Precious Moments Chapel

I had a much needed short weekend trip. My best friend, Debbie, and I met at the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, MO. She lives in southern Missouri and has never been there and, since it is free to tour, I thought it would be a good meeting place for us. We stayed at a local bed and breakfast, Leggett House. The rooms are very nice and the rates are fantastic. We enjoyed a marvelous breakfast this morning.

Last night we had dinner at the Lucky J Restaurant and Arena. This is a restaurant and arena in one where you can watch the activities through a Plexiglas window while dining. Their menu includes steaks, chicken, burgers, fried catfish, sandwiches, salads, and appetizers. The activities in the arena include various rodeo attractions. The prices are reasonable and the quantities more than enough to share. We stayed there visiting until we felt we'd worn out our welcome.

From there, we moved to Iggy's Diner. We wanted some coffee but ended up with coffee and cheese cake. The size of the serving was very generous for the price ($2.99) and the coffee was pretty good, too. The server brought us powdered creamer and when we asked if they had any liquid, she said no but offered to bring us some milk. No charge. That was very nice.

We headed back to the B&B and ended up visiting with the owners for a while. They're from Texas and very, very nice people. We were the only guests last night so it was very relaxed.

The people we met in Carthage were very, very nice. If you've never been to see the Precious Moments Chapel, it's worth the drive to do so. The tours are free and are every hour. The gift shop has a lot of really neat items, and not just their own brand things. Of course, you're going to pay more for the PM items, but they have to make some money somewhere.

I've been there several times since they opened (in June 1989) and each time there is more to see. Sadly, they've also had to shut down a few things because of the lack of business. The "tour buses" don't seem to visit as often so they've had to cut down the amount of staff and the number of services they offer. It's truly very sad as this is a wonderful place to visit and re-charge. I never cease to be spiritually blessed from a visit. Sam Butcher is truly a man of God and shares his faith in a most wonderful way.

Anyway, Debbie and I had a wonderful time catching up on each other's lives. We haven't seen each other for two years. She came to town for my 50th birthday party and then we've not been able to get together since then. We decided that we needed to do a weekend every year.

Next year, it's her turn to pick.

The Castle

Even though I've had some other things going on this week that have taken my attention, I couldn't go much longer without posting about my wonderful night out, compliments of Amy. I stayed last Friday night at the Castle Inn in Wichita. It's got wonderful history and was a very relaxing setting for my stressed out body.

The owners had not planned on being open Easter weekend but because they got several requests for rooms they decided to be open Friday night only. Because they were not there we were not served the desserts on Friday night or the breakfast on Saturday morning. We did have very good coffee, though.

I arrived about 5:45 pm (check in is no later than 6:00 pm) and was given a short tour of the castle and then shown to my room. I was told I could take any pictures that I wanted and go into any room if the entry door was open. No problem. I got my camera and started my tour.

Here is the outside of the castle:

That is from the parking lot. The balcony above the right arch is off the room I was in and is shared with the room above the left arch. My room also had a front (private) balcony.

Front of the castle:
You can see my private balcony in the above picture. It's the one on the left of the picture, above the window. It is barely wide enough for a chair but it was still nice to go out on and enjoy the view.

There are so many rooms that I can't possibly put the pictures up of them all. Here is one picture of a sitting area fireplace. According to the literature, this fireplace is 650 years old:
My room was the "Mary, Queen of Scots" room and it was lovely. It also had a fireplace (there are 14 in the castle) and a jacuzzi tub. I stayed in the tub until I was a prune! It has a king sized bed, which was pretty comfortable considering this is a hotel. Each of the guest rooms contains a journal for jotting down thoughts and sentiments. Many of the guests who had written in the journal had stayed there to celebrate an engagement, a wedding, or an anniversary. It was wonderful to read the stories each had taken the time to share.

The castle also has a library where you can borrow movies or books to enjoy in your room. I took "Life with Father" with the intention of watching it but watched HGTV until midnight instead. LOL, that's not much different than any other Friday night.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I did come home refreshed and more relaxed than I had been in quite some time. I appreciate Amy's generosity in so many areas and this is just one more example of her selflessness. It was not an inexpensive treat she gave me and I am deeply touched and grateful.