The rest of the trip.........

 Most of us ladies went here when the guys went to Heartland Acres.

 This Arboretum was so nice and the man that showed us around had lots to tell us very interesting.

 All kinds of flowers and trees. One of the next project for them is going to be an orchard and the fruit will be given to food pantries.

 In the summer they have lots of weddings here in the rose garden.

 This plant is called a sensitive plant and when you touch the leaves they fold up like the one in the left hand corner of this pic. He said the kids really like it and I think a couple of old ladies got carried away touching it hope it didn't die:)

 The peacock was cool!

 The children's garden was so cute.

 All kinds of things to do. There was a pond with fish too.

 They have a scarecrow auction in the fall to raise money.

 Lilies in the pond.

 We made these wreaths out of pages from a garden/ flower book.

 I really like the peacock. They said they will move it next year and something new will take it's place.

 Then they will eventually have a sculpture garden.

This is the end of my pictures we had 2 days left but didn't take many pictures.
Next will be my fabric bomb post..........What??????????................JMF

3rd day of our trip..........

 This morning we had a step on guide tell us about the history and of the Rock Island Arsenal, and what's going on there now.

 It was used in the Civil War to hold the Confederate prisoners.

 Here is the Confederate Cemetery.

 This is the Military Cemetery with graves dating back to the Civil War to the present time.

 There are lots of graves it was sad to see the hundreds and hundreds of white grave stones. I wish they gave a handout of everything he talked about, he was on the bus for at least an hour. Today it is still a military base, but also they rent out office space in some of the buildings to help keep the base open.

 On to our Celebration Belle Cruise on the Mississippi.

 Lots of photos:)

 We are entering the lock and dam.

 We have to wait til 15 before the gates open and we can go through.

The water churns up lots of fish so there was always lots of pelican around there.

 Getting closer.

 Now we can go through just to turn around and do it again:)

 Our entertainment after lunch. They are retired teachers, and good singers!

 I'm sure you guys didn't know that Elvis is still alive and singing on this paddle boat:)

 Going under the bridge. It was alittle cool that day, but that was fine with us.

We stayed there last night. We toured a little mustard making plant so it's mustard for the kids. It is good. The name of it is Boetje's. We ate at a restaurant called The Machine Shed that night, very good food. Next stop is Waterloo.............JMF