Educational Vacation

I can't believe it's the last day of August already. This summer has gone by too fast. Last weekend I enjoyed a short, educational summer vacation with my boyfriend. We first stopped in Springfield, IL, because I thought I should visit the capital of the state I live in and also I happened to have a friend who lives there whom I met while I was on my study abroad trip to Australia. We ate at Charlie Parker's diner which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the food network. Apparently they have a famous 16" pancake, that's like the size of a pizza!! Now I was craving some pancakes for our brunch, but I decided to just go with the simple pancake the size of my plate, because when I saw the chicken fingers on the menu as well, I wanted some of those too. I know the new thing is Chicken and Waffles together which I personally think does not sound good, but for brunch I did have a pancake and chicken, eaten separately but it's close to Chicken and waffles I suppose.
After brunch, we all decided to head to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum where we learned all about Abraham Lincoln's life from when he was born and grew up in a log cabin to his presidency in the White House up to the time he was assassinated at the height of his success. The museum had a very modern set up and was perfect for an afternoon. We also enjoyed one of the theater showings about Lincoln too. I'd say it was very educational! Here are pics from the lobby as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit.

    After the museum, we decided to drive just a couple miles to see Lincoln's Tomb. It was an amazing tomb with walls made of marble and other stones. We also rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck.

   After that, we said goodbye to my friend and drove to St Louis where we enjoyed the view from a rooftop bar, went to the top of the St Louis Arch, walked through the park, checked out the animals at the zoo and saw a sea lion show and visited some museums.

view from the top of the arc

looking up at the arc from the ground

bridge under the arc

sea lion show at the zoo

sea lion jumping through a hoop

delicious bbq dinner

playing at the city park

playing at the city museum, a large creative playground

part of the playground outside

lots of slides

And that's all for my short, educational vacation to end my summer. I still don't want to say goodbye to summer, but I guess that I just have to remember that apple and pumpkin season is coming and I can't wait to crave a pumpkin this year again and hopefully visit the pumpkin farm. Maybe I can finally spend some time carving a pumpkin that isn't so boring (meaning more than just a face). 

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone!!

Yoga on the lawn

Yesterday I went to the Evanston History Center for a free yoga session outside. They are holding one each month through the summer and one in September as well. I went last month and it was perfect outside! The history center is right next to the lake and it's beautiful when the sun is shining. Of course to add to my bridge photos, I asked a person to take a picture of me once the session was over last month.

I showed up at the history center yesterday morning and I saw that this part of the lawn (in the photo above) was under construction and I didn't see anyone there for yoga, so I walked around the beach for a bit and then decided to check back at the history center. I saw a couple people near the front door so I grabbed my mat from my car and walked over to them. There was no teacher in sight and we checked around the whole house and no one seemed to be there to teach yoga. Once more people arrived, one person called the yoga studio that was hosting the free yoga session and they said there was a misprint that the free yoga was supposed to be next Saturday. Well that was disappointing since I will be out of town next weekend but also we were all already there. We all talked about who had experience with yoga and since I seemed to have the most experience doing yoga at least once week, the 10 or so people there decided that I could lead the yoga session on the front lawn.
I had never taught yoga before but have been thinking about becoming a certified yoga instructor, because I do love it a lot and I think it would be a great weekend job for fun. So I led the yoga session for 45 minutes or so, since we started a bit late. I did some sun salutations, warrior poses and more. I had a great time leading the class! Everyone really enjoyed it and it was the perfect weather outside! At the end of the class, one person asked me if I had ever taught a class before and when I said no, she was so surprised and said I did so well and asked when she could sign up for one of my classes. It's great to have that kind of support from people. I am glad that they enjoyed it as much as I did and I can't wait for the last yoga on the lawn in September!!

After the class, I couldn't just go home, the weather was too beautiful so I walked on the pier and the beach for a bit, enjoying the sun.