The Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie Review

The day before Halloween, I had the opportunity to do something I had done many times before when I was younger. It was always my favorite thing to do around Halloween. I went to Conner Prairie to see The Headless Horseman. I used to go to The Headless Horseman when I was in Girl Scouts. I don’t remember how many times I have gone. I am so excited I got to go again tonight. It has been a long time since I have been to see The Headless Horseman ride. This is the 27th year that the Headless Horseman has been riding through Conner Prairie. They have more than just the Headless Horseman, they also have an Apple Store with fresh goodies, stories, and other events. I have faint memories of going when I was in Girl Scouts. I know we definitely went but I don’t really remember all the particulars.

I do remember coming back with my Girl Scout Troop and us “seeing” a headless man driving a car. I am certain now that he was not headless but you know he could have been The Headless Horseman’s victim that October night. I was so scared that night. Honestly when I was little I always covered my face when the Horseman made his ride. We go out on a hayride and all the sudden out of the darkness The Headless Horseman comes out to ride. It is not a mechanical thing. It is a real horse and a real Hessian that goes and collects the heads of bad boys and girls. OK, maybe not but you get what I am saying.

There were a ton of people at the Headless Horseman. I got there at 6 pm and there were really long lines. I managed to get an early hayride. The first thing I did what take a picture of the “hot air” balloon for Noah. He has seen it in the air so many times I thought he would love a few pictures of it, up close and personal. I am hoping next summer he is big enough to fly in it. So, it wasn’t dark at all when I went. That was kind of a bummer but at the same time I wanted to get home early enough for Noah. It was cool to be back in Prairietown after such a long absence. It looked the same as I remembered.

The hayride was eerie even though it was light out. It was fun to read all the signs, see the animals and just kind of relax. The Headless Horseman came and tried to take my head but was unsuccessful. I think that if you go to the Headless Horseman you should do a hayride after dark. On the other hand I wasn’t scared after the fact and probably would have been. There were children on my hayride and they were scared. It was a little annoying that kids that rode the night before would ruin it for everyone else. So, tell your kids not to ruin it and not tell others what is going to happen. It was fun and exciting. I also wasn't allowed to take any pictures or video even though the flash was off. I wanted to record the hayride but I wasn't able. I thought it would of been cool to show you first hand. That is part of the reason I wasn't bummed that it was still totally light out.

After I picked all the hay off of me, I went to visit the Mystic. I noticed her before I went on my hayride. The line was long when I got on the hayride and even longer when I got out. I spent at least a half hour in line. I love the Mystic. She is a cute little old lady. She was really nice. I was curious as to what my palm said. She said that I have a really long life line so I will live a long life, I have two profession lines, which is rare. I could be doing two things. I am doing one now but I could do the other and be successful too. She said that I will travel somewhere warm soon. She asked me to send her a postcard. You all know how much I love to travel. She told me I am waiting for “Tall, dark and handsome” which I am. It was all in fun and I am glad I took the time to meet with her.

They also had storytelling, The Disney Movie Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Scary-a-oke, a glow tent and other fun activities for kids. Next year I am bringing Noah with me. We will have fun. I also visited the Apple Store. I loved going to the Apple Store when I was younger. I ended up getting a cut apple with hot caramel on it in a bowl. It was very good. As I was leaving, I could hear the church bell and the wind howling in Prairietown. I could also hear people screaming.

Thanks to Conner Prairie Interactive History Park for inviting me to the Headless Horseman. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

No, I Will NOT Be Facebook Friends with You!

I have been thinking about high school or school in general. It has been 10 years since I was in school and really, not sure how it came up in my head but it just did. There are some pretty random thoughts in my head sometimes so why not blog about them. Two different things came to mind. The first one has to do with Facebook. It seems like almost everyone is on Facebook now. I like it, it is a great way to talk to family that I would normally not talk to. Not, because I don’t like them but because it is so easy to do on Facebook. I am sure I am not the first or the last to think about this but why do people add other people just because they went to school with them or they “knew” them in school. I can totally understand if it is like an old friend you lost contact with. That makes sense. I find it weird that people add people that they weren’t friends with or worse, people they never got a long with. That they hated for some stupid reason. I am all for putting the past behind me and not holding a grudge but really? I don’t really see the point. It definitely seems pretty hinky to me.

I don’t sit up late at night and wonder why so and so didn’t like me, but on the other hand I don’t search them out and friend them on Facebook, in hopes of some magical reunion to work out “our differences” from over 10 years ago. I guess if those people want to be “friends” with someone on Facebook more power to them. For example there is this girl I went to school with I will call her Bobby Sue for privacy reasons who added me as a friend on Facebook. I didn’t accept her request, for a few reasons. One being we were never friends and I couldn’t stand her. Now she just makes my skin crawl and I have no interest what so ever having anything to do with her. She makes my skin crawl because she worked at a brothel for a few years. I don’t want someone like that around my family or in my life. I have no desire to be “Facebook Friends” with someone I didn’t really talk to or wasn’t really friends with. I would much rather put it in my past and not deal with that person again. I totally understand that people change and all that but why even open up that potential Pandora’s Box?

It also leads to talking about being in school again and inquiring about or gossiping about other people. Things I rather not do with someone I wasn’t friends with in the first place. See, no matter how much you think someone has changed or how hard they convince you that catty high school girl comes back out. Of course I don’t mean everyone but more often than not it does. I am not sure if it is because you stir up old memories or feelings about then or what, but it happens. I’ll pass on being involved in all of that. I am not trying to sound like a cynic and I am sure some differences and new found friendships have blossomed on Facebook, it is just not for me.

Do you have any insights in to this? I look forward to hearing from my readers.

Show Me St. Louis!

Recently, my family had the opportunity to visit St. Louis. I feel so lucky that the St. Louis CVC picked my family to take such a wonderful trip. I am so excited to share all about my trip with you guys. I spent quite a bit of time planning my trip using the Explore St. Louis website. I picked out where we wanted to eat and what activities we wanted to do. I wanted to do so much stuff. I wanted to take in the full experience of St. Louis during our trip. If I were to write it all in one post it would be so incredibly long so I will have to break it up in to multiple posts because I have so much to tell you.

I want to start off by telling you some information about the St. Louis CVC. They are the go to ultimate resource to use when you are planning a trip to St. Louis or even if you live there and are looking for new places to visit or restaurants to try out. The website was extremely helpful when I was planning the meals and activities for our trip. There was so much information. I felt like I could get a feel of the places by the descriptions. There are so many different kinds of restaurants in St. Louis. There is definitely something for everyone. I think anyone’s palette could be satisfied in St. Louis. If you only like one kind of food they have many different restaurants to eat at. I think the hardest part of planning my trip was figuring out exactly where we wanted to eat. There were tons of restaurants that sounded so good. I even asked the rep I worked with about some suggestions as to where we should go because she lives there. I figured why not ask a local person. Her suggestions were spot on delicious. As most of you know I love to eat. I am so glad to report that my tummy was very happy every day of our trip.

There is a whole section of things to do on the website. There is a lot of information about each activity and you can really get a feel of if it is something you would like to do. We had so much fun at all the places we visited. They were all so different and Noah loved doing each one. We looked forward to each thing with huge smiles on our faces. Definitely something to help decide what you would love to see while you are visiting. St. Louis is one of those cities that there is so much to do that you wouldn’t possibly know about everything without some help. You could live there for years and not know about all the awesome things to see.

When you go on a trip for business or pleasure you have to stay somewhere. There are so many hotels to choose from and the St. Louis CVC website has information about all the hotels in St. Louis and they include links to the hotels website so you can look at pictures and the amenities. I personally think that it is good to look at pictures of where you are staying before you go. You don’t want to end up at The Bates Motel do you? I love that there are ratings of the hotels. If you are a hotel snob like me who will only stay at a nice hotel it is important. Another cool feature is you can click book a room from the St. Louis CVC website so it makes finding out where to book your room easy. That would be great in a hurry.

There will be more posts about my trip to St. Louis. If you are planning a trip to St. Louis you should check out Explore St. Louis to make the most out of your trip. Stay tuned for more about our adventures in St. Louis.

This trip was sponsored by the St. Louis CVC for my family to come visit St. Louis, my thoughts and opinions are my own.