Kansas Tour 2013

 

Sandi and I flew into Denver and drove 4 hours into western Kansas.  I found the county map below helpful for me.  Sandi's aunt and uncle live in Leoti (pronounced Leota) located in Wichita Co (located on the 4th row, 2nd from the left).  On Tuesday morning we travel to Hillsboro in McPherson Co (4th row down, 9th from the left) to see her Grandparents.  We left her Grandparents on Thursday afternoon to finish our vacation back in Leoti.

 

  

Western Kansas is as flat as they say it is.  The view from our windshield was filled with corn, milo and wheat.  Perhaps I should have been bored with it but it was such a stark contrast to anything I'm familiar with that it's beauty stuck out to me.

 

Leoti is a very small town among small towns.  Sandi's Uncle Brad farms the land and has lived there almost his entire life. 

Brad grows wheat and corn.  He just planted winter wheat and harvested the irrigated corn.  He is getting ready to harvest the dry corn.

 

Obviously, farming is not just planting and harvesting.  There is a lot of prep and maintenance that goes on between the big events.  I was with him and his son, Nate and hired hand, Jacob when they moved the sprinkler from one field to another. 

Brad attaching the towing tongue



We had to turn each tire 90 degrees so it could be towed
instead of turning around in a circle

Brad's hired hand, Jacob, really impressed me.  Jacob may or may not have finished high school.  He is in his early twenties.  He is incredibly knowledgeable about farm equipment and can fix nearly anything either on the field or back in the shop.  He works long hours and cares a great deal about the success of the farm.  In the week we were there, Jacob joined us for dinner twice.

 

Family Time: Sandi's mom's side



Around the table: Uncle Brad, cousin Nate, Cordell, Joy, Jacob (Brad's hired hand), Grandma and myself.



Sanid's cousin's kids: Cordell and Maggie

Sandi's Grandma and Aunt Joy

Leoti was very relaxing.  We read books, played games, walked to town and ate very well; lots of meat and potatoes with dessert after every meal!

 

Tuesday morning we left for central Kansas to visit her Dad's side of the family for a couple days.  It was good to put names with faces and gain greater context.  Her grandparents were very hospitable and generous. 

Sandi's Grandparents
 

 

Her Grandparents live in a beautiful park next to a golf course.

 

Kansas was as much a gastro tour of the heartland as it was a vacation from work.  We ate very well all week long.

 



A typical diner; a salad bar is standard.  This café specialized in Beirocks

A beirock is a German pastry with cabbage and ground beef inside.  I never new how hard
it would be to not have mashed potatoes with every meal.

 

If you are ever in Abeline, KS be sure to stop at the Brookville Hotel for dinner.
Their only menu item is a fried-chicken dinner.  Truly an amazing meal of
biscuits, mashed potatoes, creamed corn and chicken.  Top it off
with ice cream.

Not only does Abeline have amazing chicken, it was the home of Dwight Eisenhower.

We were going to see his presidential library and museum but....

 

 

Sandi is a native Kansan.  Her Dad actually had a house built in McPherson, a larger town about a 1/2 west of Hillsboro.  We stopped in and saw her old house.  Her mom and dad met in McPherson and this is where Sandi lived until she was 4 years old.

What a great home!

across the street from a park

Thursday afternoon we left Hillsboro and headed back to Leoti.  Friday and Saturday continued the agenda of relax, enjoy, laugh and eat.  It was a great trip.

Whidbey Island trip

It was kind of embarrassing: the Needs had their Whidbey Island cabin a year before we made the trip up to see it.  However, it was worth the wait.

 

Since Sandi had several days off, I took Monday off and we drove north.  We got to enjoy Keith and Julie's B&B and play with the kids; a great way to start off a vacation.

 

Then, off to Whidbey Island to meet up with the Needs.

 

Before they arrived we walked around Langley in leisurely stroll visiting galleries and shops.

 

downtown Langley

 

boarding on the Sound

Sandi highlighting a little parkway

The 'Useless' part of the sign caught my attention.  Then I realized it was not a commentary but a geographic reference.

This is the place we didn't stay



Then Kyla, Piper and Wesley came and took us by storm!  It was pretty cool to have the kids run down the sidewalk to greet us.  Denise got sticky pudding for dessert and we headed back to the cabin.  Great fun!  The kids showed us their beach and drew us pictures, we had coffee before church on Sunday and played in Mercreek Rhododendron Garden.  Dwayne even made a glass pumpkin (I wish I took a picture of the glass blowing factory).

A beautiful beach...

...complete with Kyla, Piper and Wesley playing on the swing

actually, Kyla was eating an apple while her siblings played on the swing

 

Sandi and I had a quiet night on the island Sunday evening.  We went out to a good French restaurant and split a lamb burger.  The cool part about it was the thunder and lightning storm all through dinner. 

 

Monday brought us back to the mainland where we met friends for lunch and then headed up to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Parker and Cecily joined us too!  Mom cooked a wonderful dinner complete with pecan pie and Dad was able to show us his well organized garage (with a workbench a whole lot cleaner than mine).  It was a great, quick trip up to Washington.  We'll have to do it again.

Guest room: take 14

When we last left off, Sandi and I spent much time and effort converting our spare room into a den/office/computer room.  It's a great use of space for two people who have a three-bedroom house, but its also kind of lonely.  Sandi could take her laptop anywhere, but if I needed to get on my computer, I had to isolate myself in the back room.  Occasionally, both of us would be in there at the same time so we could blow kisses across our desks, but it wasn't the romantic adventure we dreamed.

 

On a walk home from the Farmer's market one Saturday, Sandi had a great idea: let's convert our computer room back into a bedroom and bring the computers out to the family room.  Brilliant!  No longer will I trudging to the far reaches of our house (and away from a very cozy and warm fire) to check email.

It took a little effort and a couple of Saturdays, but our computer room is now a bedroom (again).

 

Our family room also underwent a transition.  Gone is the funny stereo that makes weird clicks when you turn it on.

 

In its place is our computer desk.  Now I can edit this blog while enjoying our backyard and the fire.

Before & After

Sandi was concerned that our tomato plant might fall over and we would loose whatever gained the last three months.  So she took some pruners to it.  The results:

Before

 



After

Now I think we have a shot at a few more ripe tomatoes.  Thanks, Babe!

How does your garden grow?

Our garden grows kale very well.  Lettuce too.  We expected lettuce to grow in bushes (that's how we bought it, after all).  It's neighbor, kale, must have either taught or inspired it to grow in stalks.   

 

We might need to stake our lettuce to keep it from collapsing on itself.

Green onions are trying to take over. Maybe that's why our beans and snap peas did so poorly.

After 3 years of trying, we finally are able to grow basil.  This is after Sandi took the choppers to it to make pesto.  By the way, homemade pesto is very good; much better than store-bought.

 

We might need to give the rosemary it's own space.  We can think of a rose bush or two that would be happy to volunteer its space.

The entire herb garden needs a haircut.  We'll have to buy a whole hog to use up all the sage that is growing.

These peppers look better in photos than in real life.  We are kind of bummed they haven't grown bigger or turned red yet.

Sungolds: our favorite little tomatoes.

Bummer the rain split every single ripe/almost ripe tomato....

 

The large tomatoes are out of control.  We would love to harvest them but they won't ripen.

Living in close proximity to the Rose City has its advantages.