We just got back from a long weekend trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho to visit my Dad. While there we headed off east to see some sights including the Snake River as it goes through Swan Valley.
The Snake River is a major draw for trout fisherman. Above was a fisherman on a sandbar. You can see his dory anchored nearby. I hope that he had it secured because if that thing gets loose it would be long gone. The Snake is a swift river.
We admired the view for a little bit and moved on.
For the final day of our Fall Break Road Trip to Kansas City we ventured about 30 miles east of Kansas City to visit Powell Gardens. It was beautiful and I expected that but what I didn’t expect was the sense of humor. I love a sense of humor.
For example, have you ever really seen a Flower Bed? Not till now I expect.
Or how about some Fall Fun?
Or a Scarey Crow? I don’t really get along with people who don’t have a sense of humor. Or people who don’t like dogs or critters in general, or who don’t like art or flowers, or who don’t believe in something bigger than themselves! Just saying. I’m quite the bigot aren’t I. I don’t feel bad about it.
I loved their pumpkin carvings!
And this’ll keep those people out of the beds, surely? It kept me out I’ll tell you.
There is a simply beautiful little chapel on the grounds.
And all sorts of places to sit down and rest. I am at a place where I need rest. Gardens do that for me. (Not Gardening Sweetie, gardens!)
My road trip companions. I’d go with them anywhere.
You have to love gardens with mirrors. How do you like my hat?
On our second day of our Fall break trip to Kansas City we spent several hours at the National World War I Museum. Talk about a wonderful museum. It is very well done and lots of exhibits and explanatory information and even sound booths where you can listen to poems and songs from the era. It really was overwhelming. To me a great museum needs several visits to really appreciate. So at a new museum my strategy is yes take it all in but really focus on the details. Sometimes you can find something new there. Something that gives the experience a little extra meaning.
What got me today was the symbols of sacrifice. I mean I loved all the artillery pieces, machine guns, sniper rifles, and the like but it was symbols like the Blue Stars that I noticed this time. The Blue Star of course means that the family has a loved one at war.
The Gold Star means that a family has lost a loved in battle.
The Congressional Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor.
The new symbol for me was the poppy. Poppy’s were first mentioned in the poem about World War I dead by John McCrae. I thought the poppy as a symbol of sacrifice originated in Great Britain. According to Wikipedia, it originated in the United States after World War I and then spread to other countries. I haven’t seen poppy’s for sale in the US for years. It is still a potent symbol in Great Britain I’m told. The Story Behind the Remembrance Poppy is an excellent summary of history of the symbol.
One of the most moving things I’ve ever seen on YouTube (I know that is not saying a lot) is a ceremony of dropping poppies during the Festival of Remembrance held every November 11 to remember the end of the hostilities of World War I.
You know the Yanks may have come up with the symbol of the Poppy but the Brits have taken it to a new level.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae
Anyway, we had a good time and learned a lot at the museum and I recommend it highly. There is not a whole lot of glory in war is the reinforced lesson, but there is much courage and sacrifice.
Kansas City’s grand and restored Union Station. Reminds me of a childhood trip to the east cost in the mid 1960’s when I was a kid. We went by train from Utah to Chicago to New York City and on to New London, Connecticut. I still remember the huge train stations packed with people waiting for their trains to leave. Little did I know that I was witnessing the tail end of an era.
A few minutes today at Union Stations brought back a lot of memories.
Early morning sunrise on my drive out of Flandreau, South Dakota. I had already said my goodbyes to the family the night before and I was off on my 670 mile drive back to Tulsa via South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. I caught this sight in my rear view mirror so I had to stop and take a picture on the rise out of the Big Sioux River Valley.
A couple weeks ago while driving through Kansas City on my way from Tulsa to South Dakota I saw a very striking building next to the freeway. I took the next exit and made my way to it.
Turns out that the building was a brand spanking new Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Temple. Ground had been broken in 2010 and it was dedicated in May 2012.
The thing about the LDS Temples is that once they are dedicated they are not open to the public at all. Beforehand though they offer tours to the general public. I toured the Oklahoma City Temple in 2000 before it was dedicated. The exterior was not as spectactular as this one in Kansas City but I was struck by the exquisiteness and craftsmanship of interior in both the building and the furnishings. Here is a link to a chuch site that explains the purpose of temples among other information.
Here is another site that has a lot of information about the this temple in particular and temples in general. Turns out that the LDS Church dedicated two other sites in Missouri back in the 1830’s before the church and is members were driven out of the state so the temples never got built. So the dedication of this temple was especially meaningful to members of the church.
Son and I went on another road trip Saturday.
First, SuperPizzaBoy does his weekly session with All Star Therapy Group. Here he riding the barrel racing pattern with Seven. Then it was off to Frank Phillip’s Woolaroc (Frank is the guy who started Phillips Petroleum way back when. He has been gone since 1950 or so but his company goes on. Woolaroc is his old ranch and museum. It is a heck of a place.)
When we got to the entrance it was a zoo. I’d never seen so many people. They told us at the gate that Phillips Petroleum was having their annual employee picnic. So we paid our admission and joined the fricking frackers of Phillips Petroleum at Woolaroc. (Note, I’m a big fan of fricking frackers.)
It was stop and go from the highway to the parking lot. The bison were wondering what the heck is going on.
Well at least some of them were. The rest were like ho hum.
This guy is all depressed looking for some reason.
There were some Texas Longhorns at the ranch.
I mean if you were a Texas Longhorn confined deep in Oklahoma Sooner country you’d be depressed also.
In the barn, the llama was bemused. He had never seen so many fricking frackers and fricking fracker family members.
The deer were on point also. If the bambi’s are not afraid of fricking frackers why should you be?
Later, I’ll post some pics from inside the museum. If you love western art, you’ll love Woolaroc.
“E” is For Expanse, the Wide Open Spaces. This week I drove from Oklahoma up to South Dakota and back to attend a family reunion. Driving through Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska and Kansas on the return trip it truly is amazing how big and Expansive the Great Plains are. They really are beautiful.
Have you been on a road trip lately? Where did you go? What did you see?
Saturday Sweetie was going to spend some time with a friend so me and SuperPizzaBoy had the day to ourselves.
First stop was All-Star Therapy in Ramona, north of town. SPB rides there almost ever week. Here he is with “Seven” doing some rounds outside.
SPB worked under the direction of Lisa who should slap me silly for this pic. There was a daytime moon I was trying to get in the pic and didn’t even notice what Lisa was doing until later. You can just barely see the moon about right in the middle of the pic.
After All-Star SPB and I loaded up and went further north to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Praire Preserve north of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. I just love it up there for a number of reasons. You can really see a long ways. 39,000 acres of tallgrass praire. The largest remaining tallgrass praire on earth it is claimed.
You really are out in the middle of nowhere up there. You barely have cell phone coverage. An investor group wants to put a bunch of windmills up there to generate some so called “renewable” energy. They would sure ruin the view. But it would sure make investors rich! You are not one of them are you? What are you going to do with the money? I bet you are not going to build a home near any windmills.
We didn’t see any bison on our way into the preserve. We stopped and did the short loop nature trail. They have loops from 1/2 to 3 miles.
It was about as nice a day in July as you are ever going to get. It was in the low 80’s when we got there. See how lush and green the grass is. Usually everything is sun bleached, beat down, brown this time of year.
The wildflowers were pretty also.
SPB really liked the trail. He announced it was too short so we we walked a little on the longer trails.
On the way out the bison made an appearance. Here is a momma with two calves.
And then these two guys came straggling past along with a bunch of others.
In another part of the preserve we saw some cattle. Cows are more sociable than buffalo. They always stop and look where bison just barely acknowledge your present. I love these three.
And there were some white cattle also. You can tell that I really know my cows. You see you have white ones, black ones, multi-color ones, and so on. Anything else you want to know?
Very pretty coloring.
On our way out I almost ran over this dude. He was right on the edge of the ruts taking a nap.
We’ve been gone for a few days. We were chased out of Oklahoma by the weather and the helicopters.
Sweetie and I dropped the kid off at Nana’s, the world’s greatest MIL and boogied down to Texas for an industry convention.
This guy was there, Eric Cantor an up and coming whippersnapper congressman for Virginia.. For $5000 you could have a private meet and greet. If you are an oilie you could wax on about deducting Intangible Drilling Costs and that the Depletion Allowance is in the Bible somewhere and he would give you empathetic nods. For $1500 you just get a photograph with him, a shake of the hands, and shove in the back. I’m giving you a photograph for free. Go get your own depletion allowance!
This guy,Mick Fleetwood, was also staying where we were staying. He was at the pool, right behind where Sweetie and I were sitting. I thought and thought about a way to take a picture of him without him knowing it. Couldn’t do it. I have a feeling that he would have given me a handshake for a lot less than $1500.
We played blackjack with play money. Loads and loads of fun.
Dallas needs us Okies descending on them for our conventions. It gives Dallasites a chance to check out the latest fashions.
See what I mean?
We had room service breakfast one morning. What a treat.
This is the spa, Sweetie tells me that there are all sorts of naked women on the other side of this window.
No need to sneak in the women’s room to see naked women. There were plenty of practically naked women out by the pool. This is the only picture I took the whole two days we sat by the pool. I didn’t hardly even take my camera out. I felt like a creep even thinking about it. Seriously ladies, cover up a little bit!! I can’t believe that I’m saying it.
We had fun playing shuffleboard. Turns out Sweetie is a cuthroat player. I’m not going to say she cheats or anything, you understand.
Oh yes, and had to stop and get stocked up on Fat Tire beer. The people who run Oklahoma are not going to let us be exposed to the evils of Fat Tire beer. Am I breaking a law transporting it across state lines? No wonder the helicopters were after us.
Our big old fat cat Chrissy was glad to see us. She spit up a hairball just for the occasion.
Speedy, my trail running buddy came by and wanted me to go run with him. I was too tired. One of these days I’m going to beat him. He breaks away too fast at the start for me to catch him.
So, what have you been up to?
How did you like the title of my post? I’m taking a cue from Michelle Bachman on making outrageous word combinations for fun and profit.