Travel Tails - Missouri and Illinois

Welcome to Thursday Travel Tails! Today, Arty and I, Dory,  are continuing our journey in Missouri and Illinois! Although we didn't see get a chance to stop and see much of the scenery in these states, we had a blast at the rest stops and one of our most favorite hotels.

 Do you know what famous Blogville Scottie/Shi Tzu and American Bulldog live in Illinois??? 
Stay tuned at the end of the post to find out!

Before we get started, we want to take a minute to thank President Eisenhower and his vision for a cross country Interstate Highway System. The route above is the one we took from California to Indiana!!

 "Mama...I have to go potty!"

It looks like we will start with Rest Stops today!

 The first thing that comes to our minds about the rest stops in Missouri and Illinois is GREEN!! There was lots and lots of grass, and all the pet areas were large and grassy with poop bags on hand if anyone needed them!
(Mama here: Like most of the Midwest Rest Areas I have traveled and stopped, both the Missouri and Illinois Rest Areas were clean and safe. The dog areas were not only big and grassy, but they were kept clean and, for the most part, poop free!)

There weren't any bunnies in these states, like there were in Kansas....



BUT ...
There were SQUIRRELS!!!!

 I, Dory, had the chance to show Arty some Squirrel hunting tips!

He did a pretty good job too!!

 That stubborn squirrel wouldn't come down from the tree!!

 Mean ole Mama made us leave before I could show Arty how to catch that crazy squirrel. 





I think she should make it up to me, don't you???

 

While in Illinois we stayed at the La Quinta in Collinsville, IL. It was one of our favorite La Quintas and we stayed there both on the way, and on our way back, from Indiana!! We got to the hotel early on both occasions and they had our rooms all ready to go!







After a short rest, Arty and I thought a walk was in order. So we put Mama on her string and headed out!



Tell them what we found Arty!

A Mini Golf Course right behind the hotel!!!
Cool, right??!! Mama said we didn't have time to stop and play...
Mean ole Mama!!

I found a place to sneak in after lights out though!!
Unfortunately,  I fell asleep before Mama and didn't get the chance.

We also found a big field for exploring and reading pee-mail!

 When we stayed there on the way home we got to see some of the best Stormy scenery ever!!

 We didn't get to spend a lot of time sightseeing in Illinois or Missouri...mostly because MAMA spent so much time hunting Covered Bridges in Indiana (see next week's Travel Tail)...but we did see some beautiful skies.

 ...and we crossed the Mississippi River....

...and drove through St. Louis!!

All in all, we really like the midwestern states of Illinois and Missouri and hope to spend more time exploring them soon!!

Did you guess the famous Scottie/Shi Tzu and American Bulldog from Blogville live in Illinois?? 

If you guessed Oreo and Addi,  you were right!!!

Join us next week when we show you some of where we visited in Indians when we weren't attending the BAR!