I went on my first road trip in a year and a half last week, and I kept it doable at four and a quarter hours door to door. I went to St. Louis, one of my favorite destinations. I have friends and cousins there, I love the trees in Tower Grove Park, there's a sanctuary space of an airbnb right off the park, and the food is amazing. Plus it was so good just to be somewhere besides home after a long time of not traveling.

The Tower Grover Farmers Market was gearing up the afternoon I got in, and I bought the best small tomatoes I've ever had – purple and red and lovely (though my crazy Diamine Ancient Copper ink washed them all a little too dark in this sketch). Not pictured was some amazing sourdough bread. My friend Christina advised me to get cookies from Cafe Dolce, and I am not one to ignore good cookies. I ate a couple before I even sketched them, but it was fun to dig out my dip pen and small bottle of ink and just dive into a celebration of good things. I always enjoy looking back at the good things in my sketchbook and being happy about them all over again. The good things included a Payne's grey printmaking ink (that I can't WAIT to try), a new watercolor to test, and some sashiki thread actually on a spool that will make my mending life happy. All of these were from the tiny but so well curated St. Louis Art Supply that is a delight to visit.

Early in the trip I also did a quick fountain pen sketch of one of my favorite trees, an old sycamore in the corner of the park. There's a handy bench, and I always go and say hello to her. This was just in my tiny purse sketchbook, but I wanted to mark the moment.

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