Our KC Trip

This beautiful lady was our hostess last weekend!

This is C, G's sister.  She and I had only met briefly a couple of years ago at their father's funeral but hadn't had a chance to visit and really get to know each other.  She's a nurse, so rarely gets holidays off.  But she had Labor Day off last weekend and decided that she wanted to spend it with us. How cool is that?!

C lives in Lee's Summit, which is a suburb of Kansas City.  C not only shared their mother's Oatmeal Cake recipe with me, but she also shared her Carrot Cake recipe.  (Please note that this is the front of the recipe card only, and I have blocked out her full name, because that's just how we play the name game on this here blog.  Protecting the innocent and all that!)

I made a couple of carrot cakes recently for the bake sales, so we may just have to have us a real carrot cake throw down on this blog soon!

We packed a TON of things in last weekend!  Our first stop was Missouri Town 1855, and I failed to get any pictures, but it is definitely worth the visit!  This link gives you a good glimpse of what it is like.  The best part of that visit?  Cause let me tell ya, it was HOT that day!  We got a chance to have a long, old-fashioned visit with the lady in this pic.

She manages the livestock, and even trains the oxen teams.  Her name is Linda (she's a public figure after all!), and she has not only worked for the Missouri Town 1855 for 16 years, she and her husband run a working farm!  Win!

After that we went to The Plaza, cause you can't say that you've been to Kansas City if you haven't been to The Plaza!  Even if it wasn't Christmas time!

There are fountains and statues all over the place at The Plaza, but this one was by far my favorite!

We shared a good joke with ol' Ben over the Declaration of Independence.  And he totally got it!

We did some shopping there and had a really nice dinner Saturday evening at Gram and Dun.

On Sunday after church we spent some time at the City Market.  Had some real KC BBQ ribs and brisket at Winslow's.  C even bought an old fashioned meat grinder like G&C's mother used to have, as did my mother.  But the BEST part of the City Market was the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  This is the only pic I took, which was from the Gift shop, but here is the http://1856.com/ link.  I was so enthralled by the whole story of this steamboat, its excavation and the treasures that they found, I was afraid to take a pic for fear I would inadvertently let the flash go off, something that they respectively request that you refrain from using.

They call the finds "the Walmart of 1856" and for very good reason.  The goods on this steamboat when it sank covered everything from kitchen goods to clothing to pickles - and they were still edible as proven by one of the excavators!  All I can say is GO!  Just GO!  You won't be disappointed.  Such a fascinating story!  We stayed till they closed the doors and were turning off the lights!

I did take one other pic from our time at the City Market - the KC skyline as we were leaving.

Our last visit before heading home was the World War I Museum.  I never expected that we would spend as many hours there as we did, but we closed the place down!  (We may not be known for closing down bars, but we are quite experienced at shutting down museums!)

I didn't take a great deal of pics, but I snapped this one with G's son, R, in mind, since he is such the gamer.

And I found this post card quite fascinating.  You would NEVER see a post card like this these days, since it is clearly NOT PC!

But the biggest win from the WW1 Museum?  Perhaps the biggest win of the weekend?

This guy.

Can you read his hat?  Can you read what it says?

World War II Veteran.

Not because this hat was given to him by his father or his grandfather, but because he IS one of the very few remaining.

That's right.  This man is a living WWII veteran.  He served in the Philippines in 1943-44.  I noticed him when we entered one of the wings of the museum, and I knew that we had to stop and chat with him.  He was walking around with a walker, talking to anyone and everyone, but I knew that he also had a volunteer badge and lanyard.

That's right.  This man is a WWII veteran who volunteers 2 days a week at the WWI museum!  Now let's think about this for a moment please.  Let's assume he was only 18 years old when he served.  That was 70+ years ago, so he is at least 88 years young.  He needs a walker, but he doesn't let that stop him!  He isn't sitting in front of the TV all day.  He is out sharing his life and history and love for country to anyone that he can.

And this isn't his only gig.  He also spends time on other days in the week at the KC Union Station where people take pics of him posing as an Egyptian Pharoah!

Unfortunately, while he wins, I fail, because I failed to retain his name or any of the 4 jokes he told us.  But he wins. And is a true KC treasure.

Can I be him when I grow up?

Win.  He wins the game.  A true American hero, regardless of where you land on the "war is good" or "war is bad" or "war is necessary" spectrum.  We may not know any stories of heroism from his days of serving.  Doesn't matter.  He wins.

Thank you, C, for a WONDERFUL weekend!  We are so glad we came!!