The menu is fairly short, but we found things which looked good. We got a crab cake slider, quiche Lorraine, Hannah fries and peach melba crepe. All of the dishes were good. I really enjoyed the slider (blue crab, horseradish crème, arugula, brioche). It is a little small, but only $10. I wasn't sure about the smoked paprika curry, but it was great on the fries. I didn't care for pesto aioli on the side, but the fries didn't need them. The peach melba (peach compote, raspberry coulis, almond crumble, crème chantilly) was my favorite.

Across The Shops of Prairie Village, we also stopped at the Better Cheddar. It had been many years since I had been there. The selection of cheeses is great, the staff is still helpful & very knowledgeable, but I missed the samples they used to supply. The cheeses are from all over the world, but they include a couple of Kansas cheeses and we bought some Cottonwood River Reserve from Jason Wiebe Dairy.

Before leaving Prairie Village, we stopped at Santa Fe Trail Park where historical swales from wagons on the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trails can still be seen today. Unlike many of the similar locations across Kansas, we could clearly see where they are..

Santa Fe Trail Park

Big Q was the only surviving restaurant which grew out of Quick's family Barbecue which began in 1953. The Big Q was started 1986 by Marvin Quick's son Rusty Quick and son in law Gary Wright. Rusty and Gary retired in March and it was take over by the Tolle family, who own the great Snack Shack on Johnson Drive in Mission. They reopened for a couple of months, but it then it had a sign it was temporarily closed for transformation.

They hope to have the new sign tomorrow.

Between Tonganoxie and Lawrence, The sunflowers at the famous Grinter Farms are at peak bloom. The plants are shorter than usual this year, but the blooms are spectacular. At 10 AM on a Friday, there were already dozens of people taking photos.

In downtown Lawrence, we parked on Mass Street to do some birthday shopping at The Toy Store. Up the street, we also visited 1313 Mockingbird Lane Toys and Collectibles. It was such a contrast with the Toy Depot in Hutchinson which we visited last month. There is still a use for a store like this, but the Toy Depot was much more exciting. The people working here never spoke to us and there were only a few vintage items.

A few blocks away, I photographed The Akers House, which was just added to the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. It is a little hard to see well from the street, but we could see that work is being performed on it.

For lunch, we visited, Lucky Seb's Dumpling Bar & Grill on Lawrence's southwest side. It is a nice, fairly intimate space and Levi, who waited on us, was a lot of fun.

We got three sharables: pork dumplings, loaded kimchi fries with smoked pork belly and smoked salmon Rangoon. They were all good, but the dumplings were my favorite. I preferred the Rangoon with soy sauce, rather than the very sweet sauce which came with them.

Our first stop in Topeka was at Lane Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, which was also added  to the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. It does not appear to be still active. The sign is no longer legible, but it still looks kept up. The building began as a Church of God. The Lane Chapel congregation started in the 19th century at 14th and VanBuren.

Nearby, we found Shiloh Baptist Church, Buchcanan Center in the 1920 Buchanan School, El Shaddai Ministries Community Church, and a small art environment. Shiloh Baptist Church is another African American church, founded in 1879, with this handsome stone building built in 1926.

We went on to Washburn University to visit Carole Chapel and nearby memorials. The mostly glass Chapel was originally built as Nunemaker Chapel in 1996 at the former Menninger Foundation site in Topeka. When Menninger moved to Houston, Texas in 2003 it was donated to Washburn in 2003 and physically moved to its current campus location in December 2004. 

Nearby, we also photographed the WW1 Larrick Memorial Bench, Flagpole Rock, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Kuehne Bell Tower, and Yager Stadium at Moore Bowl, which has been the home of Ichabod football since 1928. 

Driving back across Topeka to NOTO, we saw the "Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea" traveling exhibition display at Morris Gallery, which has one more week to run. There are other displays at Washburn University, Topeka Zoo and Kansas Children's Discovery Center.

At Gage Park I took new photos of the Victory Highway Eagle. The ones I rook earlier in the year were to hard to see. I also revisited the grave Carrie Frances Kiene in Mount Hope Cemetery, who died in 1888. There is a statue of a girl on the grave and someone periodically puts accessories for the season on the statue.

After a short stop at Beauchamp's Art Gallery (which will be closing after 50 years, later this month),the final stop of the day was the other location of The Toy Store, which we hadn't been to before. These are large, well curated toy stores with very helpful staff.

Grinter Farms
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lucky Seb's Dumpling Bar & Grill

Lane Chapel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea

The river has moved over the years and it was located and excavated in 1988-89 in a corn field in Kansas City, Kansas. Since 1991, the results of that private dig have been the spectacular Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. If you have never been there, a month and a half remains to visit, as it will close November 13, so the city can replace it with a hotel. 

The museum houses the world's largest single collection of artifacts from before the Civil War, including clothing, shoes, fine China, carpentry tools, guns, dishes, children's toys and canned foods. Even the remains of the only fatality of the wreck, a mule which was tied to the deck. 

We had supper in the River Market at Pigwich, a BBQ & sandwich restaurant which opened in 2019 when the butcher shop, Local Pig, opened next door with the same owners. Food is ordered at the counter, much like it was 40 years ago when this was Winslow's Smoke House. I like that such a meat centered restaurant has two vegetarian options on their fairly short menu

We had the BLTGQ and Big Pig, with a pint of house made chips. The chips had BBQ seasoning and were quite good, although the level of seasoning on different chips was very different. 

The BLTGQ has bacon, lettuce, tomato, smoked gouda and Q sauce. It was good, though the bacon was slightly overdone.

The Big Pig is fried chicken, pulled pork, pickled jalapenos, ranch, BBQ sauce, spicy nduja spread, and pepperjack, American and provolone cheeses. It isn't a sandwich I would choose all the time, but it was surprisingly good. It took a while for it to come. I had ordered it without ranch dressing and the counter person spotted that and had it remade. They threw in a couple of cookies to make up for the delay.

Friends each had the (Not A Philly) Cheesesteak with 10 ounces of beef, provolone, pepperjack & American cheeses! Served on a freshly toasted hoagie roll with sautéed poblano peppers and onions, a light drizzle of ranch and smoked red onion pickles. They were quite happy with them.

The Big Big

The first community visited was Alma, Kansas where we photographed the Stuewe House, AKA Stuewe Brothers Creamery, which was built in 1873 and is now a Sweet Dreams Bed and Breakfast. It isn't really a B&B, but an Air B&B which includes a breakfast downtown at the Alma Bakery.

At Fort Riley, we stop at the Visitor Control Center for passes. Since we had both visited the post previously, we were able to use an automated machine to obtain our passes.

Stops on the post included the 1901 Interurban Station, Kapaun Chapel, 1st Infantry Division Memorial Park, The Chaplain's Quarters, St. Mary's Chapel, and Main Post Chapel.

At Fort Riley Cemetery (which Google Maps has mislocated on the post) we photographed the grave of Col. Huram Tuttle, who was the first U.S. rider to win an individual medal in an Olympic dressage event. I haven't been able to identify exactly where, but three of his horses, Olympic, Si Murray and Vast, are buried nearby.

After departing the post via Grant Avenue, we had lunch at 2 Peaches Southern Cuisine in Garden City, Kansas. I just learned that Korean Garden, one of my favorite Korean restaurants, closed when the owners retired at the end of July.

The good news is that 2 Peaches, opened in the same location 2 weeks ago today. It has been a soft opening with a limited menu, but we were pleased with our experience yesterday. The wings were particularly good and the fried okra was the best that I have ever had. The owners had another restaurant by the same name near Manhattan, Kansas ar an earlier time and have had a food truck more recently.

It was starting to lightly rain as we left the restaurant, but we photographed a "Come Together Junction City" mural,  1918 Community House (now the Eagles Club), 1934 William's Cigar Store sign, and a phone booth with Clark Kent changing clothes. We also visited Der Deutsche Laden, a German food Store which opened in 2025.

Continuing west toward some historic bridges near Chapman, the rain kept getting heavier and heavier, until we could hardly see. We were afraid the roads would be too bad, changed our plans for the next few hours, and headed west 75 miles to Great Bend, Kansas.

Although we drove through some very heavy rain, it was much lighter when we arrived at the Hodgden House Museum Complex. I've previously photographed the exterior of the buildings, but the museum was not open. A docent led us on a tour which included 6 of the buildings and took about an hours.

Moving on to Great Bend, there was time to photograph the Crest Theater, some public art, historic buildings (including the WW2 Army Air Field Hangar & Norden Bombsight Storage Vaults), and B-29 Memorial Plaza, before checking in at the Best Western Angus Inn.

Supper was at Tellers 1872, a steakhouse in the historical Zarah Hotel. The restaurant is in the interior of the building and walking the hall, passing other spaces and remodeling, it felt like we were in the wrong building. The dining room is an attractive, high ceilinged almost square room with 11 tables, historic photos & signs and one couple waiting for their food. They are open until 8 PM and we arrived at 7. The owner said that they are by appointment only, but after speaking to the chef, agreed to serve us. Following up after our visit, the website does not say that reservations are necessary or recommended.

We had steak frits and KC Strip with green beans and garlic fries. Both steaks were cooked as ordered, well done and medium rare respectively. The flavor of all was good. The strip was not tender.

None of the desserts interested us. I did have Kansas Sunset cocktail which I enjoyed and was only $8.

Interurban Station
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Come Together Junction City
 
 
 
 
 

Crest Theater

My favorite change was the addition of reptiles, birds and fish to the Raptor Center at the entrance of the zoo. Since this is a free zoo and that building is the entrance, it would even be worth visiting on a day with weather which would keep you from going on into the outdoors.

The most interesting animals were the bintuongs, which I do not remember seeing anywhere before. They are sometimes call bearcats and look like a combination of a bear, a cat and a monkey. They were quite active.

Before leaving Great Bend, we drove past the home of grassroots artist, Bob Mix, to see how much of his work can still be seen from the street, and drove east of town to photograph the Fort Zarah marker next to Highway 56 at Zarah Park.

Passing through the City of Pawnee Rocks, we turned into the small community to photograph some of the historic buildings and stopped at Santa Fe Mercantile to see what exactly they have have to offer. It is basically a flee market.

Passing through Larned, we photographed the State Theater, the 1939 post office and other downtown buildings.

We intended to stop at Fort Larned National Historic Site to checkout the remodel of the museum, but it was really pouring down and the parking is not close.

It was still raining when we reached Burdett, but it slowed enough to take some new photos of the Rediscover Pluto Miniature Golf Course. The free 9 hole miniature golf course is devoted to Pluto because Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930, spent his teen years on a farm near Burdett and graduated from Burdett High School. 

Lunch was at Bruce's Country Kitchen in Hanston, Kansas. Evelyn Bruce has operated the small restaurant & bar for 43 years and keeps it open from 10:30 AM - midnight 6 days a week. She was the only employee present and there were just three other customers who were enjoying lunch time beer. Evelyn was very welcoming and gave us a small promotional flashlight.

I was going to find out what a $20.50 rib eye was like, but would have needed to wait until she could thaw the steak. I ordered fried chicken gizzards and home cut fries ($8.50) and Linda ordered a BLT. When Evelyn asked if she wanted a side, Linda joked that she would just steal a few of my fries, but when the food came out, Evie had cooked a few more fries and added them to the sandwich.

The gizzards were good. I enjoyed them more than those I had at one of the famous Crawford County chicken restaurants three months ago.

Further down the road a few miles, we stopped at Judy's Cafe in Jetmore, where I last dined in 2024. Judy's is a small restaurant with 5 booths and a counter with 4 chairs. We just came for their pie and they only had the same one they did during the previous visit, strawberry rhubarb. We ordered it warmed and à la Mode. Even though it isn't the kind of pie either of us would select, it was still quite good.

With the dirt roads being quite wet, we skipped the next few planned stops and pushed on to Garden City. to the Lee Richardson Zoo. It had been over 20 years since I had last been there.

This is the largest free zoo in the state. Actually it is free if you park at the entrance. If you wish to drive through the zoo, it is $20 per vehicle. This is an attractive zoo with large enclosures designed to be good for the animals. I was unable to see the largest animals, the rhinos and giraffes. 

Part of the Wild Asia section is closed for upgrades. We tried to see everything else, but the layout is a little confusing and I'm not sure if we saw all of the other animals. My favorites were the lemurs and there are three species: red ruffed lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur and ring-tailed lemur. The red ruffed were the most active.

We also visited the Finney County Museum, which is at the entrance to the zoo. Their exterior buildings were closed, but we enjoyed the well curated museum. The highlight of the museum is the True Crime Exhibit: Solving Notorious Cases from Finney County's History. The room features the Clutter Family Murders from 1979, which were the subject of "In Cold Blood," and the 1920s Fleagle Gang, explaining how the criminals were brought to justice. 

Another, much simpler exhibit also brings many people to the museum, the world's largest cow hairball (trichobezoar). It sits on a spittoon at the reception desk and I think is an embarrassment to some of the staff, but they recognize that it brings some people to the museum.

Around town, we made many brief stops to photograph previous State Champion Trees, the historic huge swimming pool, historic buildings, a setting from the movie In Cold Blood, and the 9/11 Memorial at the airport.

Supper was at Traditions Soda & Sandwich. We arrived a little after 5 and they close at 6 PM, so business was light and the owner, Mike Wade, talked to us for about 20 minutes. The business began up the street as Myers Ice Cream & Dairy in 1925. The Myers family expanded into this building (which began as a bakery in 1925) in 1943 and continued until the 1980s. Mike has had it for 14 years.

We had a chance to have a chocolate malt, hot roast beef sandwich, the Fonz Burger and a slice of house made sour cream and raisin pie. It was a very pleasant meal.

We spent the night at Sleep Inn & Suites & Conference Center.

Reptiles, Amphibians & Invertebrates
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rediscover Pluto Miniature Golf Cource
 
 

Bruce's Country Kitchen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ringptrailed lemurs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Traditions Soda & Sandwich