It was a two hour drive to Mackinaw City.

We went on to check out the first half of the south Kansas City Christmas Display Tour. I was sorry that a couple of my favorite displays were not up this year.

We went on to confirm half of the displays in the North Johnson County route and had a good dinner at Johnny's BBQ in Mission.

We particularly enjoyed the shopping in Downtown Disney.

Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show was a huge disappointment - juvenile humor and and a waste of time.

Linda and I had supper at the nearby Bahama Breeze. It was much better than I expected and the Crab Claws St. Thomas (Blue crabs in Island citrus butter with fire toasted Cuban bread for 13.59) was the best dish of the entire trip!

Crab Claws St. Thomas

Before leaving Universal, we had supper at at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe, where Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe where we enjoyed listening to the live music during supper.

We continued north and our next stop was at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum where we toured the grounds and climbed the 202 steps to the top of the tower. Than on to the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument which was constructed in the 1670s. I had long wanted to visit the star shaped stone fort. 

Before leaving the city's historic center, we walked along St. George Street with its historic homes from various periods. Most of these homes are reconstructions, but a few are original. We enjoyed visiting the shops and the 220 year old Cathedral Basilica. 

We had lunch at Sangrias Wine and Tapas Bistro on the second floor of one of the St. George Street buildings. The sangria was very good and we also enjoyed splitting several of the Tapas dishes.

In the early evening we drove back south to Lake Buena Vista to join more of our family at Sheraton Vistana Resort. The area is quite congested and appears to have only chain restaurants, so we had dinner at Landry's Seafood House a few blocks away.

Castillo de San Marcos

St. George Street view from Sangrias Wine Bar

Before getting back on the road, we walked over to the nearby nearby Lake Mirror, which had lovely Christmas light displays around its edges and in the middle.

We went on to spend the night at a nice Best Western in Palm Coast.

Arriving in Elk Falls, I first revisited the bridge and falls which give the community its name. After taking some photographs, I drove to the one block long downtown to the Outhouse Tour Hdqrs. The nice young woman from Howard sold me an Outhouse Button, ballot and map for $1. This is the 16th annual outhouse tour and community open house. The few blocks of the small community had several yard sales, 11 competing outhouses, a quilt show, arts & crafts, horse drawn wagon rides and live music at Elk Falls Pottery.

After touring all of the outhouses, I voted for "King Toot" and "Star Buttz" by placing my ballot in the "Voter's Booth" outhouse.

Continuing west on US 160, I photographed a Kansas State Historical Marker devoted to Prudence Crandall who established the first black female academy in New England before moving to ELk Falls.  A mile farther, I found an interesting row of oil well pumps.

I continued west to take more photographs of the oldest swinging bridge in Kansas, then headed north and east stopping to take photos in Severy. Things were going smoothly until a nail entered the side wall of one of my tires as I was pulling out of a rest area on Highway 54.

After changing the tire, I continued to Yates Center at 50 mph. For lunch I tried The Feedbunk on the courthouse square. The chicken fried steak was very good. It had a crisp coating, perhaps made with corn flakes and was tender enough to cut with a fork. The meal came with a trip to a small salad bar which had very good ingredients and everything looked fresh even though it was now after 1PM.

The final stop of the trip was at Luther's Jerky Smokehouse in LeRoy, Kansas. It had been a couple of years since my last visit to Luthor's and I was surprised to learn that they no longer have buffalo jerky of pemmican. I still stocked on some of the Luthor's smoked meat products.

Star Buttz Outhouse
 

oil well pumps

The Feedbunk

smoked meats
 

The Prairie Nut Hut seats less than 40 customers. The floor is littered with peanut shells and the walls are decorated with Christmas lights. I had three of my favorite dishes and was not disappointed with any of them. The prairie oysters are fresh made at the Nut Hut and far superior to the pre made and frozen prairie oysters served at most of the few places that make them. The fresh cut home fries are cooked to just the right point. The Rohr burger with grilled onions, mushrooms and Swiss cheese is served a tasty, toasted bun.

The ribs were a bit tough and not as flavorful as usual, but I loved the sliced beef and pork. The fresh made onion rings were Linda's favorite, but I preferred the thick cut fresh fries. They went well with LC's unique sweet sauce.

One of my friends got excited when he hear about the Heart Stopper (grilled cheese sandwiches for the buns, 2 patties, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, bacon & BBQ sauce). It took longer to prepare and the other food came out first. WHen it arrived, he and the people at the next table took pictures.

He liked it and ate the whole thing. When he sent me this photo, he said he didn't eat again until the next evening!

I had the chili, which was rather average and some very good Buffalo style chicken wings. The wings were meaty, tender and had a fairly spicy sauce. Linda had a huge meatball submarine sandwich with house made potato chips. She liked the fairly traditional flavor of the sandwich made from a hollowed out bun and the way the large meatballs had been sliced to make the sandwich easier to eat.

The counter lady and chef were friendly and fun, bringing samples of other items like the fresh breadsticks to the tables.

For supper, I went along to the Pizza Man, just a block away. The Pizza Man has Chicago style, thin crust pizza, dogs and Italian Beef Sandwiches. They are all good and the Italian Beef Sandwich is the best that I have found in Kansas City. It is made with thin slices of Italian roast beef with melted cheese on a good hoagie bun and comes with au jus and giardiniera (a Chicago condiment with pickled sport peppers, jalapeno and celery) on the side.

Italian Beef Sandwich

I'm afraid that I haven't tried enough of the menu at Chapala, but I enjoy the "Especial Chapala" too much. The special is fajitas made with beef ribs, chorizo, shrimp, grilled chicken, steak and a special sauce. At $12.75 it is one of the most expensive items on the menu and enough food for two meals. I really like the ribs, chorizo and shrimp and would be happy with a dish made with just these three.

Ordering is done from sign above the counter. The counter person did nothing to make us feel at home or help us get a feel for the menu as we stood there awkwardly figuring out the menu. The Sunday lunch menu was half breakfast items plus soups, five salads and seven sandwiches. Although you order at the counter, the food and drinks are brought to the table by a server. We had to wait a long time for beverages and refills.

Linda went with a sandwich which tasted pretty good, but didn't have enough ingredients to balance the amount of bread. I had a $9.50 grilled chicken salad. The chicken was bland and the salad was about the size of many side salads. I left the restaurant hungry.

The interior of Urban Table looks like it is intended to be hip. I found it uncomfortable. The tables are small and I thought the metal chairs were very uncomfortable.

I selected the $12.75 BBQ Combo Lunch of French fries with the selection of two meats from burnt ends, sliced meat, bone-in chicken, pork spare ribs, beef ribs and lamb ribs. I remembered the fries at Jack Stack being very good, but these weren't crispy. The two beef ribs were better though a little stringy. The lamb ribs were spectacular, the best I have had at BBQ restaurant, tender with a great smoky flavor, and there were 5 (more than I expected).

The service was excellent. Our friend was well pleased with the entire experience particularly the smoked green beans which were served in a cup formed by one of the huge signature onion rings.

We followed lunch up with dessert at the nearby Snow & Company, which opened just the night before. They are a casual, bright, frozen cocktail bar that I think will be a big success. It was too early in the day for us to try the cocktails, but we sampled locally made caramels, and organic brownie and organic red velvet twinkies. The caramels were OK and the brownie had an ingredient that none of us liked, but the twinkie was so good that we had two.

Snow & Company

The best things about the meal were the very good onion rings and the excellent service. I was already very happy with the service before my server offered to bring me a go cup to take a Diet Coke with me.