The Book Lady’s Blog

Yep, I’m still on vacation but thought it might be nice to take a few minutes to check in and post a quick update. Hubs and I were up with the chickens on Friday morning to pack up the car and the pooch and hit the road. We made great time, and the dog was well-behaved for the entire drive, and we had a very entertaining lunch at Wendy’s in Marmet, West Virginia, where, I kid you not, at least 25 different women used the ladies’ room in the twenty minutes that we were there.

We started wondering if maybe all of the septic tanks in town were broken or something—Marmet’s not too fancy, you know— or if  the Wendy’s just had really awesome toilets that folks came from miles around to visit.  I can confirm from my eventual trip to the ladies’ room that it was not the latter. We never did figure out what all the buzz was about the toilets, but we had a great time imagining new town slogans.

Marmet: We got toilets.

Marmet: Come poop here.

Marmet: For when the shitter is full. (That one’s compliments of Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.)

I mean, for real. If you live in Marmet, I’m sorry if I offended you, but please explain to me what is so exciting about the bathrooms at Wendy’s. It’s not even the first place to pee when you get off the highway.

Incidentally, this is also a marmet:

Remember that scene in The Big Lebowski when he says, apropos of nothing, “Nice marmet”?

Yeah, I love that movie.

Can you tell I’m on vacation?

So anyway, following the excitement at the Marmet, WV Wendy’s, we continued on to St. Louis without incident. After a nice dinner with hubby’s parents, we crashed for the night and started recovering from 14 hours in the car. We spent the Fourth hanging out with family and then went downtown to see the fireworks at the Arch. As if the people watching at such a large public event weren’t enough, we were also entertained by the man next to us who called a few friends to tell them how “tight” and “unbelievable” everything was down at the “ark.”

That’s right. The ark. As in, the giant boat that some old dude filled with a bunch of animals when the world flooded. Or so the story goes.

Let’s do a quick comparison. This is the St. Louis Arch. The Gateway to the West. One of the most recognizable landmarks in the U.S.

And this is one rendering of the ark. Yeah, I know Noah looks a little crazy.

Easily confused? I think not. And before anyone starts asking whether the man making the phone call might not have been American or familiar with American culture and history, let me just say that the mid-Missouri twang was unmistakable, and the flag-printed polo shirt was, well, something that spoke for itself.

We hung out in St. Louis Sunday and Monday as well (we didn’t make it to Ted Drewes, Amy, but we’re going on our way back through town later this week), and we made our way to Kansas City yesterday morning. We’re here now visiting my parents and enjoying the incredible cuteness of seeing our basset hound frolicking with their basset hound.  A movie, some KC barbecue, and a whole lot of laziness are on tap for the next couple days.

And I should probably mention that I read The Hunger Games (loved it!) and Kevin Roose’s The Unlikely Disciple (also very good), and I’m now about a quarter of the way through The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which is pretty enjoyable.

Now before it gets too hot, I’m off to enjoy a glass of sweet tea and some time with my book out on the back porch. Ahhhh, vacation, where every day is like a Sunday.