Happy Moment #17: Roadtrip to Springfield, MO

A few days ago, Jim and I decided to take a quick weekend getaway to Springfield, MO, so we could (1) stop in Rolla to visit our awesome nephew (the same one we took to Iceland last summer!) who is at Missouri University of Science and Technology and (2) visit a few spots in southern Missouri that have been on our "visit list" (more on that in my next blog post!). Once I knew we were headed to Springfield, I did some quick research and secured a room at a cute little B&B (Walnut Street Inn -- which I would highly recommend!). Without further ado, here are some pics from our adventure of raod-trippin' to Springfield (about 3-4 hours from St Louis).

About an hour and a half down Interstate 44, we stopped in Rolla to visit Ian! The university is quite impressive -- Ian gave us a personal tour, including the engineering building where he takes most of his classes. The professor in me was definitely checking the whole place out and -- as Ian himself pointed out -- the place has a "college-y" feel to it for sure -- spacious quads, pretty views, lots of classroom space.

Jim was quite impressed with Ian's video game set up -- including the virtual reality glasses that Jim donned in order to play some racing game.

After leaving Ian and Rolla, we kept heading toward Springfield where we passed Waynesville and Fort Leonard Wood where I spent a few years of my life when I was just starting high school. We stopped to see the school but it is a completely new building at this point and was, of course, not even remotely familiar.

As we got closer to Springfield, I realized that we were running about an hour early in terms of checking into the B&B so I googled like a maniac (when I could get a signal!) and found some suggestions online for awesome fabric stores. The one that was still open was .... FM Fabrics! I wish I had even more time to explore -- a fabulous array of both home dec and quilting cottons!

After Jim pretty much drug me out of the store (because you know his favorite activity is waiting for me while I shop for fabric!), we found our Bed and Breakfast and checked in. Our room had a book theme and was pretty awesome looking (almost like a suite!).

We then walked to the downtown area, about 10 minutes away by foot, and encountered this awesome book store -- Bookmarx. The store had some used and new books and -- though pretty cool with a shop cat -- the guy working behind the counter was pretty bored and even slightly hostile when I checked out.