Fact: it’s very hard to get back into the swing of things in the city after a truly idyllic weekend outside of it.
On Friday afternoon, Mark and I checked into the Fox River Bed and Breakfast, a beautiful Victorian house and barn just outside of Ottawa, famous for having had Charles Lindbergh as a guest. Charlotte, the owner, was a very gracious hostess and a wonderful cook. The B&B is also home to a veritable zoo – a cat named Harley who stole my heart, a beautiful German Shepherd, several chickens with vibrant personalities, and countless barn cats and kittens. Needless to say, I was in heaven. 
After we checked in, we drove to Starved Rock and hiked for an hour or so. The view was absolutely breathtaking, but we got in late and didn’t want to stay past sunrise so we headed back to Ottawa for food and such. The sky was clear enough to see stars, which always delights me in the country. The only sad part was that all of the kittens were too skittish to be in the presence of humans for too long, let alone snuggled. What’s the point of kittens if I can’t snuggle them?
On Saturday, we joined a surprisingly large mass of people in Cherry, Illinois to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Cherry Coal Mine Disaster. The town unveiled a new monument, and released 259 balloons, one for each man and boy who perished on Nov. 13, 1909. It was a very touching display, but the sadness of it didn’t quite hit home until walking to the actual site of where the mine once stood. It was so easy to imagine the tearful women, running across the fields from their houses to the mine, and the entire area around what used to be the shaft’s opening had, to me, the atmosphere of a church or crypt – something to be respected, surely. Most likely haunted. We were impressed by the model of the entire mine layout that was on display at the Cherry Library – it really gave an idea of how deep those mine shafts were, and how hard it would have been to escape from them. Mark got his copy of Trapped re-signed by the author, Karen Tintori, and I had a great time drooling over the antiques and artifacts. Saturday night we stayed in Mackinaw and built a fire, and in the morning there was coffee and monkey bread. Truly a magnificent weekend, but I was very happy to get home, if only to see my kitties.
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