Since we were all frazzled from life, I thought the last thing we needed was a busy weekend in a big city, fighting crowds and traffic. We needed rest, relaxation, good food, shopping, and a gab session. We were all 3 coming from different directions so I decided to find a half way point which turned out to be Carthage, MO. My first thought was Precious Moments, neat place to visit and I recommend you go see it if you haven’t but I knew we’d all been there before. So was there anything else to do in Carthage? Turns out; there is!
After reading up on the history of the town it was time to figure out where to stay. There are lots of options of the typical variety; Best Western, Econo Lodge, Super 8 hotels but this was to be a special get away! A typical hotel room just wasn’t going to do for us three sisters. I searched for a Bed & Breakfast and found Grand Avenue B&B.
Jeanne Goolsby provides excellent directions to the house so we had no trouble finding the home, and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful homes in the neighborhood. The home is a beautiful Queen Anne style home built in the 1898 with gorgeous stained glass windows, with the main one being round! Jeanne, the owner, met us at the door and gave us the grand tour. Grand Avenue has beautiful décor, period furnishings, and all the comforts of home. We had the suite which consisted of two joined rooms with 3 beds. After a few minutes of chatting and getting settled we decide to hit the town for dinner.
We were surprised to find that Carthage offers plenty of choices for food. I was beginning to realize Carthage wasn’t as small of a town as I had thought. Choices were vast from Mexican, to pizza, to fast food to steak house. With a finicky sister in the mix we decided to try Iggy’s Diner. Iggy’s Diner reminds me of the 50’s style diner, stainless steel body, complete with neon lights, and bar stools for counter eating. The food was American style hot off the grill. I recommend the Piggy Iggy burger! Belly’s full we head back for a good nights rest. Tomorrow we shop!
We start the day with a wonderful 2 course breakfast at an elegant set table. Then we hit the town with a list of antique shops a mile long. Carthage has about every sort of shop you could want. We hit the Goodwill shop which was quite a little gem! Someone there has an incredible eye for style! It was by far the nicest Goodwill store I have ever visited. There was the typical flea market variety shop, the artist type shop, oriental style shop, I could go on but you get the idea. We shopped until we literally dropped. We found some great bargains and solved all the worlds’ problems in one day. A very productive day I must say!
We head back to the B&B to re-group and prop up our aching feet. Grand Avenue has a nice array of hot beverages for guests. Every type of hot tea, hot cocoa to flavored coffee imaginable– they have it. It’s a self serve type thing and we made use of it several times! Jeanne had recommended trying Lucky J for dinner while we were there so we decided to check it out due to the fact she mentioned something about a rodeo?
We arrived at Lucky J Arena & Steakhouse to see a huge amount of trucks and stock trailers everywhere! It looked like the whole town and Joplin were there! No way would we get a table. But we only had about a 20 min wait and the smells made it easier to stay. It was our lucky night. We landed seats right up at the window to watch, of all things, barrel racing! Lucky J is an indoor arena with a steak house attached. You can watch the event from a 50 ft glass window while chowing down on delicious, reasonably priced, food or you can go inside the arena to watch the show. We found ourselves eating as slow as possible just to stay and watch the race. It was a fun place, great atmosphere, and good food.
The next morning after another wonderful 2 course meal and great conversation with fellow guests we packed up and headed home. The weekend was not what I expected at all; it was better. While I expected to have a great time with my sisters (and I did) I didn’t expect to find the charm that I found in Carthage. It’s a great place to get away for a weekend. The drive wasn’t too far, the people are friendly, and the grand old homes are absolutely wonderful. I went home content, rested, relaxed and ready to explore other hidden gems in Missouri. I’m thinking another sister get away is definitely a must!