My mom and I spent part of a day going to Kimmswick, Missouri. It is a small town less than a 30 minute drive south of St. Louis. Both my mom and I  were fully vaccinated and decided to spend a few hours going out. It started because I wanted to go to Bayer’s nursery to get some flowers to plant in my mom’s flower pots as a Mother’s Day gift. The weather was great, so we decided to make a day of it since I would be working on Mother’s Day. 

      First, we stopped at Bayer’s nursery in Imperial, Missouri. We looked throughout the nursery and each picked out and purchased some plants. (Check out my post in the garden section for more details.) After we made our purchases, we got back in the car and drove to the downtown section of Kimmswick so I could visit The Stamp Pad. It’s a small paper crafting store that sells card making and scrapbooking supplies. There were several things I wanted to get and since I had not been there since before Covid, I wanted to support the store. My mom chatted with her sister on her phone while I looked around the store. She came in after her phone call. I made several purchases, and I’ll be using my new supplies for some craft projects that I will be posting in my craft projects.                                   

        Finally, we drove down to the historic area of Kimmswick to have lunch at the Dough Depot. They have an outdoor patio and a window to order outside. They are known for their pretzel sandwiches. We tried to purchase some pretzel bread to take home, but they said they get their pretzel bread from a local bakery and since the pandemic, they have only been able to get enough pretzel bread for the restaurant and don’t have enough to sell anymore. Since it was so late, we decided to split a sandwich and decided upon the Market Street Special which is bread with ham, turkey, bacon, provel cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. We felt completely safe with no crowds and we wore our masks except when we were at our table. I even talked to the lady in line ahead of us. She had a dog with her named Winston and we shared some “dog mom” talk. 

     I had a great time talking with my mom and enjoying our sandwich. It was the first time I have been out to eat since March 16, 2000 (unless you count eating in the parking lot of Chic-Fil-A parked next to a friend). It was the first time my mom has been out to eat at a restaurant in several years. My dad had been unable to eat for the last couple years of his life, and could not be left home alone. We lost him near the beginning of the pandemic. We didn’t feel it was worth the risk to go out and eat. However, since we both have been fully vaccinated we felt it was safe to do so outdoors and where there were no crowds. It is nice to walk around historic Kimmswick and look at the shops, but we decided to go home to take care of the plants we purchased. This is a great place to visit if you live in the area. If not, see if there are small restaurants and shops that you can support in your local area.