Something to do on a rainy day

Cliff and I have visited the World War I Museum before, but there was plenty of stuff we didn't see, so today we returned.  We arrived around 10 o'clock; unfortunately, so did three busloads of middle school kids.  We got herded in with them, and I have to say, it was a little scary.

So we got to watch the opening movie with some of the kids.  The movie tells a little about how the big war got started.  
We toured the place until noon, went out to the car to eat our lunch, and returned to the museum.  We still didn't see every single thing, but at three o'clock, Cliff said, "We'd better get out of here, or we'll get stuck in rush hour traffic."  
"But I wanted to pay a quick visit to Union Station," I said.  
Cliff was pretty sure we could walk there, so we asked a guy who works at the museum.  He told us how to get there.  

It looked like a long way down there, and there was light rain falling.  Wow, look at all those city geese.

I made up a new game on the way, a game called "See if you can keep from stepping on the goose poop."

After jaywalking across a couple of streets, we arrived at Union Station.  

Cliff said that tree must be twenty-five feet tall, but I told him I'm pretty sure it's twenty-seven-and-a-half feet tall.

Santa was at the end of this hall.  Since I haven't been a very good girl this year, I didn't wait in line to see him.

Then we had to jaywalk again and walk ALL THE WAY up a hill to Liberty Memorial.  Whew.  Oh well, we needed our daily walk.  

And while rush hour had started when we headed home, there were no delays.  It's been a pretty good day, for a rainy one.

You gotta love Kansas City

A book

Sitting in the dentist's office the other day, I picked up a well-worn book and was instantly mesmerized. The title was "Kansas City, Then and Now".

On the left-hand page there would be a picture of Kansas City at some time in the distant past; on the right-hand page was a picture of the same location, as it looks now. Absolutely fascinating, and I just HAD to have that book.

No, I didn't steal it from the dentist's office. I came home, looked for a used copy on half.com, and ordered "Kansas City: Then and Now", the original, and "Kansas City, Then and Now 2". There's also a "3", but it's newer, and therefore, pricier.

The pictures above are surprisingly similar considering they're taken almost 150 years apart. In others, though, you can't even tell it's the same location.

Now I must go look at my picture book; then I'll be off to the garden to cover up the stuff I set out yesterday.

Yep. It's going to be at or near freezing tonight.

I always loved Kansas City

When I was growing up in north Missouri, I'd spend a week with my sister every summer; she lived in Kansas City, North, near Gladstone. You could stand in her back yard and see the KC skyline. I loved that skyline. When I was at Sister's house, we'd visit Fairyland Park and the Swope Park Zoo. We'd ride the bus to the Katz store in North Kansas City. What a magical place Kansas City was.

When I was twelve years old and in the sixth grade, my parents moved to Kansas City hoping to find a way to make a living. They'd been eking out an existence on a farm where Daddy was a "hired man", and times were hard.

I missed the country life, and actually cried myself to sleep several nights, after we'd moved to the big city.

But we were about four blocks from Municipal Airport, which was Kansas City's only airport at that time. I could walk down there any time I pleased and watch planes take off and land. Now that was exciting.

I got over my homesickness for the farm.

We were exactly one block from the Missouri River levee, and I could climb up and over those rocks and walk right to the river's edge, as you see my cousins and Daddy doing in the above picture.


We were almost under the A.S.B. bridge, and it had steps you could climb and a sidewalk where you could walk right across and end up downtown. Nobody told me we were living in what was practically a slum. I could lie on my parent's bed after dark and watch the light on top of the KCPL building change colors. I thought I was living a miracle.

Years later after I graduated, I rented my first apartment on Eleventh Street. I'd catch a bus to work in front of Genova's Chestnut Inn (seeing country music singers' names on the marquee who later became legends), or I could walk north to the Independence Avenue bus stop.

I worked in North Kansas City, so I transferred buses Downtown in front of Emery, Bird, Thayer. Waiting for my next bus, I soaked in the amazing displays in Downtown's streets and windows during the Christmas season back then.


The Kansas City skyline still moves me. If you've driven through Dallas or even St. Louis, Kansas City pales by comparison; but I will always love it. Because I remember when Downtown Kansas City was the place to be.

And I want to thank all the Kansas City bloggers who help keep those memories alive for me (even the angry bloggers). The Kansas City spirit is still there, even if Downtown isn't what it used to be.

I will always love Kansas City.

Union Station and Bodies Revealed

Some of my readers wondered what Cliff and I thought about "Bodies Revealed".

We found it quite interesting to see how the different systems of the body do their jobs. Cliff worked in a butcher shop for twenty years, so he has a better-than-average knowledge of how the inside of a body works (the insides of a pig work pretty much the same as the insides of a human). He complained about it costing $50 to see the exhibit, but I believe he got his money's worth. At least he stopped complaining, once we'd seen it.

We were surprised at the size of the crowd present on a Wednesday morning; and as we were leaving, there were more people lined up and waiting. Sometimes it was hard to see a display because of other people crowded around it, and there were the usual unruly children you see at any event like that. Still, it was worth seeing.

We're such hicks, we got lost in Union Station and had to ask a nice gentleman who works there how to find our way out. Turns out we needed to go up another flight; we were on the wrong level. ("Golllleeee, Uncle Jed!")

I also did an entry on my AOL journal about our trip to the city.

Scenes from Kansas City

We don't get into Kansas City often, even though it's less than forty miles away; so when I'm there, I always see things new to me. Like the murals on these buildings.

Sort of a tribute to Kansas City Jazz and the jazz museum, I guess.


An advertisement for local breweries.

I hadn't been to Union Station for at least forty years; today we went there to see Bodies Revealed exhibition. What a huge old building!

And what a magnificent ceiling.

Ah, Western Auto. I remember it well.

I love Kansas City

I think that as I grow older, anything that reminds me of my lost youth is treasured.

So I love Iowa, although I was so young when I left there I barely remember what it was like. After all, it's where I first started school in a one-room schoolhouse. (I'm second from the back in the right-hand row.)


And I love Eagleville. I'm old enough to remember quite a few things about that little town: although if I went back now, very few people would know me, and I'd know fewer of them.

As much as I hated to move to Kansas City when I was in the sixth grade, the memories of laying on a bed in an apartment in Harlem and staring across the river at the skyline, homesick for the country are as strong as though it happened yesterday. Oh how I enjoyed watching the changing colors of the Kansas City Power and Light building. And that huge coffee can atop the Folgers building. I can't help loving Kansas City.


After traveling through Atlanta and Dallas, I realize our Kansas City skyline is pathetic by comparison. But my heart still skips a beat when I see it when we're heading toward the city from the east by way of I-70.

Harlem is still in my blood. That's where I first fell in love with the Kansas City skyline.

I guess it's just an old age thing.