| Thursday
- March 7, 2024: Today was the first Thursday in March and I made my
annual visit to Joe's
Kansas City for the Corned Beef Burnt Ends Reuben which is available
as the lunch special every Thursday through the month of March. They have
become so popular that this year they will be available through April,
and also Saturday, March 16th.
It
was a good chance to update our review of Joe's original location in Kansas
City, Kansas. The sandwich was still a treat, but I didn't care quite as
much for it this time, there didn't seem to be as much meat and many bites
included none. The onion rings, which I hadn't had for several years, were
good for ones which appeared not to be hand made.
Lunch
was followed by a trip to Bonner Springs, to revisit the Wyandotte
County Historical Museum, which I last visited in 2007. Perhaps in
deference to the county name, nearly half of the museum is devoted to Native
Americans, both the indigenous Kansas nations and the emigrant ones.
A
significant portion of the more recent history of the county is devoted
to the Kansas City, Kansas fire department.
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Corned beef burnt ends Reuben
Wyandotte County Historical Museum
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| Friday
- March 15, 2024: We are off to spend the day exploring the area south
of Topeka. On our way, our first stop was at Black Jack Battlefield, just
east of Baldwin City. The park devoted to the pre Civil War battle has
largely changed since I was last there. It has been expanded and the Robert
Hall Pearson Farmhouse (from a later period) has been added. There are
interpretive signs explaining the events of the Battle of Black Jack.
On
our way through Baldwin City, we stopped at Oakwood Cemetery to visit the
grave of Rev William Marion Runyan, who composed the music to at least
90 hymns, including "Great Is Thy Faithfulness!" We failed to locate that
grave , but did photograph the grave of Methodist Bishop William Alfred
Quayle, who graduated from Baker University in Baldwin City in 1885 and
for whom the Quayle Bible Collection at Baker is named.
Continuing
west, our next stop was about 4 miles west of Burlingame, Kansas, where
we photographed the remains of the Havana Stage Coach Station which was
built in 1858, and operated until 1869. Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts can be
found nearby and we searched for the grave of an United States Army dragoon
soldier, Samuel Hunt, who died in 1835. We found a space that appeared
to be fenced off, but did not see the headstone and did not cross the fence
to search farther.
Lunch
was at (Hell) Razor Roadhouse a few miles farther in Harveyville. The menu
is quite limited, primarily hamburgers. You choose the size (1/4 pound
single, 1/2 pound single or 1 pound double) and then select from a number
of cheeses, sauces and condiments. Although it wasn't listed, I requested
mustard, but my burger came without it and the server did not return to
the table until we were finished, so I couldn't ask again. My burger was
cooked well done instead of the medium I ordered and was rather dry.
The
burgers are a bargain, costing $10.05, $12.95 or $15.95 and coming with
a generous serving of hand cut fries and no charge for accompaniments
including cheese, bacon, grilled onions, mushrooms, grilled jalapenos and
more.
The
North Lyon County Museum in Admire, Kansas is normally closed this time
of the year, but LeRoy Boline, the president of the North Lyon County Historical
Society had agreed to meet us and give us a tour of the museum. The museum
occupies the library and computer lab in the old Admire school building,
which became the Admire Community Center after the school closed in 2010.
While
the museum is fairly modest and contains primarily newspaper clippings
and photographs, rather than artifacts. the exhibits are well designed
and have effective, informational labels. I think it offers more to interest
people who do not have a connection to the community, than many local historical
museums. Displays which I found interesting included the Admire train wreck
of 1948, the stone bridge, the Burlingame Trail, the accidental bombing
of Reading, Kansas in 1943, and the Admire meteorite which was found in
1881 in Kansas by a farmer plowing a field.
LeRoy
encouraged to visit the stone bridge, which carries Road 330 over Hill
Creek a half mile west of Admire. The 13' wide one lane bridge was built
using locally quarried stone in 1917 & 1918. The road was once known
as the "pole highway, because it once had red, white and blue land
markers mounted on the adjacent telephone poles and was the main east west
road prior to the construction of K-56 a mile north. It was named the Memorial
Bridge because it was the oldest standing structure in Admire during the
1986 town centennial.
We
drove back to Burlingame to revisit the Schuyler
Museum, which I had last visited in 2006 when it was just 6 years old.
The museum does not appear to have developed much in the intervening time
and some exhibits which I enjoyed the first time are gone or smaller. In
2006 I particularly missed the previous large display of beautifully restored
toy cars from the collection of Maynard Smith.
Before
leaving town, we stopped on Main Street to view the Burl Oak which is listed
on the Travelks list of Things to do in Burlington. The 11' around burl
was removed from the tree and for display, but it has rotted. The carving
once done on the burl is no longer visible and there really is nothing
remaining to see.
Our
final museum to visit today was the Osage County Historical Society Museum
in a nice old storefront across the street, south of the county courthouse
in Lyndon, Kansas. The museum is closed November through March, but I was
told there would be volunteers working in the Hawley Research Center and
we could tour the museum.
Genealogy
research seems to be the main focus of the Historical society. The museum
is small and for the most part displays items without context, mainly with
information about the donors.
We
drove up to Topeka, and I made my fifth visit to the grave of Carrie Frances
Kiene at Mount Hope Cemetery. Various sources have reported the statue
of the little girl at the grave is dressed for the each season of the year
and that no one knows who does it. The previous 4 times I've checked, it
has never been decorated, but today the statue was wearing a sun bonnet.
where
my father-in-law joined us for supper at North Star Steakhouse on the north
side of Topeka, Kansas, which began as the North Star Supper Club in the
1940s. The restaurant is quite dark and I was afraid it would be hard to
take photos of the food and menu, but we were taken through the front room
to a larger dinning room where the booths all had lights over the tables.
There
is a small menu of $13 "prohibition cocktails" and I tried their Old Fashioned,
which is described as Ezra Brooks Rye, house blended bitters, house made
demerara syrup, muddied fruit, and served over a large ice cube. Not bad,
though the description was more exciting than the drink.
We
had fried catfish, bone in pork chop and ribeye. The meals were reasonably
priced at $19.99, $21.99 and $39.99. They came with rolls, salad and family
style sides. The sailed was fresh, chilled and came with a generous covering
of dressing.
We
had fresh cut fries, hash browns, gravy, baked potato and broccoli so we
had every side they serve. They were all good and they would have brought
more if we requested.
The
large pork chop comes heavily breaded and seared in vinegar. Much more
breaded than we would prefer. The 16 ounce ribeye was ordered with a $4.99
serving of onions, mushrooms and peppers and that was a nice addition.
Although at first glance it looked like the outside was over cooked, my
steak came medium as ordered, and I was quite happy with it. We had plenty
of leftovers to take with us.
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Pearson Farmhouse
Havana Stage Coach Station
1/4 & 1/2 lb burgers
North Lyon County Museum
Memorial Bridge
Schuyler Museum
Osage County Historical Society Museum
Carrie Frances Kiene grave
North Star Steakhouse
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| Saturday
- March 16, 2024: We had the breakfast buffet at the Kitchen
Table in Fredonia, Kansas is a nice Mennonite owned restaurant which
moved into the old Western Diner location in early 2018. The Saturday buffet
is 7 AM - noon and includes: biscuits and gravy, homemade cinnamon rolls,
French toast, pancakes, homemade syrups, bacon, sliced ham, homemade sausage
links, fresh fruit, yogurt parfaits, cheesy scrambled eggs, bread pudding,
fried potatoes and cheesy hash brown casserole.
It
was all good, but I felt the baked good were standout. Particularly biscuit
with their house made strawberry jam. cobbler and two kinds of cinnamon
rolls. Linda preferred the frosted cinnamon rolls, but I thought the sticky
ones were fabulous.
It
had been over 10 years since we last visited Otto's Mill Falls on the Fall
River, just below Fredonia. It is a beautiful location! We found, someone
had set one of the snags on the shore on fire. It was just smoldering,
but we called 911 so they could make sure it didn't spread. It looked like
it had been smoldering for hours.
Supper
was at Culinaria in Lawrence, Kansas. We had never visited the Mediterranean
restaurant before. it is in a building which was originally constructed
for the Kansas Cavalry after Quantrill's Lawrence raid in 1863.
We
decided to share chicken shawarma and carne asada hummus. Both dishes were
recommended by our server
The
hummus was recently added to their ongoing specials. Apparently it had
been on the menu before and had been requested by many customers. It was
spicy and wonderful.
We
didn't realize that the shawarma had chicken on one side on top and potatoes
on the other. By accident we each took chicken in our first helping and
liked, but then I got some of the crispy potato. Wow!
I
wanted to try one of their sweets as well and went with the ricotta doughnuts
with lemon curd. The serving had three large doughnut holes. It wasn't
bad, but wasn't a treat either. The lemon just didn't do much for me. We
didn't finish it.
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Cinnamon rolls
Otto's Mill Falls
Chicken shawarma & Carne asada hummus
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