Goin' To Kansas City, oh yeah...
I had lived in the Kansas City, Missouri area for a few years, back in the 1970s, so I "sorta" knew my way around.
I flew in on a Sunday early afternoon and had planned to spend the night at an all-suite hotel* near MCI.
The Mid-Continent International name made this city different - instead of a standard abbreviation like CHS for Charleston, this airport got its name from its location - in the middle of the country.
It was also the hub for TWA, Trans World Airlines when I had lived there.
I was promoting the beauty and attractions of KC such as its wide boulevards and beautiful fountains and I worked for the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
My role was to get tourists to come and another fellow headed a team to get conventions to come and fill the new Center that had just opened.
One of the tourism standout highlights was the World War 1 Memorial and Museum just about mid-town, close to the Crown Center, known for its famously-worded greeting cards for all occasions.
The view from the top of the Memorial Tower was a place I had often taken visitors to look down on the skyline.
Quite frankly, in all the years I had promoted the attractions, I had never been inside the multi-level museum floors at the base of the tower.
I was staying with my cousin Ellen who lives in KC and her younger sister Diana who had come down from Chicago to spend some time with me on this part of my family-visit and extended birthday celebration.
We roamed around, dining and sightseeing - especially around the famed Country Club Plaza, the true heart of the city.
There was no golf course at this country club but fountains were everywhere.
The two ladies and I and stepped into the small elevator to ride to the top of the 217- foot tall structure.
Strong wind and a great view!
The entrance to the Museum and Memorial had you cross a glass bridge., looking down on a vast field of red poppys.
Growing up in Charleston, I remember seeing current veterans selling paper flowers to tuck in your lapel to remember the 19 million who died in the Great War.
As we were parking near the Plaza, I saw what I thought might be a food truck.
If it were, the food offering would be severely limited.
Boiled, parched or salted from the
Planter's Peanut promotional vehicle.
I even noticed the shape of the rear-view mirrors.
We parked and strolled over to the Plaza for a leisurely lunch and then set out to view the wind-whipped fountains, a major symbol of the city.
Standing upwind, I was able to keep my camera dry and took a posed shot of the ladies by the largest Nichols Fountain in the flower-filled area.
After that photo which required full color, I set the camera for some black and white likenesses.
This stop was nearing the end of my journey.
I made this trip to see my children, see their children and even their children.
These are the four young boys who are my Great-Grandsons and I had not met them yet.
The oldest was just 3 years old and lived in Columbia, Missouri and Bonner Springs, Kansas.
A mere 28 miles from the airport.
My grandson Matt had suggested he would drive his wife and two boys in from Columbia and we would all meet at his brother Michael's house just across the line in Kansas.
I had thought a suite in a hotel would be adequate. DUH.
I was pleasantly surprised by Mike's roomy house and vast yard as everyone had space to run and play.
This had all happened Sunday when I first landed in Kansas City and was staying at the nearby hotel.
We all love our Smartphones with their ability to GPS us to any place we needed.
Suffice to say, my phone failed at a crucial junction and I drove North instead of South and arrived hours later than we all had expected.
I apologized as I ate some food they had grilled earlier and it was delicious.
It was wonderful meeting and seeing all of these midwestern kinfolks!
More about this family gathering of mine in later blog postings.
Thanks for tagging along on this cross-country adventure.
It was coming to an end of almost two weeks of flying and driving and I enjoyed every minute!Labels: Bonner Springs, Columbia, Country Club Plaza, Cousin Diana, Cousin Ellen, Crown Center, Kansas, Missouri, Old Wesport, Plaanter's Peanuts promotional vehicle, Union Station, WWI memorial and Museum
So, let's recap my blogging: I've written about my dad towing me and my broken down junker car - twice - and still bragging that I'm his son.
"Showed" my Mom supposedly sipping a yard of ale at the old Backstage Deli in North Charleston..and she is 92, a
church lady and doesn't drink beer or anything else that's fermented.
Let's see, I posted a photo of my younger brother as he - allegedly - impersonated a US Marine and I implied (actually said) my older brother stole pop bottles as a youth on Folly Beach.
Hmmm. Because I try not to mention any of my ex-wives I'm running out of subjects for discussion. Or dissection.
Oh wait, there's my two grandsons in Missouri.
They told me they could fly. And...they did.
Naturally I was skeptical.
They live in
"The Show Me" state so I asked for a demonstration of them kicking free of gravity.
Technically they were in free fall above a trampoline so I'll give them that one.
I'll have to check to make sure
all my children have been involved in
fun-on-dad's-blog.
[Please click on the red headline above to see a video on a photography project I started back in February. There are some VERY talented people involved. Since I'm older than most of them, the
twentysomethings try to keep me up to date on the newest online and computer developments! Thank goodness I found a digital camera on my own.
Let me know what you think. Thanks.]
Labels: Backstage Deli, free of gravity, grandsons, Missouri, Show Me State, thedigitel.com, trampoline, twentysomethings, yards of ale
Back When I Was A Farmer...
When I was with the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Bureau - in the 1970s - I had a great job. There we were - smack dab in the middle of
America's Bread Basket or something.
I was invited to participate in many things and one of the B E S T was
"Swap A Visit With A Farmer" offered by the Chamber of Commerce. The idea was to make city-slickers more appreciative of what a farmer does for us. And, I guess, vice versa.
My family didn't know exactly where we were going for the "Surprise Weekend" but I drove us to the middle of Missouri one Friday and we met our host farm family. That night we gathered with a few hundred other farmers and families, sat in bleachers and rooted for the hometown high school football game. They won. Things were looking up.
We didn't actually stay in the rambling rustic farmhouse I had envisioned for the weekend. He was rebuilding so we stayed underground - in the basement - beneath the house just barely under construction. He had failed to tell the Chamber about that.
With no windows it was hard to know when the sun came up but when it did, we were already awake and sitting down to a HUGE breakfast. Bigger than the
Grand Slam featured on the menu at
Denney's. Farmers eat like food grows on trees.
There was a drought going on so Farmer Joe and I spent most of the morning making trips to fill a large water tank in the back of his pickup and we hauled water to his thirsty cows.
They got excited when they spotted his truck. Well, as excited as a cow ever gets. They moo-ed back when I moo-ed them.
My young daughter got to ride on the seat on the tractor (without a helmet or a seatbelt as my then-wife pointed out) and that was cool. In fact, everything was cool. The high temperature for the weekend was about 35 degrees. They both caught terrible colds. And there was the incident with the pig knocking her into the mud.
Ok, it wasn't the greatest thing we ever did as a family, but I had a new appreciation for Winter Wheat, Milo and the other stuff Joe was growing and, of course, we were looking forward to when Joe and the Missus would come to stay with us in Kansas City. I could hardly wait.
My house was already built and we had a spare room. Above ground.
Labels: America's Bread Basket, farmers, Kansas City, Milo, Missouri, tractors, winter wheat
