June 2 - Cafe 37

We had an excellent lunch at Cafe 37 on the square in West Plains.  That ceiling is the real deal - stamped tin that has been painted.  The building was built in the 1880s and has housed a number of retail businesses over the years.  One of their specialties is macaroni and cheese and each week they add something different to it.  This week it was chicken and mushrooms.  I don't like mushrooms so Galen didn't have to share.  I had a spinach, sun dried tomato, chicken wrap and salad.  Delicious!

June 2 - Wildlife Mural

Today was a Serendipity Day!  We went to West Plains, MO to do a little geocaching and pick up a couple of master links for Ken and Jen's bike chains.  In addition to finding three caches, we found this remarkable mural in the bank when we went in to use the ATM.  The mural was done by Gary R. Lucy, painter of Missouri's first wildlife mural.  It is 7'x22' and depicts this area of Missouri as it was in 1978.  Twenty-two species of animals and as many varieties of plant life and wildflowers are painted with incredible detail.  The mural is painted on canvas on specially made stretchers so it can be moved if necessary.  There are 16 expansion joints and 32 adjusting mechanisms built into the stretcher. Copies of directions on how to move the mural are behind the mural, in a time capsule, and in the bank vault.