Kansas
Travel Blog
Chronicling
changes to KansasTravel.org and Keith's exploration
& photographing Kansas restaurants, attractions, museums, festivals
and art. Contact him.
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Thursday
- August 1, 2019: We added a new page devoted to Hildebrand
Farms Dairy in Junction City, Kansas, The business started in 1930
and is operated today by the 3rd & 4th generations of the Hildebrand
family. In addition to producing milk and beef, there is a farm store and
tours.
We
had supper at Snack Shack on Santa
Fe in downtown Overland Park. We try to get by there for the burgers,
every month or so. The neighborhood has been changing a lot in the past
couple of years. In some ways, the changes seem negative, as the character
is changing and it is getting more crowded and congested.
A
positive change is the recent addition of several murals. The one pictured
to the right is by JT Daniels and features women from Asia, Africa, Latin
America and the Middle East. It is on the Ten Thousand Villages store in
Overland Park, which sells fair trade crafts and house wares made by women
around the world.
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Ten Thousand Villages mural |
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Saturday
- August 3, 2019: We made several stops on the southwest side of Lawrence,
Kansas, starting with lunch at Auntie Em's Deli & Bakery. In online
reviews, we read many raves about the Reuben sandwich and I am a big Reuben
fan, but thought it was a pretty typical sandwich.
There
is a small area at the back of the restaurant (guarded by the Wicked Witch
of the West, with a nice selection of canned (in glass jars) fruits and
vegetables from Ohio.
Our
next stop was to get more photos of the waterfall in the spillway leading
from Clinton Lake, but because of flooding in Missouri, no water was being
released from the dam.
We
were headed to the Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum, on the far side
of Clinton Lake and were a little surprised to see highway sign after highway
sign directing us to "Clinton Lake Museum." It hasn't been called that
since 2008!
The
museum is at the tip of a peninsula which juts into Clinton Lake from the
southwest. The museum normally sits above a beach and park, but high water
covers all of that and only the roofs were visible of shelters which are
normally 200 yards from the shore. We watched someone kayak through what
is normally a playground.
The
35 year old Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum is in an old cow shed,
which was part of a farm, before the building of the lake. The museum.
primarily about the 10 communities which once or now populate the Wakarusa
River Valley.
A
large portion of the modest museum, and the Freedom Rings" sculpture outside
the museum, are devoted to the relationship of the Underground Railroad
and the 10 communities which are or have been in the valley (Bloomington,
Clinton, Kanwaka, Lone Star, New Belvoir, Old Belvoir, Richland, Sigel,
Stull and Twin Mound). The adjacent museum has several exhibits devoted
to the communities, the Underground Railroad and the people or were aided
or helped aid them. The museum
We
took advantage of being in the unincorporated community of Clinton, to
stop at The Clinton Store, a convenience store and former gas station which
was established in 1931. We knew that The Clinton Store occasionally serves
food, but there is phone and we couldn't find the exact details online.
We
now know that the "Poor farm pub" serves meals at The Clinton Store on
Friday and Saturday evenings. There are different menus each night, but
the menus stay the same each week. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, they
serve biscuits and gravy.
We
completed our circle of Clinton Lake and took some photos in Stull, Kansas
before returning home.
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Auntie Em's Deli & Bakery
Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum
Freedom Rings
The Clinton Store |
Friday
- August 9, 2019: Lenexa Public Market has a kitchen for use by pop-up
restaurants. African Dream has been open one weekend a month and has added
a second weekend, so we tried them tonight. The couple who are running
the pop-up are very nice. They serve food from their native Cameroon.
I
wish the food had been a little warmer. They both have full time jobs,
so I'm guessing that they have little time to set up and heat the food
Friday evening, something which shouldn't be an issue on Saturdays &
Sundays.
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African Dream |
Friday
- August 23, 2019: Tastee Foodz is a new restaurant in Olathe, Kansas
which opened in early August, 2019. It replaced Sam's Tastee Treat which
had been run by its recent owners, Sueko "Sam" and Hugh Silvernale since
the mid 1990s. The restaurant first started as a Tastee Freeze in 1963.
The
exterior is almost identical, even keeping the old sign with "Drink Coca-Cola"
and "Tasty Treat." The inside changes are dramatic. It as gone from cramped
and old to spacious and modern.
The
old Sam's had a large, diverse menu which included over 40 flavors of shakes,
plus items as diverse as chili dogs, ice cream sundaes, country fried steak,
shrimp, pork tenderloin, Italian steak sandwich, burgers, burritos, crab
rangoon, and egg rolls. The new Tasty Foodz has a much smaller menu. Pretty
much just burgers, hot dogs and ice cream. They did keep crab rangoon,
and egg rolls.
The
cheeseburger and crinkle cut fries are good, solid drive-in fare. Actually
a touch better than I remember from before. The fries are crispy and and
about as good as frozen fries get. The all beef, chili cheese dog is very
good.
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Tastee Foodz
New interior |
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Saturday
- August 24, 2019: For lunch, we revisited B.B.'s
Lawnside BBQ in Kansas City, Missouri. Although it isn't in Kansas,
our Kansas City BBQ Restaurant Guide
includes restaurants on both sides of the state line and B.B.'s is one
we recommend. I try to get back to all of the places at least once a year,
because the older a review gets, the less trustworthy it is.
Little
had changed in the past year. I confirmed that the skillet fries, which
I learned about last year, are my favorite side dish, crispy on the outside
in a way that the thick battered fries (wedges) are not.
The
brisket, chicken, Italian sausage and pork ribs were all very good. The
only item I did not enjoy was the baked beans, which contained a spice
which I did not like, and I ate only a couple of bites.
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B.B.'s Lawnside BBQ |
Wednesday
- August 28, 2019: After work, we drove to Grinter's
Sunflower Farm between Tonganoxie and Lawrence. We knew we were early
and the handful of flowers in bloom were outnumbered by visitors. The real
bloom is still believed to be a week or so away. The Grinters think the
best photography this year will be at a smaller field behind Sunflower
General, but (at least this evening) the best seemed to be at the main
field.
Because
of the weather this summer. the blooms are not as plentiful and attractive
as the past few years and they ask visitors to not pick flowers this year.
We
drove on into Tonganoxie, to 1866 Bar & Grill, which has been getting
some good online ratings. We had shrimp scampi ($13) and a midwest skillet
($12), both of which were fine, but not outstanding. If the skillet had
been served with tortillas, I would have called it fajitas.
The
downtown area was full of painters participating in Plein Air Art Fest.
The public is invited to come watch them work and the fest continues at
other locations in town, tomorrow & Friday mornings and Saturday afternoon.
Everyone is welcome to come and watch the artists as they paint the town.
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Grinter's Sunflower Farm
Plein Air Art Fest |
Saturday
- August 31, 2019: We visited Berry
Hill UPick Farm in Topeka, Kansas, where the first small field of sunflower
blooms are at there peak. The weather has been hard on the sunflowers this
year and the blooms are spotty, but it is still possible to do photography
and and there were several families doing photo sessions. Happy Valley
Farm from De Soto was operating a nice produce stand today. They will do
it again tomorrow and will repeat next weekend if the next field is approaching
peak.
After
picking up my father-in-law, we visited the Topeka
Zoo. It had been several years since the last time I was there and
its listing needs updating and some new photos. The giraffes and the 4
ten month Sumatran tiger cubs appeared to be the most popular attractions.
They can both be viewed on live cams at the zoo's Youtube channel.
Signs
all over the park boasted that the zoo has a "Saving Sharks" exhibit, but
it turned out to be a modest touch pool, with a few rays and small sharks.
We
attended the Highland Park High School 40 year class reunion at The Pennant
on Kansas Avenue. On the way there, we found several interesting displays
on the sidewalk, including the Burlington North Santa Fe sponsored pocket
park in the photo to the right. It is train themed and includes a statue
of Topeka founder Cyrus K. Holliday, a 1,500 pound replica of a BNSF locomotive
engine, a locomotive bell, a railroad crossing sign with lights and two
train-wheel park benches weighing more than 2,500 pounds each.
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Happy Valley Farm at Berry Hill UPick Farm
Topeka Zoo
Cyrus K. Holliday pocket park |
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