There are some who start their retirement long before they stop working. -Robert Half

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Hip Side.

Up to this point, you might think that the bustling metropolis of Owensville, Missouri consists only of church functions and Metamucil, but there you are wrong.  You, like me, might wonder where the 18-25 age demographic can be found in this quaint retirement destination. Luckily, I have been enlightened (though I use the word "enlightened" loosely so as not to confuse my experiences with things like art museums and classical novels). The other weekend, my friends Abby and Ashley came down to visit and experience the life I lead. Or maybe I should say the life I don't lead because Grammy, Papa and I definitely don't hit up the wineries and bars. Anyway, we started off our weekend at Wenwood Winery in Bland, Missouri where we sipped wine and listened to live music. I've decided that this is my favorite winery in Missouri. I mean, it's at least my favorite of the four I've been to. Wenwood Winery is way out in the beautiful Missouri countryside in an old, rustic barn. And they have a puppy there. And, after sampling all of their wine, we were happy and shocked to say that we liked all of them. Three points in their favor.
Our day then went from classy to classier as we ventured to Clancy's in Rosebud where we did not order the special (it was fried chicken and I'm not a fan of chicken-on-the-bone. Don't tell Papa). Ashley loved Clancy's (I mean, what's not to love?) even though they only carded her when she ordered a beer.  She told me she was amazed they didn't card me, too, since we both look so young, but I just reminded her that I'm a regular. And proud of it.
And if you thought the excitement stopped there, you're wrong once again. After Clancy's, we headed back to Owensville to experience the hoppin' nightlife. Now, I'd had dreams about the Hip Side of O-ville before, but those dreams had nothing on the real thing.  Our bar of choice for the night was the Miller Pub. Why, you may ask? Well, Julie, Ashley and Abby are friends. Abby is dating a boy named Chris. Chris has a dad named Ron. Ron and his wife Brenda own a bar in Owensville called the Miller Pub. CONNECTION MADE!  Isn't that nuts!? What are the chances that your best friend's boyfriend's dad would own a bar in the town you temporarily retire in!? Anyway, instead of boring you with a minute by minute recount of the night, I'll just give you some highlights:

Highlights of the Night:
-We made lots of friends. It could have been because we were the only people who weren't completely wasted, over thirty, and dancing, but who am I to tell? Our loudest new friend was named Adam. It was new friend Adam's birthday and he kept telling us the band wouldn't play him a birthday song. We asked him what his birthday song is and he told us it is House of the Rising Sun. Later, however, Adam somehow got ahold of a guitar and a microphone and started playing it himself, until he forgot the words and another guy started singing them for him. Apparently he's "usually 10,000,000 times better than that."
- I experienced my first bar fight! Actually, I experienced my first two bar fights. The first one was between new friend Adam and some other guy who thought Adam was hitting on his girlfriend. Jealous boyfriend was also one of the participants in the second fight. I guess I can check "witness a real bar fight" off of my Things to do Before I Die list.
-Ashley (who is married) got a phone number from a kid drinking straight from a pitcher. First off, I call him a "kid" because he seriously looked like he was seventeen. After carding him, we discovered he is apparently 22. Anyway, he wrote his number on his hand and held it up to Ashley's face, while still drinking from his pitcher; I mean, that takes talent. He even messed up writing it once and had to scribble it out and write it on his palm again. What a winner.
-There was a guy with a mullet. A real mullet. It brought a tear to my eye (because it was painful to look at).
-Adam bought us all a shot called a Russian Roulette. It was pretty intense. The bartender brought out the shots, a metal bowl with lemons and sugar inside, and a lighter and then lit the lemon bowl on fire. Apparently the next step is to swirl the bowl of lemons until the fire goes out. Luckily, new friend Adam was in charge of the lemon bowl and thus dropped flaming balls of lemony sugar all over the table.

After much excitement, we headed back to Grammy and Papa's where we thankfully morphed back into retirement. In the morning, we quilted, ate a butter braid pastry, and classified birds. I'm too old to act 23.

2 comments:

  1. Mmmm. Seems like some key information was left out of ASHLEY'S story...sounds like a hoppin' good time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julie, I had so much fun! When can we do it again?!?

    ReplyDelete