Wamego, Kansas

A few miles outside of Wamego, Kansas sits a little church called the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church.  I've been wanting to go there ever since I heard about it.  This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

"Beecher Bible and Rifle Church is a historic church at the southeastern corner of Chapel and Elm Streets in Wabaunsee, Kansas. The church is named after Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, a financial backer for the town who helped smuggle rifles past pro-slavery forces in crates marked Beecher's Bibles.

The town of Wabaunsee was founded in 1855 by a group of about 70 New England emigrants from New Haven, Connecticut who established the Connecticut Kansas Colony, alternatively called the New Haven Colony or the Beecher Rifle Colony. The settlers were inspired by a sermon given by well-known abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher and Beecher gave money to help supply rifles for the men to defend themselves. The rifles were smuggled through pro-slavery areas in crates marked "Beecher's Bibles," and consequently the rifles themselves became known as Beecher's Bibles. Wabaunsee was staunchly anti-slavery and became part of the Underground Railroad in late 1856 and helped Lawrence after Quantrill's Raid.^[2]

In 1862 the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church was completed after four years of construction. The church was built of local limestone by church member Robert Banks, with contrasting stone accents. The overall style is described as Plains Vernacular. The structure is crowned by a gable roof and a wood bell tower. A central brick chimney vents wood stoves on the perimeter of the church, connecting to the chimney via metal stovepipes. The church is entered through a vestibule that provides access to the choir loft stairs. The main space was divided down the center into men's and women's sides.^[2][3]

The church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971."  Wikipedia

Of course, I took pictures.  I mean, if you don't have a picture, it didn't really happen, right?

Flowers along the "new" addition of the church. 
The church is still in use, and from the looks of it, the congregation takes great pride in their historic church.

For such a small town, Wamego, Kansas has a lot of interesting things to see.  One of the main attractions is the Oz Museum.  We really enjoyed our visit there.  The Wizard of Oz has always fascinated me, although, as a child, the flying monkeys scared me silly!  I still don't like them.  But for some reason, this sign on a locked closet, made me laugh!

Keep Out
Witches Only
If opened we will release our flying monkeys.

I took a lot of pictures, and I can't decide which ones to post, so here's all of them. You're welcome.

The green building is the Oz Museum.

I loved this quilt so much I took individual pictures of each square.

This stained glass window was inside the little theater where they play the movie all day.
It's really all about those ruby slippers.
It's always about the shoes!

 This sign was on the exit.  I like it.

This restaurant gave us a laugh.  It's in the same block as the museum.

The "Yellow Brick Burrito"
This doesn/t sound like TexMex
Tim wanted to try it, but I just wasn't that brave.
Besides, they were closed.

 One of our favorite places in Wamego is the Wamego City Park.  It is beautiful!  The Wamego Historical Society and Museum is also in the park.  I'm sad that we never got to go inside, because it was always closed when we were there.  But, of course I took pictures.

The windmill is over 100 years old, and was once used to grind corn. 

                                                                  

There's even a free train ride for the kids!

After we left Wamego, we stopped at York, SD for a couple of nights, then Pipestone, MN, and now we are in Garden City, MN.  And I have so much more to tell you!! But it's just going to have to wait, because I'm tired and sleepy, and I guess my computer is, too, because I'm having a lot of trouble trying to format this post.  So, good night for now.  

And to all my friends and family...remember, we're just a phone call away.  And we sure do miss you all!

SUMMER 2018 ROAD TRIP

We started our quest for cooler weather by heading south.  But no, we are not directionally challenged, we had a good reason to go to Waco.  We went to see Jasmin's Ensemble Team play at the Texas Music Teacher's Association Convention. It was worth the detour - the group played beautifully!

Turn up the volume to hear 15 seconds of the Ensemble Performance.

Happy Camper!  Tim got to throw a line into Waco Lake, and caught a few. 
He was proud of this one.

Next stop was Longview to see Tim Jr.  He took us to Kilgore to a place called Country Tavern where we had the best bbq ribs I have ever tasted.  But be warned, this place is really country and most definitely a tavern, with pool table, juke box, neon beer signs and lots of loud and happy customers.

We left Longview on Monday, and quickly became international travelers, traveling into Oklahoma we drove through the Cherokee Nation, the Seminole Nation and a few others.  We spent one night in Checotah, then drove on up to Wamego, Kansas.  

We've driven through western Kansas several times, and it... is... boring.  So we were sort of surprised to learn that Eastern Kansas is lush, and green, and full of rolling hills.

My smart phone camera kind of flattens landscapes, but I think you can tell that there are hills here.

.

We got into Wamego on Tuesday afternoon.  Still haven't found cool weather, but we will keep on going north until we find our cool spot.  It may turn out to be a good thing that I grabbed our passports to bring along at the last minute!

One last photo for today's post...

           

We found Dorothy's house!!!

More about Dorothy and the cute little town of Wamego in my next post.

March 10, 2018 Robertsdale, Alabama

Yesterday

Tim played golf at Timber Creek Golf Course in Daphne, Alabama.  He shot an 84, which I thought was pretty good.  But he always thinks he should have done better, no matter what.
I slept and read while he was gone.

Today

Tim fished here at the RV Park's lake.

We went out to supper at Derailed Diner. This is a really unique restaurant. The fictional back story is something about a railroad dining car becoming derailed and landing right there just off of Interstate 10, so they just built around it and made it into a restaurant.  The decor is all about trains and other modes of transportation. 

Derailed Diner Exterior

Each table is a sort of shadow box, with memorabilia under glass.  Here's a few of them.

Derailed Diner is just down the road from Styx River, so we eat there pretty much every time we stay here.  The food is good, but I mostly go for the decor.

Spring 2018 Trip - So Far

TIME LINE

Feb. 27 
9:00 am - Left home, not totally sure where we're going.

                                         

12:45 pm - Stopped at Buc-ee's in Madisonville.  Got BBQ sandwiches.  (the bathrooms really are amazing!)

4:00 pm - Arrived at Gulf Coast RV in Beaumont.  Going to stay here for 2 nights, so Tim can play golf.


Feb. 28
Tim played golf.

March 1
9:00 a.m - Back on the road
11:30 a.m. - Burger King in Jennings, LA

Sign at Hideaway Ponds RV Park

3:00 p.m. - Arrived at Hideaway Ponds RV Park, between Morgan City and Houma, LA.  Going to be here for a week.

March 2 -
11:30 Ate lunch at La Palma Mexican Restaurant in Thibodaux.  Not bad, but not Tex-Mex.

Link to Laurel Valley Facebook Page

1:30 Laurel Valley Village Store and Museum, at Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation, near Thibodaux.  This plantation is actually still in business, growing sugar.

The old slave quarters are still standing, (barely), but it looks like a good wind would blow them over.  When anyone talks about "the good old days", I just cringe.  I always think of the atrocities of slave labor, child labor, and very few rights for women.  

2:30 Wal-Mart.  Of course.

March 3

11:40 Lunch at Rita Mae's Cajun Kitchen in Morgan City.
1:00 Wal-Mart.  Again.

March 4
Rained.

March 5
Tim played golf.

March 6
5:30 p.m.  Supper at Burger King, in Bayou Cane.  Yes, we do eat like teenagers.
6:00 p.m. Wal-Mart.  Because it was there.

March 7
12:00 Lunch at Good Doggy (gourmet hot dogs) in Bayou Cane.  Only the best junk food for me and my Cowboy, lol!

Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum

Bronze statue honoring the Houma Indians, the local Native American tribe that the town is named for. 
Houma means "red" in Choctaw.  

1:00 Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum - displays tell about the industries, traditions and personal stories that give this are it's unique culture.

Terrebonne Folklife Culture Center

A decoy carved by one of the students at the Culture Center.

1:30 Terrebonne Folklife Culture Center - dedicated to preserving the Cajun and other cultural traditions of the area.

Like in other coastal areas, graves here are covered in cement to keep them from floating away during hurricanes and floods.

Note the cathedral steeple in the background.

Some grave sites are two deep.  There were several that were three deep.

The front of the Cathedral School.  This original school was opened in 1870.  It was moved to this location in 1951.

1:50 St. Frances de Sales Cemetery, Cathedral & School

Southdown Plantation

Beautiful Oak Trees on the grounds.

Sugar Cane Press and Boiling Pot.

2:15 Southdown Plantation, Houmas
           The best thing about every place we've been on this trip has been the people we have met.  In Thibodaux we were invited to the Fireman's Festival.  At the Waterlife Museum, we didn't do the (hour long) tour because my cranky joints won't let me stand for that long, but the lady at the front desk told us all about the area.  At the Culture Center, we had a great conversation with a lady who told us about other things to see in Houma.

          But my favorite by far was the gentlemen at Southdown Plantation.  Again, we did not take the tour because of my achy joints, so I was just walking around outside the house taking pictures while Tim hunted for a geocache a few feet away. When the caretaker saw us, he stopped mowing and told me all about the house and the history of the place.  He and his wife actually live in the house (in an apartment on the top floor) rent free, in exchange for taking care of the place.  He showed me several pictures of the inside, and told me that his grandmother once lived on the grounds and helped her grandmother with the cooking for the family that lived there.  He was as proud of that house as if it was his own.  He really loves taking care of it.

When we left the plantation, we just started driving south to see how far we could go. 
So much muddy water!  Lakes, bayous, rivers, and swamps.  Everywhere.
 We could have gone farther, but we decided we'd seen enough and took a different route back to Houma.

We saw a lot of shrimp boats on this drive.

3:00 Drove south of Dulac on Hwy. 57, just to see more of the southern Louisiana landscape.

March 8

This was just down the street from our RV park.

8:45 Left Hideaway Ponds.

Azaleas at the Mississippi Welcome Center

9:45 Mississippi Welcome Center
11:30 Denny's in Gulfport, MS
2:00 Styx River RV Resort.  We plan to be here for one week, then go to Abita Springs, LA.

Broken Promise

Y'all.  I did a bad thing.  Or, rather, I didn't do the good thing that I said I would do.

I promised this friendly, funny, nice lady that I would post a blog about her restaurant.

Last November.

Our kids had other plans for Thanksgiving dinner, so we took a short trip to Glen Rose, Texas to stay at Tres Rios RV Park that week.  And I searched the internet for a restaurant that would be serving Thanksgiving dinner.  Didn't find exactly what we wanted in Glen Rose, but just a few miles down the road, in Walnut Springs, a little place called the Depot Cafe was open and serving pretty much everything we wanted.  It sounded like just our kind of place.

Walnut Springs is one of those tiny Texas towns with a few cool shops on the one main street, and nothing much at all anywhere else.  Except this cafe.  Not exactly right on the main street, but in the back of an antique shop, which was on the main street.  I think you can probably walk right through the shop to get to the cafe, but being Thanksgiving Day, the shop was closed.  So we drove around to the back, and walked straight into the cafe through the back door.

And it really was just our kind of place.

Tiny, homey, friendly, and very very country.

This is a happy man. His tummy is full of good food.

The food was wonderful.  Turkey and dressing and all the fixings, including dessert, for a very reasonable price.  Down home cooking at it's best!   But the owner's friendly personality is what we will never forget.  She was a hoot and a half!  

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of our meals.  But after we ate, I took lots of pictures of the little restaurant.  The owner told us she did all of the decorating and manual labor herself, and I think she did a wonderful job.

I'm so sorry that I didn't post this when I said I would.  We truly enjoyed our meal.  If you are ever anywhere near Walnut Springs, you should give it a try.  Here's a link to their Facebook page, where you can find their address and business hours.  

https://www.facebook.com/DepotCafe2017/?ref=br_rs

I think the lady that owns it is named Helen.  I had written in down, but of course, I lost the card that I wrote it on.  Anyway, I hope she sees this, and I hope she forgives my procrastination.

ON TO OTHER NEWS!

We have been trying to get away on another trip since the first of the year, but what with one thing and another, we didn't actually leave until last Tuesday.  I will intend to write more about this trip in a day or two, but here's a few hints about where we are right now:  Rivers, and bayous and swamps and alligators and gumbo!  That should give you a pretty good idea.