Thanksgiving in Omaha Nebraska…Hurried Drive Home!

Following all of our activity in St. Louis Missouri, on Wednesday we were off to Omaha for Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebration at our son David II’s and daughter-in-law Amy’s home… With a lunch stop in Chillicothe Missouri, we made it to their house well before dinner. 

One of the first things that we always find fascinating is just how tall our grandsons have become.  As you can see from this photo, David III (almost 18) appears to have a slight height edge over his 6 foot 4 inch dad!

I had to take this photo… It captured my teenage namesake actually doing some work in the kitchen!  This photo is the equivalent of someone spotting a jaguar in Arizona…

FYI…to provide fair reporting, David III does work part-time in a local grocery store. 

Harried Amy and David II in action…pulling together yet another Thanksgiving feast!  Amy is a retail executive who travels a lot and David II is an attorney…so a meal like this is a big deal!

FYI…Amy served us a great slow cooked pot roast with spicy peppers when we arrived the night before Thanksgiving!  I pretty much licked the pot…

Laurie took this photo of Emmett Lee and David III…and I decided that I liked the black and white version!  Note how tall 15 year old Emmett is standing next to his brother.  Emmett is already taller than yours truly!

Laurie took this photo of grandma Ruppe…aka “Ru Ru” with Emmett Lee.  She lives just about a mile from their home in Omaha and she furnishes a lot of tasty baked goods for the boys!

This was our Thanksgiving turkey before I attacked it with an electric knife.  I only have two jobs at Thanksgiving.  First, I carve up the turkey, placing the results on a platter for everyone’s ease of dining.  Then after dinner I ‘butcher’ and slice up the remaining turkey carcass in order to preserve every possible scrap of meat for those critical obligatory “post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches”. 

I took this photo of the family at the table about to partake of our Thanksgiving feast.  From the left, Amy’s nephew Dalton, David III, Dianne aka “Ru Ru”, Emmett, Amy, Amy’s sister, Shelby, my sweetie Laurie…and David III.  Shelby and Dalton drive over from Indianapolis for Thanksgiving almost every year.

So what do real men do after a Thanksgiving feast?  Watch football of course!  Laurie took this picture of Emmett, David II, your's truly (David I) and David III catching part of one of the several games on TV.

Yes…our 18 year old grandson has a girlfriend!  Of course, being a typical teenage boy in many ways, the idea of his friends or girlfriend having to meet “grandparents” is most stressful and embarrassing… It probably didn’t help any that Laurie and I had told him that when we went to the grocery store where he works, we were going to ask other kids working there if they knew him…and then introduce ourselves as his grandparents.  The thought of it made him sweat!

In any case, much to his chagrin, David’s girlfriend Ryanna volunteered to come on in and meet everyone.  She was relaxed…he was not!

Remember the old saying, “Red sky in morning, sailor take warning! Red sky at night, sailors delight!”?  Wrong!  Once again on the Saturday evening after Thanksgiving, Omaha’s, as well northern and central Missouri’s weather forecast for later on Sunday, called for a snowstorm.  Bummer!  

Our plan had been to stay longer with our family but we don’t drive on snow any longer if we don’t have to.  So…first think on Sunday morning we hit the road home…a 2 day trip for us. (After we got home, David II confirmed that the roads had gotten bad later on Sunday and we’d made the right decision)

This is downtown Brookfield Missouri on early Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving… If you know your highways, you might ask why we were using US Hwy. 36 across Missouri instead of I-70?  The answer is that at a cost of only 20 minutes driving time, we avoided the heavy high stress Interstate, cruising instead through bucolic countryside with minimal traffic on a 4-lane highway…

This is the exterior of Ginnie’s Restaurant and Coffee Bar in downtown Brookfield Missouri.  Fortunately for us, Ginnie’s is open Sunday’s from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM.

Brookfield, a town with a population of about 4,300 is located in Lynn County.  Famous residents from Lynn County include:

·         General John J. Pershing, 4 Star General of the Armies and Commander of all US Forces in World War I.  I noted that he is credited with being a mentor for many of the generals who led US Forces during World War II.  They included George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur.

·         Walt Disney lived in Lynn County when he was a boy…

·         United States Army’s Brigadier General Don Pratt was the highest ranking Allied Officer to be killed on D-Day in France.  

Ginnie’s Restaurant and Coffee Bar is all about country style décor.   Note the tin roofing pieces used over the coffee bar.  They had already decorated for Christmas.  Loved the wreath mounted on the section of tractor hood behind the coffee bar!  

Once again I forgot to take photos when we received our food!  This picture of half of my Pork Tenderloin Sandwich ($8.29) and Laurie’s Patty Melt with grilled onions and Swiss cheese on toasted rye bread will have to suffice.  Our tasty sandwiches came with sides… Mine was apple sauce and Laurie went for cottage cheese.

I was surprised to note the amount of business at the Ginnie’s Coffee Bar!  After all, it was an early Sunday afternoon, downtown Brookfield was pretty much closed down…and yet, the customers came!  Laurie added to their business with a nice latte to go…

Ginnie’s Restaurant and Coffee Bar is located at 301 North Main Street in Brookfield Missouri.  They are open from 8:00 AM until 7:00 PM Monday through Saturday and as previously noted, from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM on Sundays.  Phone: 660-268-4068.  Ginnie’s is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Restaurant/Ginnies-Restaurant-and-Coffee-Bar-173813409881433/.

(FYI...The entrance to the Frosty Mug Bar and Grill is in the back of the building)

The preceding 3 photos of the Frosty Mug Bar and Grill in Mount Vernon Illinois were taken after Thanksgiving of 2017, but I included them here because once again they were our choice for dinner.  Mount Vernon has become our ‘usual’ overnight stop on return trips from Omaha to our home in East Tennessee.

This place is a local favorite!  On this return visit, the restaurant and bar were packed!  We were lucky to be able to get a table… It’s a great “joint”, having passed the “dive” category years ago.

The first time, we’d stuck to burgers and related dishes.  This time we branched out!  We started out with an order of Spinach Artichoke Rangoon, something that we’d never seen before on a menu.  Simply put, its cream cheese, spinach and artichoke stuffed in a wonton shell and fried. ($5.00) It was pretty darn good!  I was a bit surprised at how much I liked it…

For our entrées, we opted for the nightly special…a 12 oz. Ribeye Steak with a dinner salad and a baked potato for $15.95.  They did charge 25 cents for extra sour cream for Laurie’s potato.  We both agreed that our steaks at The Frosted Mug were far superior in both flavor and tenderness than many others we’ve ordered in fancier restaurants over the past few years!  Good steaks at a good price!

As long as we use Mount Vernon as our mid-point stopover on our way home from Omaha, we’ll be stopping at The Frosty Mug.  I really want to try their BBQ ribs the next time!

The Frosty Mug Bar and Grill is located at 1113 Salem Road in Mount Vernon Illinois.  Phone: 618-242-3372.  Their website and menu can be found at https://www.frostymugbarandgrill.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave