store attached to it!!

A playground full of adult beverages of every kind.
If I was 20 years younger you might have seen me skipping through this place.

If you don't believe they are huge, go lookie at their FB page  HERE

That Dale's Ale is good stuff ya know.....

I was able to find the New Glarus Brewing award winning fruit beers that #1 Son wanted me to get him.
This stuff is very hard to find outside of Wisconsin.....

I found a section all for Jay......

And another one for Mark.
Boxed wine as far as the eye could see......

And this shot sort of sums up my life.....and is used as my FB cover page some days............

So I filled up a cart with assorted goodies for Hubs, #1 Son and myself.
Then I found a special on those pre-packaged fruity cocktails....you know the ones you throw in the freezer to make frozen cocktails--$1.60 each when you bought 10.

How could I not buy those?!?  Especially because they don't sell this around where I live in uptight and rigid PA....

(There are 12 in the picture because I picked up a few more later in the trip.)

Sonya saw me with my arms full of cocktails and just shook her head at me, and said, "You know, you look like an alcoholic."

Then a bit later I found Den with a cart and it was FILLED with Woodchuck Hard Cider....something like 8 6-packs (along with some other things too).
Den is a beer drinker, not a lightweight hard cider drinker like me.
What gives I asked him?

Woodman's had a special going on--$3 off every 6-pack.
A 6-pack was $6.99, so $3.99 after discount for 6 bottles!
And no limits.

So now Sonya.....who's the alcoholic now baby?!? 8-)))

Then we go to the register, Den paid for his cartful and they rang my cartful up.
And I tried to pay with my credit card.
That's when I found out they only take cash or debit cards.
WTF?!?!?

$91.47 stood between me and all that alcohol.
I really didn't want to part with almost $100 of the little pile of cash I had brought so early in the trip.
After all, I had 12 more days and about 2 thousand more miles to go and I don't have an account in a national bank!

Sonya Ann came to my rescue and swiped her debit card and I cut her a check for the amount later that day.
Crisis averted.

Good thing too because Woodman's really didn't want to see me go stark raving mad at not being able to buy anything now, did they?

After a quick stop at the Piggly Wiggly....can you believe they have one this far North!?!?.....we repaired back to Sonya's house and I was back on my designated drinking bench before long.
And we ate dinner....more yummies thanks to Den!.....and we talked until we just couldn't keep our eyes open.  Maybe it was tiredness from our full day or maybe it was the tall glasses of Smirnoff Sonya kept pouring us, I'll never tell!

Soon it was off to slumber and the anticipation of another full day at Sonya's House of Hijinx.

Sluggy