Birthday Boy Baron

Sorry it has taken me a month to get the photos of Baron's 33rd (ouch) birthday at the Cheesecake Factory out here for others to enjoy. We had a great time and the food was fabulous. Being there on National Cheesecake Day was an experience, but 1/2 price dessert was a hit!
Prince Ping and the Birthday Cheesecake! This one was a brand new cheesecake created just for today...Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet...red velvet cake layered with original cheesecake covered with cream cheese frosting and a white chocolate edge ooooooh baby!

Mom & Autumn

Baron & Brie

Airie & Abram

Autumn and Dad

Brie in a napkin bonnet

About to make a wish in the parking lot.

Ballerina Brie

The Crazy Night Light!!!

The mouth harp!

The party people...end of a fun evening. Happy Birthday Bear!

At Last, The Last Two Days

Day 8 started off in Goodland...sunflower land.


Sunflowers by the road.


A sunflower factory where seeds and oil are produced and loaded on trains on tracks in the back.

A field of the real gigantic sunflowers...we were too early to see them in bloom.

Big bud.

Another close-up.

The highlight of the day was our trek to the highest point in Kansas...Mount Sunflower, of course. Here I am in my sunflower T-shirt at the entrance. The sign is made out of railroad spikes.

If you look up to the end of the road you will see the peak! (look hard!!)

Here it is, the highest point in Kansas, 4039' and very close to the Colorado border. We really worked hard making this climb...had to break out some oxygen, ha ha.

Dad at the peak. Hard to believe this is higher than the Monument Rocks.

Close-up.

Mom at the mailbox, reading about high points across the states.

The sunflower made out of spikes.

Wheat along the 25-mile dirt road (each way) to Mt. Sunflower.

Following a patriotic combine.

Some sort of grain "transporter."

Saw lots of varieties of sprinklers.

The silo complexes got bigger and bigger.

We spent the last night in Laramie, Wyoming.

Ah, yes, the Wyoming Cowboys...a statue on campus.

3 souvenirs...A pioneer rag doll, a buffalo, and a fat prairie dog!

Thanks for your patience in finally getting through to the end of our midwest adventure. I hope those of you who were skeptical about nothing to see may have changed your minds. We had a great time seeng a beautiful part of America.

Another Day in Kansas + Oklahoma

Day 7 started out in Kansas.

This is about as far as we went into Oklahoma, to pick up 2 geocaches so we could "color in the state."

Then it was back into Kansas, home of Dorothy ("there's no place like home") remembered at a museum in the town of Liberal.

Sunflower signs everywhere...

And lots of interesting silo configurations.

We made a special side trip to see one of the 8 wonders of Kansas...Monument Rocks. They were out in the middle of nowhere. Here's the approaching road...there was a pasture of horses on the left and cows on the road on the right.

Mom and the biggest rocks.

Swallow nests up high on the back side of the rocks.

Pillars.

Dad at Monument Rocks.

The Loop Hole.

Chicken Rock from the front...what a blue sky!

Chicken Rock from the back.

Mom and more rocks...they were all amazing and photo-worthy.

Can you see the Rock Face?

Rock Window.

Leaving the rocks behind...almost looks like another version of Stonehenge!

We stayed in Goodland, Kansas, sunflower capital of the world! They had a replica of one of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings on an 80' easel that was lit up at night and could be seen from the freeway.