- Eating breakfast at Judy's in Jetmore which has "spill over the plate pancakes" which don't actually spill over the plate which was the fear of Betsy the Explorer. It was a tiny restaurant was filled with regulars discussing prices and rain, but we still felt very welcome. And hot pancakes are always wonderful.
- The 75 lb raven's nest made entirely of barbed wire at the barbed wire museum in Lacrosse.
- Highway 232 north of I-70. It's a scenic by-way and I concur.
Actually being there consisted of a potluck picnic, my niece being photographed like she was Britney and feeling like a VIP having arrived with Abby, Betsy's sister. Abby picked all the drawings including next year's gathering location which will be NE Kansas. Highlights from Lucas, Kansas included:
- Flying Pig Gallery-- Whimsical ceramic art with other typically wingless animals flying about with wings.
- The Grassroots Art Gallery-- Honestly, I think that I'm never going to be a big fan of grassroots art, but it was fun to see the wackiness all in one place. The guy who has all the political statement art made out of welded pieces of old machinery on Hwy 50 west of Mullinville had a little display in there. It was funny because I usually speed up to avoid reading any of it, but it's hard to scamper through an art gallery like that. I did enjoy the pull tab motorcycle and the motion machines from the man in Manhattan. The courtyard connected to it was lovely.
- The Deeble House-- I'm not sure how to describe this except to steal from Marci Penner's book and call it "jaw dropping". Mri Pilar's art is in the house and I think I missed a rock garden.
- Tea at Nancy Jo's-- That was a stop at her house to see her snowdome collection and have a glass of tea, and her hospitality was certainly a good highlight.
- The Garden of Eden-- I remember looking at it from the outside with Shauna once. It was nice to take the tour. I wasn't nearly as spooked by the whole place this time. Our tour guide really cared about S.P. Dinsmoor, its creator, and so it made everything a little more human and not just a series of scary concrete statues.
The trip home included a stop in Victoria at St. Fidelis Church which is awe-inspiring. The vision it must have required to take on an endeavor so grand is humbling.
It was a successful trip. We spent money and enjoyed the journey to a strange little town with lots of strange offerings. It was an interesting, ordinary day in Kansas.
8 comments:
now that the seed is planted i am curious to see the barbed wire museum--i can picture the railroad men standing around asking themselves how in the world can we get people to stop stealing our stinking right-of-way wire, that stuff is costing us 150k a year...and then some clerk somewhere confuses engineer (driver) with engineer (designer) and requests answers to design questions and to make it worse three of the driver will have attended MIT or some such
It's funny that even as an adult I remember the locations of certain towns--LaCrosse, Russell, Oakley, and Arapaho (NE)--not because of museums or landmarks but because I had crushes on boys who lived there.
"Barbed Wire Love" could be the title when you combine Ben's story and Shauna's memories.
barbed anaconda love wire crush
I just wanted to say I miss Kansas so much. Sure, California has a lot of great places to visit and there are some places that are very beautiful too. But Kansas is also a beautiful state and very underrated. I haven't been back to Kansas in almost 2 years and I am getting homesick. Someday I would love to be in the Kansas Explorers Club!
Becky-- How strange! Life changes so much, but I know Kansas misses you too.
I want to go on one of your Kansas explorer trips...do you let outsiders go on your trips...would I need to join so I could do the secret greeting ritual?
there are no guards keeping out the interlopers, and there were a couple of people present who were not members, but they were asked to close their eyes during the secret ritual :) you can come anytime you want. the concept is pretty simple as an organization: spend money in small towns. there are plenty of member who live outside the state. Cost of joining explorers is only $18.61. Based on my speil, i must think it's a great organization.
Post a Comment