Craves, Caves, & Graves

Happy Blogiversary 2012!

2012-05-29T21:10:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in the last "deals" post, we are big fans of Groupon and similar deal sites at Franceth Manor. It lets us do a lot more activities than we could normally afford. Right now we have a wedding and a new kitchen to save up for, so in the spirit of Live Off Groupon (remember that guy?), we are attempting Summer of Running the Blog Off Coupons. To celebrate CC&G's 4th birthday, the theme

Travel Tips: Disney, the Military, and more!

2012-05-15T20:34:00.000-05:00

I'm trying something new this week and it could be a regular feature if people like it. One of the ways I've been able to maintain this blog for so many years while making little money is by being an absolute nut about deals. I've used MyPoints practically since the internet introduced online shopping (1998), I have a frequent flier account despite the fact that I don't fly frequently (I've

Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum

2012-04-28T23:25:00.000-05:00

I'm spending Saturday night sorting pictures on my hard drive. WOO PARTAY! It seems impossible that I would "forget" to blog something, but adventures are a high priority and writing time tends to get pushed aside in favor of more adventures (and home improvement). Sure enough, the first folder I opened contained more pictures from Pontiac, IL. You may remember the Livingston County War Museum

Chicken & Waffles at Goody Goody Diner

2012-04-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

I posted last week on the Facebook page about the 100 Foods to Eat Before You Die list and how I was baffled & confounded by Chicken & Waffles. I ate a bug for this blog, and yet I couldn't tick off Chicken & Waffles, because why would I ever order that when there are Biscuits & Gravy? I'd heard of Chicken & Waffles before, but didn't understand the popularity. I like my fried chicken cold,

The New Cheshire!

2012-04-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, what happened to March? It went by in a flash! We have been so busy lately, and have so much coming up in the next couple months between wedding planning and house renovations, that we scheduled ourselves a mental health weekend last weekend. We had a Living Social Escapes deal for The Cheshire that we had been saving for just this purpose. I never had a chance to stay at the

Save the Bats!

2012-04-02T18:19:00.000-05:00

I hate that my first post in a month is about something so serious, but we got some very distressing news in Missouri today: our first confirmed cases of White Nose Syndrome in Missouri caves. I've mentioned this in past blogs about caves, and we were hoping that it wouldn't make it this far, but it seems we won't be so lucky. If this is the first you've heard of White Nose Syndrome, here's a

Valentine's Day at The Cave Restaurant and Resort

2012-02-28T22:24:00.000-06:00

Almost two years ago, Francis came with us to Bonne Terre Mine, when he was on leave from Iraq. We didn't know each other that well before he left, so I remember being super impressed that he wanted to spend a whole day of his limited time at home with a bunch of people he barely knew, just to check out an old lead mine. That right there is the way to get my attention. That is a man who loves

Fish Fry Season!

2012-02-21T22:04:00.004-06:00

Today I was looking for a fish fry in the area of a trivia night we are doing on Friday night (that may be the most "St Louis" sentence I've ever typed) and I had to mentally map out parishes between my house and the trivia night, and then look them up. There is no central fish fry website, as far as I can find, and my Google-fu is strong. St Louis has such a large Catholic population that

Castle Ballroom

2012-02-14T22:09:00.000-06:00

I'M BACK! That hiatus was a little longer than I intended. January was busy at the Manor, and February hasn't been much slower. A lot of people are waiting for these pictures, though, so scheduled myself some blogging time. My sister and I were lucky enough to get a slot on the second Landmarks Association tour of the Castle Ballroom a couple weeks ago and were able to explore this nifty bit of

Royal Rumble Meetup!

2012-01-23T20:55:00.000-06:00

It may be awhile before I can get to new content. I just got a new job, and we are scrambling to finish the dining room renovations at Franceth Manor right now. I've had some requests for progress photos on the house, and I promise that as soon as we actually finish a whole room, I will do that. This is a bit outside the bounds of my normal content, but as you may or may not know, we are big

Marvel Cave

2012-01-07T16:34:00.000-06:00

I had at least two posts in mind for Silver Dollar City, but I stupidly left my camera back at the condo and had only my cell phone, no flash, in the dark. Oops. So here is one blurry photo of the halfway point of the descent into Marvel Cave. Halfway to the door, I should say. You can just make out the door right about dead center of the picture. Once inside, you have another couple hundred

Scenes from Branson's 76 Country Blvd

2012-01-01T16:10:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! We spent the weekend in Branson doing silly things that don't make for very interesting/photogenic blogs. We had a blast, though! If you've never been to Branson, it is best described by our roommate, Roy, who called it "Las Vegas if it were run by Ned Flanders". Yeah, for once I didn't take many pictures. We were scouting for a summer "golf trip", aka Putt Putt

Cathedral Basilica of St Louis

2011-12-24T13:34:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! I thought it would be fun to post this on Christmas, but I'm posting a little early in case you happen to be Catholic and want to check out the Cathedral for mass tonight or tomorrow. I didn't know until I started researching this that there are Cathedrals, and then there are Cathedral Basilicas, and that ours did not become a Basilica until Pope John Paul II's visit in 1997. In

Return to Caffe Carnevale

2011-12-23T15:40:00.000-06:00

I tried to post this "live" but the Blogger app failed on me and has been "publishing" for 2 hours. I told Francis when we were walking in that I felt terrible that we hadn't been to Caffe Carnevale in a very long time, because the hot dogs are the best and the service is even better. While we were waiting for our dogs, Gary said, "Aren't you the girl that does the blog?" D'OH. So a shout out

Lone Elk Park

2011-12-18T10:02:00.000-06:00

If you live in the St Louis area, you probably heard that the County government was threatening to close a bunch of parks, including Lone Elk. The County's chief operating officer, Garry Earls, was quoted as saying that they were thinking of selling the land and the animals, which prompted a massive outcry. The budget was eventually reworked, as budgets will be. They threaten to cut something

World Bird Sanctuary

2011-12-11T20:18:00.000-06:00

We visited the World Bird Sanctuary at Lone Elk Park a couple weeks ago and my how they have grown! I spent a lot of time at Lone Elk in college, but hadn't been in more years than I care to admit. I couldn't believe how much more space the World Bird Sanctuary has these days! All these big flight cages seem to go on for miles. It seems like a large percentage of the outdoor projects

Food Around Town: Lemay Ferry Steak N Shake

2011-11-30T09:34:00.000-06:00

OH HAI! Taking a break from CastleVille- I mean, I've been really busy lately... with the uh, house... and stuff. No seriously, we have some big posts in the works, but Francis was my photographer with his fancy paparazzi camera and we have a lot to sort. Today I'd like to point out the Lemay Ferry Steak N Shake. Yes, Steak N Shake is a big chain restaurant in the midwest, but it started as a

Happy Veterans Day!

2011-11-10T22:54:00.001-06:00

I thought about using this one for Halloween, but unless you've seen the Doctor Who episode "Rose", you'll just think I'm crazy and rude. Since I am a big fan of the troops (especially Sgt Francis Horton, veteran of three conflicts), I give you the Livingston County War Museum on Veteran's Day, where it should be. The museum is in the old Pontiac, Illinois fire station, which it shares with

Bellefontaine Cemetery, Part Three

2011-10-31T00:13:00.000-05:00

First of all, I am way overdue on this entry, and for that I do apologize. There's a long list of excuses involving moving and unpacking and losing CDs of pictures, the bottom line is, we got a private tour from Jean Steck, Vice President of Customer Relations at Bellefontaine, back in JUNE and I am a big fat slacker for sitting on it for this long. My only justification is that posting the

Madame Tussauds Bangkok

2011-10-12T17:00:00.001-05:00

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that LEGOLAND reminded me a little of Madame Tussauds, which reminded me that I never posted my visit to Madame Tussauds in Bangkok! If you've been reading the blog for awhile, you know I love wax museums, but this was the first time I'd ever been to a Madame Tussauds. I also learned in the course of research today that LEGOLAND and Madame Tussauds are both owned by

Eckerts Fun Farm

2011-10-05T23:38:00.000-05:00

Over on the Facebook page, I promised new content tonight if people would vote for my picture in the Funjet to a Fairy Tale Adventure contest. Three winners get a trip to Disney World to compete in a scavenger hunt, and the winner of THAT gets to stay in the Cinderella's Castle suite for a night! You can't book the castle suite for any price, so how awesome would that be for the blog? If you have

Return to the Pink Elephant

2011-09-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

The Pink Elephant Antique Mall was one of my very first blog posts. We stopped on our way to Chicago last weekend to see what had changed in the last three years. Outside, the Beach Guy seems to have moved, and he now has an ice cream cone. They also have an ice cream stand now, which was reportedly salvaged from a ditch in Pennsylvania. The reason we made a special effort to stop on

LEGOLAND!

2011-09-11T22:18:00.000-05:00

I had to bump this up in the queue because it's SO COOL! First, online review ProTip: If you delete every comment that is melodramatic ("I will regret this for the rest of my life.") or people who brought 12-13 year olds (difficult to impress), and note that is is LEGOLAND Discovery Center, not LEGOLAND Amusement Park, I think this would get a solid 4 stars. I think it's worth $15 to see the

LEGOLAND!

2011-09-10T17:05:00.001-05:00

Back in Schaumburg, about to walk into the LEGOLAND Discovery Center. Most Chicago people we've talked to had no idea this exists, so look for a full post in the coming weeks!

Moonlight Paddleboat Picnic

2011-09-05T14:07:00.001-05:00

First and foremost, a big, big thank you to Cory Cailteux of Inverted Designs for the new blog header! The picture is from Rombachs Pumpkin Farm and it is about time to visit them again. This is not the best kind of event for a picture blog, but if I didn't at least do a small post about it I would feel totally guilty for hiding something so awesome from you. On Thursday nights from June