I had planned to travel around Illinois in a clockwise fashion, so after taking in Lincoln’s Springfield, we headed to Mt. Vernon for the night. I had hoped to take Tamu for a morning walk at a sculpture garden, but they did not allow pets and it was a hotter day than the one before, so I decided to skip the site and go straight to GenKota Winery for my first tasting in Illinois wine country. It was a delightful first stop. Since it was the day after Labor Day, the rest of the world was heading back to work and school, and I felt like a kid playing hooky as I indulged in a glass of delicious strawberry wine. Tamu and I sat outside and I tried to figure out how to use wifi and blog about Illinois as I was moving about the state, as this was my first one to cover since creating this digital travel log. Instead, the wine went straight to my head, and I discovered that I could not blog under the influence. Here I am years later catching up on this trip. I can still remember the refreshing wine, but found out today that the this wonderful winery closed in 2015. This makes me sad, as the strawberry wine was a real find.
For lunch, I headed to Rend Lake Golf Course in Whittington. Tamu and I sat outside, where he was treated like the principal guest, and the manager and I talked about therapy dogs and the value they bring to facilities with Alzheimers patients. At that time, I had plans to get him certified to do therapy work, and the manager had personal experience of care facilities and what dogs bring to dementia patients. Traveling with Tamu generally forces me to interact with strangers in ways that I would not likely do on my own. I like to joke that it is like I have a celebrity spouse because people move right past me in an effort to meet my charming dog. He often draws out local advice in helpful ways when I travel. Another topic that often surfaces is the experience of having a loved one with dementia, usually because I am wearing a T-shirt or sweatshirt from an Alzheimers Association walk and people need to share their experience with somebody who will understand. As I ate and chatted, the day turned warmer, and I gave over to the idea that conversation was going to be a large part of the day. I stopped in at the Southern Illinois Artisan Shop and Visitors Center in Wittington before heading to Pheasant Hollow Winery for another tasting.
Weatherwise, summer was far from over, but I felt like I had all of southern Illinois to myself that day as the world headed back to work for autumn. Tamu and I took a late afternoon walk at Rend Lake, a reservoir with resort area. Our first full day had been rather sleepy and slow moving as we adjusted to vacation after a summer of hard work.
