My Pilgrimmage.... sorry it took so long!! And it's only Part One!!

I've been home several days now and just haven't had time to blog about my pilgrimmage. I got back late Sunday afternoon and have been going nonstop...... And many of you have been asking me where it is..... I'm so excited that someone besides me enjoys reading about my screwed up life...... woo hoo!! (insert crazy Glore Psychiatric Hospital lunatic laugh here!!)

So here it is.........

My new flight is at 6:25 AM on Friday morning. I get up and get to the airport and get settled on the plane. I sit next to a young man who is going to Chicago for a basketball camp. The flight is fine until I get up to get off the plane....... there is gum all over my capris!! Apparently there was gum under the seat handle and it got all over me..... great!! My karma is so bipolar lately!!

Sigh Sister Betty picks me up and we stop at the hotel so I can change and grab some breakfast. Then by 9 AM we are off to Atchison. I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. We get there and I love it!! It's really a quaint little town on the banks of the Missouri River. It's right on the border, you cross over the Amelia Earhart bridge and you are there!
We go to the old train depot, which is now the Chamber of Commerce. We meet a lovely lady who answers a ton of our questions. We decide to come back for the trolley tour at 11, so we have like an hour or so to look around. We get in the car and go find Mt. St. Scholastica, the school where my aunt and my mother went. Half of it was torn down and it was sad. The parts that were there were pretty.

We then head over and find the house I lived in after I was born. Betty shows me the hospital in which I was born. I'm confused.... where are the "MW was here" plaques? I mean, c'mon..... aren't I one of the most beloved natives of Atchison? Besides Amelia Earhart, who was also born in Atchison? What other great people have come from Atchison besides me and Amelia? Betcha can't name any........

We find St. Benedict's, now called Benedictine since the two schools merged in 1973. We go and see gorgeous views of the Missouri River and we go to the St. Benedict's Abbey, where my parents were married in November 1969 (and I was born a record 7 months later - see, I was always gifted - even as a fetus!!)

I'm taking it in, clicking pictures like a crazy lady.... I can tell my aunt is taken back to the late 60's when she went to school here. Of course, we found the Sonic and got a dose of crack ice - Atchison has all the amenities of any modern town.

We take the trolley tour and see some of the same things, but also some other things. We then go have lunch at a cute little shop called The Parker House. It's located on a little mall that used to be full of shops but now is pretty deserted. The town has shrunk from 25K to about 10K - see when I lived there, it was much bigger. When I moved, some of the appeal was lost! (Ed.'s note: Could I be more full of myself?)

One must have souvenirs from a trip, particularly when you go on a pilgrimmage to the land of your birth. This is no exception. I bought an Atchison magnet, which I proudly display on my fridge with the other magnets from my other travels. I also bought an Amelia Earhart pin to put on my bulletin board - she is my sister!! And I also bought a book from the old Feeney Library at Mt. St. Scholastica.... actually it was in an antique shop - it's a book from 1950 about elementary education - I thought that was a cool souvenir!

Of course, Sigh Sisters enjoy a good visit to the local Walmart, and Atchison was no exception. But I have to admit, the Walmart there sucked. Nothing good. I didn't buy a thing - that's saying something!

We leave Atchison at 2 PM and I'm a little sad as we cross the bridge back into Missouri. I know that I will probably never go there again, but I'm glad I went and saw it. I know it's weird and silly, but it was important to me and that's all that really matters......

We decide to head to St. Joseph (aka St. Jo MO) to check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum and the Pony Express Museum. It's only like 20 minutes to get there, so why not? When will I ever get to St. Joseph again?

The Glore Psychiatric Museum was scary. It was interesting, but scary. They had all of the mannequins that looked like they were strung out on antipsychotic drugs, which added to the bizarreness of the place.

My favorite thing was the TV set full of notes. Some lunatic (they were called lunatic asylums back in the day, I'm not being ugly) wrote notes and stuck them in the back of the TV thinking he could communicate with.... well, hell I don't know who. It was pretty freaky.

After we left the Glore-ious musuem, we went to the Pony Express Museum. Because it was close to closing, we got to tour it for free. And it was really neat! I learned that Atchison was considered for the headquarters as well. I won't bore you with all of the details, but suffice that it was worth the price of admission (aka free!!).

We drove back to KC MO and ate KC BBQ at the Smokehouse. I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I think I'm a sucker for Texas BBQ. And to keep our Walmart streak alive, we visited the KC Walmart. I bought some cute denim flip flop capris.... SCORE!! Two Walmarts in two states in one day..... that has to be some kind of record!!

We get back to the hotel and get ready for bed. I've been up since 2:45 AM, so I'm tired - plus, we packed a lot into our day. I go potty and flush - the toilet overflows all over the bathroom! (and I only went tinkle... seriously!!) $*%(#(^Y%#!!!! So we have to pack up our crap and move to another room. But they gave us a 30% discount for our stay, so that wasn't too bad.

You know what - this is going to have a be a two parter.... I'm pooped!! And I haven't even told you about the hair museum, the shuttlecocks, and Union Station........