What a fun Wandering Wednesday! The temperatures were amazingly warm for November 9th and we took advantage of the nice weather. Our aim was to visit Alton, Illinois and see if any eagles had migrated into the area yet.
The leaves were brown and most of the trees were bare of their fall beauty, but as we drove up the River Road we scanned the sky, river and tree tops for eagles and came up empty. We noticed three different eagle’s nests and as far as we could tell, nobody was home.
Eagle Viewing
Although the chance to see eagles were slipping through our fingers, we decided not to let that dampen our spirits and began looking for an alternative adventure.
As we drove through Grafton, Illinois, I remembered my friend Carol had recently posted some fun from Illinois and we began to search for Aerie’s Resort.
Open-Air Chair Lift
At the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, we found what we were looking for, the Grafton Sky Tour. We purchased tickets at $10 each and hopped on the open-air chair to ride to the top of Aerie’s Resort Bluff. The fun thing about the cost was we had access to the chair lift all day long.
The 15 minute ride to the top was beautiful and quite entertaining to this old gal. Sitting in the open air all the way up the bluff and feeling the cares of the day drain out the bottom of our dangling feet was refreshing.
With the rivers to our back, we stretched our neck to see what waited for us at the top. We hiked the quarter mile trail to a lookout point where we could see the rivers and a towboat heading north.
Tree Swings Brings Back Memories
Along the path were ringtoss games and different types of swings. Dan hopped on the tire swing making it look easy to ride. I hopped on the swing and fell flat on my boom-bomb-bay in a quick second. The next swing made of rope and a single board was more my speed.
Lunch at the Winery
We made our way back to the winery for lunch and enjoyed their patio as well as a couple nice sandwiches.
Alpine Coaster
We kept overhearing the buzz about the Alpine Coaster, so we checked it out. After signing our life away on their mandatory safety procedures and liability release, we plopped down our debit card for a ride down the bluff.
Thinking about the form we had just signed, I began to flash back to the Six Flags Screaming Eagle and got cold feet. I wondered what I was doing there, but climbed into that big yellow coaster anyway.
After watching a video and giving a thumbs up that I understood what I had to do to control my coaster and come back alive, I promptly forgot everything I had been told.
It reminded me of the movie “50 First Dates” where Drew Barrymore lost her short-term memory and Adam Sandler worked to overcome her loss.
My next thought, as my coaster left the building was, “how do I stop this thing – push or pull? And where was MY Adam Sandler now?” The ride actually was quite pleasant once I overcame my fear.
The end of our day took us back to the sky lift and we headed down the bluff watching the sun go down over the rivers.
Mississippi River Ferry Boat
We drove further up the river road and crossed the Illinois River at Hardin, returning to St Charles by ferry over the Mississippi.
We had such a good time and headed back home with smiles on our faces and great memories of how I overcame amnesia and my fear of death.
Check your calendar, it’s time to wander!