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Friends, Family, Travel A year ago, Don and I were only Zooming with friends and family. This June felt very different. We drove to Missouri to see Dad and we were able to gather with my Meyer relatives... in person.
We also spent time in Oklahoma, with our old neighbors Kim and Dan. We toasted to good health and to the fact that the 4 of us became grandparents, during the pandemic! Juneteenth We began our 4-state road trip on June 19th. We learned about Juneteenth when we first moved to Texas, 23 years ago. This year it was declared a National holiday.  Our first stop was in Carthage, Texas where we lucked into a Juneteenth fundraiser celebration. The mood was festive, but the history of Juneteenth (and shirt messages) is sobering. "Juneteenth, Free-ish since 1865" We met some wonderful people and sampled our first goat sandwich! Dad Time In Springfield, we had 4 days to do some catching up and exploring with Dad.  I'm so grateful that Dad and my relatives are vaccinated. After getting home, Dad's facility went back on lockdown, due to 3 residents getting Covid. The covid case numbers are spiking in his city. This is the Happy Blog, so I'll only say... I'm feeling lucky for our 4 days. Travel Buddy We had a few fun overnight stops, on the way to and from Missouri. 
It was fun to be back on the road, stopping and exploring. Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma The weather was mostly sunny, during our week away. We explored a few small towns, on foot. Mena, Eureka Springs, Pawhuska... and the small city of Springfield. Pretty Weather We had beautiful weather in Arkansas and Missouri.
 We took advantage of the cool temps and sunshine. Father's Day We stretched Father's Day weekend, with a couple visits to craft breweries. Don loves them, so I was happy to go along... especially with a lovely outdoor patio. 
A brewery in Mena, Arkansas had no outdoor seating. It felt oddly normal to be back inside again. I'm glad we have choices now. Plus, they had some tasty non-beer options for people like me! Cheers to Hard Lemonade Slushie! People Encounters After a year plus of hiding behind masks, we found ourselves opening up to strangers again. I enjoyed a converstaion with the owner of our Missouri motor court motel. We discussed our relief of getting vaccines, especially with worries of the Delta variant.
With the young cowboy in Oklahoma, I did not discuss the pandemic. I guess I should feel pretty embarrassed by this photo. Giddy expression and zero social distancing. I'm excited about the near future when I don't feel guilty about spontaneous moments like this. Mom There's one more sweet moment, I'll remember from June. We made a stop to Maple Park Cemetery, before leaving Springfield.
I forgot to plan ahead, so I had no flowers for the graves of my mom or grandmother. But I found a stray piece of flower in the grass and I built a silly stick structure. I have good memories of stick building with Mom, on summer days of my childhood.
June was a good month. I visited Dad and I visited Mom.
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