Last Blog

WE got home today at 2:00 PM. The boys slept for the first 3 hours and then I slept the next 2 hours so the trip flew bye. Thanks for following my blog. We had a wonderful trip. Love you!

last day

the boys slept really really late, after 11:30.. I finally woke them! Then we headed into KC to eat at the Rozzelle Cafe at the art museum, pictures posted earlier. I showed them the Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugin and Monets... the Rembrandt was on leave. We then stopped at a little county museum in Kansas that had a 1950's house that I had to go through. LOVED it!, pink countertops in the kitchen, low ceilings, green bathroom and 1950's furniture. WE stopped at a Stage Coach Farm but it was closed but we walked around a bit. Then headed to Lawrence, excitement galore.  Blue everywhere. Drove through campus that is sprawled out so felt really huge and then walked the downtown. All the TV spots in the whole downtown were already taken so we ate and watched the game in our TV room. I can't believe the Jayhawks pulled that off.

the wagon trails

The wagon trails, Santa Fe, Oregon & California, all started in Independence for about 20 years until Westport was built which is 20 miles further west. For 20 years, the courthouse square was the starting point for all the families heading west, at one point there were 26 blacksmiths hammering away. Imagine the noise! and the mud. You probably knew, but the Santa Fe Trail ran both ways, it was 900 miles and wagons were going both ways, that isn't true of the other two trails, they were only one way @ 2000 miles. There was a wonderful, litlte Frontier Museum here, the only reason I came here, so the boys could read about this history. It had a descriptive story about the Donner Family, sad, the snow arrived early and killed most of the pioneers. Check out below, on the rocking chair story. unbelievable!

Who is this?

Doesn't he remind you of someone close and dear? This man is our host, him and his wife own Higher Ground. Can you guess who?

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

This is worth it and they have a lovely courtyard cafe with a 5* chef.

golfing

the boys golfed at Stone Canyon, it is a very long and busy course so I bought them a cart. It took 6 hours to play 18 holes, they were so happy when I picked them up!

A block away

About a block away is the World Headquarters of the Church of Christ Latter-day Saints. The mormons had a huge presence here in the early 1800s but were pushed westward....obviously! The compound has this spiral temple and large domed church but also includes, smaller churches, education centers, dorms, etc. It must be at least 800 acres large or greater... hard for me to configure but compared to Mom's 40 acres it is at least 20 times that! The Statue of Liberty can fit inside the spiral temple...but I am sure that is without her base. Guess what the boys are doing today?  Come on Bingo...guess! They are golfing. HA! We head to a fancy schmancy golf course in Blue Springs. They get the senior discount.

Next door

This is just a block away. It is the world headquarters of Church of Christ, Latter Day Saints. The Mormons had a huge presence here in the late 1800s but were pushed westward...obviously ! The headquarters include this spiral temple and large domed church but it also has little churches, education centers, dorms, etc... must be about 700 acres large. Beautiful grounds.

Underground

There is a whole community down below in KC.

Inside Higher Ground

Well, Rocky has not guessed what is dotting the i in Higher. See the clues on my earlier post and see if any of you can guess.... Below are photos from the breakfast and games rooms

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my error!!

Hi, I made a mistake in my blog.... it is not cherry blossoms but crabapple blossoms, geez, I am NOT in D.C. sorry about that The lilacs and tulips are correct tho!

Misc

The spider is from the KEMPER contemporary art museum, we literally fast walked through all the rooms, it does not even come close to Mpls' so don't bother with this in KC but still exposed the boys to something besides hockey :) They did have some nice Georgia O'Keefe stuff. the SCOUT looks over the Missouri River.

Sparkle

I didn't realize I had ever lost my sparkle!

F.L.W.

A second thing you may not know about me is that I love F.L.W., Frank Lloyd Wright. I love to research where his buildings are. There is one home here and one church. The house was completely hidden from view, with the exception of one roof line, that really describes FLW... so I saw that. The church was a little disappointing but it still felt like FLW. The boys suffered through both of these... being kind to their Mom!

BBQ

There is only one word that describes KC BBQ...... meat! lots and lots of meat! OH and a second word... SAUCE! The boys didn't even speak while eating...

World War I museum

I think this WW I museum is the only one in the nation but I might be wrong. It looks like nothing but a big bunker from the outside with a 250 foot liberty tower that you can ride up. We were so surprised when we walked in. It is top notch!! and so well done. We spent awhile here as it was so impressive. They had large examples of German, French and British trenches and a large British bunker. The uniforms and weapons displays were many! and we saw two different movies. WOW! is all I can say. Don't miss this if you are ever in KC. The picture of M & P is in the little elevator to the top of the tower, overlooking KC. On the ground is the old Union Station.. built in model of Central Station, it is huge, and then the gold dorm church. We also went to the public museum at the Federal Reserve Building, the boys were highly impressed with the security we had to go through just to get in and then we saw the money room and the boys went crazy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Money Money everywhere, they were wishing they had some of it :) I spent about an hour in the Hallmark Museum, the Halls started their business here and the 4th generation is now President. The boys were at the mall. This was really really really nice... I would recommend this, too. It is the history of the business not just displays of greeting cards! I really enjoyed this and did not know that Hallmark owns Crayola... since 1984. I believe they may own "Shoebox", it wasn't quite clear but it appeared so. They actually have their hands in lots of products. They had a display on all the artists that Hallmark has used over the years, Winston Churchhill for one, can you believe it!! For the 100 year anniversay, they had employees decorate crowns... each one personal and unique, they had some of these on display. You can tell the employees are well treated, much mention of their love of the company. We ate at La Bodegas last evening for TAPAS... oh man were they tasty, Peter ordered meatballs (of course!) with a brown sauce (not gravy). Max ordered a hot puffy pastry filled with leaks, potatoes, cheese and basil...yum! and I had the goat cheese with red sauce served with crositini...lovely. The boys were still hungry when we were done, you know the portion size was sample only! so they got a burger when we were done...cute!

sheltering

from the Spring Cabin... a cabin near a spring that was left open for all travelers, Indians, Pioneers, wild west men.... I hear Jesse James spent a few days in the jail here.

blooming flowers

You have seen the cherry blossoms, the lilacs and now the tulips!

around KC again

the neighborhoods of Roanoke and Union Hill...

shopping

I shopped alittle bit while the boys golfed....OK, I am sure you are thinking...how much can she do in 18 holes of golf.... ALOT! It takes 4 hours as the courses are busy and they are walking. I bought two table cloths at a little antique shop, a Norweign calendar and the Norweign almond cake pan and serving plate. I have wanted this cake pan for awhile now so decided to get it here!