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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Burlington Day Trip

A couple of weeks ago, before our Columbus, Ohio trip, we made a little day trip down to the Burlington, Iowa area. Our reason for the trip was the Kayak demo day at Gladstone Lake. Gladstone is a little town on the Illinois side, just across the river from Burlington. Every year, there's a boat shop there that does a "You can paddle" day, where you can try out different kayaks and canoes and find the best one for you. We were excited to try out different kayaks, and it was a great opportunity to find our next boats.

We got kayaks last year around Trent's birthday, but ended up selling them in favor of more stable ones. Instead of jumping into getting them this time, we've been looking around and researching different models, and this time we were set on trying them first before buying.


I tried out a few different kayaks, and ended up finding the perfect one! As soon as I sat it in, I knew it was the perfect fit for me. It's the Perception Conduit 9.5. I loved this one, and am pretty sure it will be my next kayak!

I didn't buy it that day, but we've looked around a little since, and it looks like I'm probably going to have to special order it. It's not sold in a lot of stores around here, but I think I can just order it at the store, and they'll get it in for me. Trent didn't find his perfect one yet, but we're still looking. I'm hoping we can both find our new kayaks this summer. Then we can do a little boating before the summer is over.


While we were in the Burlington area, we made a few stops before heading back home. We stopped at Snake Alley in Burlington. It's a very crooked street that was built as a shortcut to get downtown several years ago!


This place brought back a few memories. We visited Snake Alley back on one of the first trips Trent and I took together, when we were first dating. That was 8 years ago! I had to do a side-by-side. :)


It's a pretty cool place, and such a unique, wind-y road to drive down if you are ever in the area!


Burlington is a river city, and there are some great sights to see in the area. The bridge is also pretty cool-looking. We stopped down by the river to take in the view.

On the drive back, we ended our trip by stopping at the Warren County Memorial Park in Monmouth, Illinois, to visit a couple of gravesites of Trent's family.


Trent's grandma on his dad's side is buried here, along with her parents. Since we've started looking further into our ancestry, we've learned more about our relatives and their stories. Even though Trent's grandma died when he was only 4 and he didn't really know her, it's nice that we're still able to visit her grave and the graves of his other family members. Trent even remembers visiting this place with his dad when he was a kid and putting flowers on their graves.


We decorated their grave markers with pink flowers. Trent's grandma was Norma June Keever. Her parents were Elva and Geraldine Coleman.



It was a perfect spring day, and a nice ending to a fun day trip.


A day full of kayaks, rivers, and making new memories! :)

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