Blogs from Kansas City, Missouri, United States, North America
December 30th 2011
I have just created this travel blog for my friends and family. It is Friday, and I leave Sunday. I am very excited. I started packing, but I know I am going to forget something. I am more dreading the flight than anything as of now, but I am sure I will be fine. I'm still messing around with this blog thing, but I am sure I will get it figured out eventually. I plan on updating this every day that I am in Spain during the siesta. This is one aspect of European culture that I am very familiar with, as I too tend to take personal siestas during the day, with the sole purpose of considering myself more cultured. Well, nothing too exciting to talk about right now. Until next time...... read more
Let the blogging begin, again, soon, soonish, maybe.
Published: December 3rd 2011North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
December 3rd 2011
Liz writing: Hello faithful followers. If you are getting this email notice, then bravo for keeping your preferences for over two years! A lot has happened since arriving in Missouri, and Mark and I are going to start chronicling the more mundane aspects of our now domestic life. In May we married with many of our family and friends to help celebrate. In June, on our way back from our fabulous Hawaii honeymoon, I convinced Mark that it was FINALLY time to get a dog. Mark relented with the stipulation that we needed to have a back yard. That may have been a stall tactic, but much to his surprise, I used that against him. Our lease was up in August and thought, well maybe we should begin looking for a house. Within a month with ... read more
A Little Piece of Kansas City
Published: November 8th 2011North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
November 8th 2011
As Saturday morning arrived we still had not decided on anything that we wanted to do. We talked about Watkins Mill but the weather was still pretty chilly and I am already fighting a head cold. In the end I just grabbed my camera bag and we went to just drive through Kansas City to see if we could find anything interesting. The first place we came across was the Just Off Broadway Theatre on at 3501 Central Street. They had done some redesigning since we had last been there which made the main building look better, but ruined the feel of the “castle” ruins that had bordered the place for years. I took pictures as long as I could as it only took a few minutes for my fingers to start becoming numb. An all ... read more
November 8th 2011
I arrived in Kansas a bit confused; I had two friends - one staying in Kansas City, the other in Kansas City but in two different states with one being in Kansas. Confused, I didn’t find this out until I arrived how it worked out and once I did I then had to tackle the roads. Prior to the cities I stopped off in a few places. First was the humble town of Abilene where President Eisenhower grew up. There are 12 Presidential Libraries from the latest US presidents generally in their home town, at least state starting with Herbert Hoover and the last one William Clinton in Little Rock. They are not normal libraries but more so archives and museum preserving the legacy of that particular President. Most Presidents homes are marked out on the ... read more
Voni's One Million Mile Award Ceremony
Published: October 17th 2011North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
October 15th 2011
2 weeks ago a friend of mine told me to mark this day (OCT 15, 2011) on my calendar. We were going to the BMW dealer. So today I had the pleasure of being at Engles BMW when Voni got her 1 Million Mile award from BMW. I had not met Voni in person although we both belong to the LDRider list and know each other from posting. She is a very special person. She was hugging everyone. Her smile was always present. There were 2 women that were really close to getting their 1 Million Mile awards from BMW. Voni and Ardys. Probably more people have heard of Ardys because there are not that many 76 year old grandmothers riding, and it would be safe to say she is the only one that rides this ... read more
September 12th 2011
The abyss of the blue sky slowly gave way to the billowing gray clouds of the coming storm. At first it was as though someone had stretched cotton across the sky, like the cob webs we buy for Halloween. That soon gave way to a couple of small mushroom clouds approaching from just beyond the horizon. As the wind began to blow a little harder, the sky quickly grew dark as the thunderheads began to consume all I could see. In the distance the booming echoed amongst the river bluffs, like a far off battle drawing ever nearer. As the temperature began to drop there was a slight chill in the air. The wind became still and it looked as though the storm would narrowly miss us. For a few moments there was a serene calm, ... read more
The Delay--Weather related
Published: June 23rd 2011North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
June 23rd 2011
Leslie, Kate's daughter-in-law picked us up on time and delivered us to the MCI on time. As we were unloading, "Mr. Drummond in a kilt" greeted us @ the door of Continental with a big smile. We thought we were dreaming. A real Scotsman in a kilt @ the airport in KCMO--this is Serendipity!!!!!!! What are the odds of this happening when we are off to Scotland?---well......we are trying to get out of KC! We are to fly to Newark at 2:30......delayed 3 hours.....because of bad weather there. We have tried to find other ways, Leslie, Kate's daughter-in-law picked us up on time and delivered us to the MCI on time. As we were unloading, "Mr. Drummond in a kilt" greeted us @ the door of Continental with a big smile. We thought we were dreaming. ... read more
Treasures of Art and History
Published: March 16th 2012North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
June 22nd 2011
Today was my day in Kansas City. My first site was the Treasures of the Steamboat Arabia Museum. This private attraction tells the story of three men; Bob, Greg, and Dave Hawley; who went looking for buried treasure and found something else entirely. In the 1830s, the Missouri River was a treacherous place to be a steamboat pilot. The river changed course constantly, leaving lots of shallow spots to run aground and underwater hazards. The most difficult of all were snags, tree trunks hidden under water. Overall, at least eight hundred steamboats sank in the river. Since the river kept changing course, many of those steamboats are now buried under land near the river rather than water. The... read more
June 18th 2011
Late start this morning, left at 8 am.Ran into rain around Hardy and it remained cool and overcast until lunch at Springfield. Enroute to Kansas City, it got very hot. Had to break out the Anti-MonkeyButt Powder.Stopped for AC fuel(8 ibs.of ice),filled all available pockets and continued on to motel .In the old days before everything went green, you could dry your clothes on the incandescent lamps. Now we take our chances!Next on agenda was an adult malt beverage mission, then onto minsky's sports bar just across the parking lot! 20 beers on tap but no Boone's Farm for Ralf. Will try to type entry tomorrow BEFORE drinking a few glasses of very good wine. Sore muscles but good day riding..On to Mitchell SD tomorrow to see the Corn Palace, hope there is some of the ... read more
Family Trip to the Kansas City Zoo
Published: April 27th 2011North America » United States » Missouri » Kansas City
April 24th 2011
Finally a day that was not raining and although cool, the weather was nice enough to be outside. None of us felt like a simple hike at the state park that we always go to so we decided to go to the Kansas City Zoo instead. The kids had wanted to see the polar bear exhibit anyway so we packed some sandwiches and began the hour drive to the zoo. One milestone we hit this year, it is the first year we did not have to push a stroller around, though after lugging two cameras and lenses I would have gladly pushed a stroller just for those. A small surprise was that there were no lines at the ticket booths so we got our pass and were inside the gate within a matter of minutes. The ... read more
