NRRP: Missouri is not Misery

UPDATE! (see bottom of post)
So as some of you may know, I quite recently road tripped down to Missouri, quite suddenly, on the weekend before finals.  And it was grand.

I feel some highlights of the trip are necessary.  And if you don't find them exciting....well sad day.

First highlight happened in West Union, Iowa.  Not an exciting town, and not a particularly exciting reason to stop, but it's what you make of it!  You see my father, which Van friend and I are both quite well acquainted with (shocker there), has been looking for a fork lift to add to his rental business so being the good person he is Van friend pulled over to take pictures an such to see if le father would be interested.  At this point, it may be beneficial to mention my parents had noooo idea I went on this trip, and this stop definitely drug out the process of informing them, solely for entertainment reasons. And how so? you may ask.  Well in one of these pictures, my face is quite perfectly photo-bombing the forklift.....and father, nor mother caught it so I am biding my time to reveal my whereabouts that weekend at the point that will maximize both shock and hilarity. Mwhahahahahah


Highlight two.  If you ever happen to be in Colombia, Missouri and have some time to kill, head downtown to India's house.  It's not a very big or fancy place but it's a delicious and fabulous, authentic Indian cuisine restaurant.  The owners are first genertation Indian and the food is just.....gahhhhh beyond words.  Seriously beyond amazing.  We dined on Chicken Masala and Chicken Korma with sides of naan, mint chutney and tamarind chutney.  NOM.  After indulging and enjoying pure culinary bliss, we headed back to the minivan.  On the way back however, the sidewalk is blocked off so Van Friend decides we should just follow the college kids walking on the road ahead of us.  "Follow the mob; you're less likely to get hit," is his logic.  Of course, no more than two seconds later there are headlights RIGHT BEHIND ME. Cue the running!! Six of us are booking it down the street, two of us very full with delicious Indian food.
"My mother doesn't even know I'm here!"  "Yeah, no big deal I got ran over in Missouri! I just hopped in a van with some dude!"  I may have been yelling these things as I sprinted ahead of the high-heeled college girls.


Earlier in the week, I learned how to make genuine Tiramisu from a lady who was visiting the US from Italy.  Let me tell you, it is delicious and fantastically simple.  The most difficult part is waaaaaaaiting.  So Saturday,  while staying at Van Friend's brother and sister-in-law's home, we were given the the task of preparing the deliciousness. Gahhh.  And they had an espresso machine meaning that not only was I extremely happy every morning, we could also make genuine tiramisu,  Needless to say, they were quite impressed by our culinary skills.  We enjoyed the fruits of our labor while watching Guardians of the Galaxy.  It was a beautiful moment.

One last thing I must mention:  The home where we stayed is built on the bluffs just outside of Jefferson City.  While some aspects of the house are a bit wonky, the reason behind it is that the architect designed it so the occupants would never be without a view, and he succeeded.  One of the walls in my room was simply a large window, which showed the white-light cityscape of Jefferson.  Definitely an amazing view to fall asleep to.

^^The view from my room of Jefferson City

<<Where's Waldo

Seriously this trip was all sorts of fabulous and the little bit of escape from reality I needed.  And then they invited me to join them in Florida...just met these amazing people by the way.  Curses.  Seriously I need to work and attend to my responsibilities!! So tempting tho....

UPDATE: Mother, and Father, are now aware of my travels.  I showed Mom the below picture after asking if she had seen the picture of the forklift Van Friend had taken for le padre.  I zoomed in on my face and waited....She saw me but it didn't sink in that I HAD BEEN IN MISSOURI until I stated, "Yeah, that's how I study for finals."  Her face....Priceless.

Go There
Wanderlust
Batman
Jim Carrey
PS. If ya'll would enjoy the recipe for tiramisu, let me know and I'll post it!