Some People Do Go for the Wings

Allergies and all, I survived my day in Topeka yesterday. I messed up and threw myself even more of a challenge when I got starry eyed over some medicine deals at Walgreens and completely forgot to look for something non-drowsy. Luckily, I remained functional and didn’t fall asleep at the wheel.

We hit a local joint called Juice Stop for a smoothie breakfast and a stuffed pretzel (because I never get the opportunity to indulge in those) and I tried a shot of wheatgrass. It was grassy. I showed my ignorance by originally asking for it in my smoothie, but the staff was nice and set me straight on the fact that most people do shots and it would make a fruit smoothie taste like the ground. I’m glad they gave me the info.

Sadly, this was the only adventure I was able to catch a pic for on this trip because I forgot to charge my phone overnight (this really isn’t my best weekend, mentally). Not really a big deal, though, since Topeka is a short drive and we’re already planning on going back to the Topeka Zoo, which was our second stop. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this zoo, and they all have merit. It was nice seeing some of the animals we don’t have in MHK, but everything felt a little dirty. Then again, it was raining and hot and muggy, so that might have contributed to it. All the animals were out, lazing around and doing as little as possible. We got the once over from a gorilla named Tiffani, and even though the zoo said we might be lucky enough to see it via a “sign” on their window, we missed out on seeing the mating of the tigers.

The third stop was to buy clothes for Jon. Nothing especially exciting happened there.

Our fourth stop was unplanned and mostly a means to kill time until the movie theater opened, but it was well worth the side trip. We checked out the Kansas Museum of History which included an exhibit on retro and antique furniture, a huge train that triggered my claustrophobia when I tried to walk through it, and all kinds of neat historical stuff. I’d actually like to go back and get pictures from there sometime.

We had lunch at Hooters, another new food experience for me. The food was delicious. I had one of the best grilled chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had. I realize people make Hooters jokes and all, and I guess I thought it would be a little more risque than it was. But it wasn’t uncomfortable and the service was good.

Our last Topeka stop was to the West Ridge 8 second run theater. It has been years since I’ve been to a “cheap seat” theater. Jon and I opted for different movies. He went with the newest Fast and the Furious flick and I went to see The Purge. In my last post, I complained about people talking , but for  two dollars, a lot can be overlooked. I was lucky in that there wasn’t a lot of talking in my theater, and what there was seemed fairly appropriate, including the moment when the theater was silent and after a pivotal scene in the movie, another movie goer said “Moron” out loud in reference to one of the characters. It was funny because I’m pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing. There was also a scene at the end of the movie where everyone busted out laughing. Humor aside…especially because it wasn’t supposed to be a funny movie…I enjoyed it. I didn’t so much enjoy the theater seats which leaned back way too far, but again, for two bucks, I dealt with it. And we’ll probably go back.

We drove home in more rain, made a Baskin Robbins stop, and came back to the house where we watched “Knocked Up” and part of “Sharknado,” which I’m sure will get its own post. Overall, it was a fun  and active day and even though we did a lot of walking, my soreness and stiffness is at a minimum.

A.

Flint Hills Discovery Center

Our original plan when visiting the Flint Hills Discovery Center was to check out the place where they’d be holding a lecture later that week. The problem with public lectures is often seating and comfort, so we wanted to check beforehand to make sure this was going to work for us.

Flint Hills Discovery Center

After arriving there, we decided to go ahead and by a day pass to explore the museum. We started by seeing their film, which includes features such as blowing air and smoke to “immerse” the audience in the narration of the film. Then we explored the areas and looked at the exhibits about the Flint Hills and Kansas in general.

  

It was a fun place to visit, and it would be fun to take my nephews or niece there if they were to come this way for a visit. It gave me a new perspective on Kansas, and the exhibits were interesting. There are certain areas that are free to the public, including the lobby, which has a kiosk that lets visitors plan an itinerary of other places to see in Kansas, and a third floor terrace which overlooks part of Manhattan and gives a distant view of the Hills.

At the time I originally wrote this blog, there were a few things I was kind of bummed about. One was the fact that the art gallery portion wasn’t open, but in order to visit it again, we’d have to pay the admission fee or purchase a membership. Because it didn’t strike us as the kind of place we’d visit multiple times, both options seemed a little iffy. I was also a little disappointed when they said they used “youth chairs” for their lectures. I can’t imagine anyone being comfortable in what I perceived as kid chairs, even smaller people than J and I.

However, in a weird twist of events, my point of view has changed a bit. Part of that was the fact that we did attend a lecture there and it turned out to be really comfortable. Kudos to the DC for having really good, sturdy chairs for their visitors.

The other part was that as part of one of his classes, J. ended up getting a membership, and we found out that the FHDC is part of a large network of museums, so this membership will allow us to visit other museums all over the country. And the privileges mean that I can attend other museums with him at no charge because it gives family benefits too.

However, after thinking about it, I’ve decided to go ahead and get a membership as well. It works out to less than a couple dollars a month, and it will allow us to see all the exhibits (the family benefits only kick in at museums that are over 90 miles a way from where we live). Plus, the charitable part of me wants to be able to say I contributed to something cool, and we can incorporate the Discovery Center as another place to take walks.

I’ll be signing up for a membership in a couple days, when the FHDC has its Discovery Day to celebrate being open a year. Admission is free, so even though signing up for the membership won’t really allow us to take advantage of that, we’re going to see some of the cool things they’re doing (plus we’ve planned for this to be our museum day in Manhattan. I’m currently nursing a bum foot, but praying it’ll be better in the next day or so, so I can go exploring).

Also, the terrace is amazingly calm. I plan to utilize this space for “down time” in the future.

Field Trip Friday – Texas Vacation Day 3

To continue with our trend of culture and fun, we visited the Forth Worth Museum of Science and History on field trip Friday. We didn’t realize it was going to be field trip day until we got there and the parking lot was filled with school buses and lines of elementary kids waiting to get in.

Normally, I would have driven the other way, but I really wanted to see the museum, so we found a parking space and braved the super loud museum and the groups of children. As someone who doesn’t consider myself a “kid person,” I actually thought it was cool how excited they all were about the exhibits.

There were some cool things to see and a lot of hands on things we probably would have done if not for all the kids. We avoided the Titanic exhibit due to cost, but we did stop in the Cattle Raisers’ Museum (a museum inside of the Science and History museum…very inceptionesque).

Our next stop was the National Cowgirl Museum. I was bummed that we couldn’t take pictures except for in the lobby. It was still a great experience. The special exhibit was Maverick quilts. Upstairs we took goofy digital photos and watched a short video on cowgirls.

Our final stop was the Amon Carter American Art Museum. At this point, we were pretty exhausted. Remember me saying I wasn’t great at walking? Well I pushed it. We parked in a parking garage that was halfway between the Amon and the science, and that added so many steps. So by the time we got to this last one, I was hurting.

So as much as I hate to admit it, we kind of copped out of the Amon. But we did get through most of it and got some good pictures.

We decided it was okay to miss part of the permanent collection, and we did get to see the special exhibit there, a series of enlarged photos. Next time we’re there, we’ll make Amon Carter our first stop.

By the time we were done,  Grandma L and Cousin S had already scoped out a lunch spot for us, and we met them at a place called Fireside Pies,  a trendy looking place that makes gourmet pizzas.

Delicious.

We ended the day by relaxing at the house with some TV, reading and knitting for awhile before the cousins came back over with chicken dinner. We ate and chatted for a few hours before finally calling it a night.