Chester, Illinois

I know it has been sooo long since my last post. Sorry, but I have been exhausted and have had little energy to do anything. Last weekend Scott and I went to Chester, Illinois for a look see trip. This is the last town on our short list. My parents arrived Thursday afternoon. They drove all the way out here to take care of the kids while Scott and I went away for the weekend. We left Columbus Friday afternoon and arrived in St. Louis early evening. We got our rental car and headed south to Chester. We came into town on the Missouri side. Chester sits on a hill overlooking the Mississippi. Very pretty!! As soon as we got checked into the hotel we met up with a realtor to look at some land. Brenda has lived in the area her whole life and definitely knew her way around town. The town of Chester is around 5,000 but they always trow in the inmate population of the state penitentiary that is on the river. So really it is more like 8,000. Any way, we some some great properties and I am very excited to see some more in the future. Brenda gave us the scoop on the school districts and some area activities. I love how the whole area has numerous outdoor activities, like horse back riding trails, hiking, skeet shooting, boating, sports and so much more.
Saturday morning Steve Hayes, Memorial Hospital CEO, picked us up for a fun filled day. We toured the elementary school, city parks, drove to Sparta and Steeleville. Both of these towns are about 20-25 min outside of Chester. Steve's wife packed a very nice snack bag for me. She heard that I am in my first trimester so she had sprite and water to drink and some crackers to snack on. So sweet and they did come in handy. I was fighting being sick all morning. By the time lunch time came around I wasn't so sure about real food. Steve took us to a wonderful little diner down town called the Farmhouse. They have yummy home cooked meals and a wonderful display of pies. After lunch I was just about to my limit but we had to meet with the town realtor for a tour. We told her right away that the tour would have to be short and just hit the highlights of town. I needed to go back to the hotel for some much needed rest. She showed us the court house and its amazing view. We drove down to the prison. Looks pretty secure to me. Glad I am on the outside and not the inside. She showed us some of the higher end houses, and of course showed us one of her priciest on the market that just happens to be ready to move in. I think she was trying to make a sale that day. The tour was nice but I needed rest so we went back to the hotel. Steve was going to pick us up about 4 to go see some more sights. We went to a small town on the Missouri side called Perryville. They have this wonderful community center that has an indoor swimming pools with slides, movie theater, library, track, gym and outdoor activities. We then drove back to Chester to see the country club. Small but very nice. I think our dads will be very pleased with this golf course. I was feeling pretty run down so we went back to the hotel for an hour. Steve and his wife picked us up for dinner. The restaurant was down by the river. We ordered our food but I couldn't eat one bite. We had a nice time talking to Steve, his wife and another physician from the hospital but I really wanted to leave so I could rest. As soon as we got back to the hotel Scott and I went swimming. It was a very full day and we needed to talk about things. By this time I think we both knew that this is the place for us. We figured we would tell Steve tomorrow before leaving for the airport. The next morning we slept in and hung around the hotel. We were going to try a church down the street but I wanted to rest. We had to check out of the hotel at 11 so there would be no resting for me until we got home around 10 that night. We met some people at the hospital for lunch. The CEO, board members, Scott's future partner and a few other people. Lunch was nice. After lunch we went to one more town for a tour of the hospital, the town of Red Bud. Small community but good size hospital. After talking for what seemed forever we walked out to the parking lot to say goodbye to Steve and give him the good news. If all the negotiations work out with the hospitals Scott would come and be their surgeon after residency. We feel great about our decision and hope all goes well in this next stage.