Kansas City, Missouri - Kansas/Missouri Trip Trilogy Part 3

In the words of Oscar and Hammerstein in the musical OKLAHOMA........

"Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high,

About as high as a buildin' oughta grow.

Ev'rythin's like a dream in Kansas City,

It's better than a magic lantern show!"

This is the view of Kansas City, Missouri taken just before we left Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, Kansas

Ok Sweetie (navigational wonder)....Take us to the Central Library in Downtown KC!

A good example of the words in the song above are found at the Library.  I had been there once before but the trees that had planted were covered with leaves...and you'll see why that won't work. :)  The reason why I was so anxious for Deanna to see the Library was because for many years she was the Librarian at Memorial High School in Tulsa.  It's not the actual library one sees first....it's the parking garage...no....I'm not kidding you!  :)

The parking garage is a block long and the bookshelf attached to it is also a block long...with books that stand 22' high and 9' wide.

This is the majority of the left side of the bookcase.

This is the right half of the bookcase...then stairs in the garage 
The Central Library is housed in the First National Bank, built in 1880 and what a FABULOUS  job they have done!  A theater in the vault, a coffee shop, books, books, books and on the top floor the genealogy and a terrace to hold special events

        

We still hadn't eaten lunch and I looked on my Guy Fieri Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and decided to give KC BBQ another try (see 7/8/15 blog).  We order the same thing as the first...Burnt Ends....at least the sauce was on the table for our option.  However, I likedthis better....she didn't...thought it lacked smoked and tasted like an oven roasted pot roast.  OK...so...we really didn't like KC BBQ....give us Oklahoma/Texas BBQ!  After lunch, we back tracked to a place we'd found just before lunch.  We were looking for a place to view KC, Kansas from this side.  

The place we found was call Quality Hill and it the oldest, continually inhabited neighborhood in KC.  First, we went to the park that was on the edge of the cliff with a great view of the confluence of the Kansas River and the Missouri River.  Judy and I had seen the headwaters of the Missouri in Montana a few years ago 

The Kansas River is coming in from the left and the Missouri is coming from the right.  Then we explored Quality Hill.

These are four buildings that really give you a sense of Quality Hill.  As they build new condos and apartments, they build structures that blend in like they've been there a very long time.  The two photos in the center are just buildings I liked; the one on the right is the Catholic Diocese for Kansas City and St. Joseph, MO. and the one on the left....while it is now a YMCA (it's hard to even write that without standing up and doing the song)....it was originally a Jewish Gentleman's Club.  ;)

Next of our tour was Union Station and it was a treat!!  Like Tulsa, KC has various 'districts' and Union Station is in the Crown District...which explains why the Hallmark Crown is above the main entrance.  

The photos are self explanatory....except the BEE!  I inquired of  Googles as to whom sculpted it...why is was a Bee....nothing...but it is HUGH and quite interesting.  We also enjoyed the gift shop.  Speaking of 'gifts'....We still had shopping to do.   :)   There were a couple of things we want to see the next time (probably prior to Christmas).  1) the National World War I Memorial & Museum.  People told us that was a must...that it is 360 and you feel like bullets are flying over your head  2) the Hallmark Center where they have some sort of tour.  Oh yes...and we were told that KC is the City of Fountains and has more than any other city....I only knew about the one at Country Club Plaza...so we want to see some of 'em!

On the way back to the motel we stopped on the MO side at Trader Joe's where Deanna bought some olive bread and I bought 4 or 5 bottles of 3-buck-chuck wine.  Then we stopped at Costco...looked at bit and I bought some double creme brie....we had dinner in our room  :) :) :)  

We started shopping early at World Market and IKEA.  When I cautioned Deanna about time restraints at Ikea  (we still had to go back to Trader Joe's and drive home) she said she had been in one before and she just wanted to quickly walk through.....Have you, dear reader, been to Ikea???..well, as it turned out she hadn't and if you have been to one you know there is nothing quick about it...they have laid out the pathway throughout the store.  It's always a lot of fun and she found several Christmas gifts for babies on up.  We did make it back to T.J's because the bottle of Pinot Grigio I bought for $3 was great and I wanted to bring back a case. ;)

When all was said and done we  put down  the back seats in my car, filled it up with all our goodies and started home.   However, the most exciting time would come on the way home. We decided to go home on the Missouri side because it was dark and the highway would be divided all the way.   About 45 min before reaching Joplin a tornado touched down just West of Tulsa and was heading East (think Joplin) and reports said  alarms were sounding all over Tulsa.  After many phone calls and discussion we decided to stay the night in Joplin.                                                        

I took a total of 152 photos in Fort Scott, Kansas City, Kansas,

and Kansas City Kansas....I sure Deanna took more. 

If GOOGLE ever figures out how to allow photo placement that will

stay where one puts it, I won't have make collages.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Kansas City, Kansas and Strawberry Hill - Kansas/Missouri Trip Trilogy Part 2

When my late husband and I were dating in 1960 and lived in Topeka after we married, we spent a lot of time in Kansas City, MO and only drove past Kansas City, KS. Yet I knew if I searched online I'd find something interesting. Sure 'nuf....I found this area that was settled by Slovenians, Serbians and Croatians.  I have a special place in my heart for Slovenia and it's people.....so I knew we would go...I could take a photo of the church built by the Slovenians and send to the manager of  Perpetuum Jazzile in Ljubljana. By the way, it is music from that group to which you are listening on my blog right now. 

Perpetuum Jazzile is an acapella group of about 45 and you watch them sing and make the instrument sounds on YouTube.  Much of their music is there....and when Judy and I went to Slovenia, it was to attend their annual concert in Ljubljana. We saw the song, which is linked above, performed ...and in the Hall shown in the video.

I digress......

Mar. 24th
Told Sweetie (we named the Google navigational voice) that we wanted to go to the area of  Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, KS.  There we found a quaint little area that was founded as  described above.   To see more images of that area than is in this blog, you can find it here...Google images of Strawberry Hill.

The older

homes and 

the new homes are

on the left 

and on the right 

a flowering hillside.

       

This is the Strawberry

Hill Museum.  They were

closed the day we were 

there....guess that will be

on another trip.   :)

       

We found the Slovenian church, which is Holy Family Church. We wanted

to go in but couldn't find a door that was open at the time we were there.  It was in the neighborhood of the older homes above.  It appears they have a Slovenefest every year, celebrating their culture....

They even have a Facebook page.

With our original mission accomplished, we drove around the area. There was one intersection of particular interest.....we were snapping the cameras on three of the corners:

On the Southwest corner we found the Wyandotte County Offices....actually it is the 'Unified Government of Wyandotte County".  So named because Kansas City and most of the small towns consolidated their governments.  The county only has about 160,000 population.

We really liked this building because it is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial. The cornerstone was laid in 1924 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. It is on the Southeast corner of the intersection,  is simply known as Memorial Hall,  and is used as a performance venue. Above the name of the Hall, in the middle, it reads "Dedicated to the heroes who fought and died for their Country"...on the left "Justice activated their heroism, Liberty inspired their courage"...and on the right "Let us resolve the these dead will not have died in vain".   

Lastly, directly across the street from Memorial Hall was St. Anthony's Catholic Church.  So I'll leave you with some photos there.....

 We wanted to find someone that could explain to us why,  just prior to Easter, the openings on the altar were hung with purple and pink cloth.                                              

 Tomorrow's blog will be Kansas City, Missouri...... :)  

Fort Scott, Kansas ----- Kansas/Missouri Trip Trilogy - Part 1

With foot surgery looming, my cousin, Deanna, and I needed to make a quick 2 day trip to Kansas City.....wanted to shop at all those stores NOT in Oklahoma......Ikea, Costco (opening in Tulsa by end of '15), World Market, Trader Joe's (opening in Tulsa by end or '15) (and we thought The Container Store...but alas it wasn't open yet). So we bought 2 nights at Overland Park, KS (where shopping is) on Living Social and away we went.

However,  every trip needs exploring of whatever city one is visiting and whatever is found upon the way.   Therefore, the first day would be site-seeing and, even tho' we'd both been to Kansas City, there would be a lot to see.

March 23rd

Left early in the morning with Google Maps on my phone :).  When we got to Fort Scott, she had never been there and I was glad to stop again.  The entire downtown is on the National Historical Registry and we had to see every building....plus the Fort.    




 During the hours the Fort is open you will find that the buildings are furnished as they originally were and it really interesting to do the self-guided tour. However, by the time we looked over and photographed the downtown area, the Fort of closed. By the way, there is also a gift shop at the Fort.

The photos below are of the town of Fort Scott.  It appeared there had been some renovation since I was there in 2007.

Spending too much time in Fort Scott, we began the journey to Overland Park, KS.  After checking into our hotel, we inquired of  the person at the Front Desk where we might find good KC BBQ.  She was quick to say that Jack Stack's was voted the best every year and there was one close by. Took her advice and Deanna and I both ordered Burnt Ends (that's the very ends of the brisket which usually have lots of smoky flavor).......she ordered beef and pork, I chose only pork....she sort of liked it....I did not.  In Oklahoma and Texas, if we want sauce on the meat, we'll sauce it ourselves.  By the time we got back to the hotel it was time to turn in....tomorrow will be a busy day of site-seeing.

I'm trying to space the photos, so tomorrow I'll post our morning in Kansas City, Kansas.