Monday, August 2, 2010

The Midwest--July 2010--Day #1 Missouri


Our "8 States in 10 Days" vacation was an aggressive venture, but we did it and got to see so many new and interesting things. (Lots of pre-planning was the key.) We flew into Kansas City, Missouri, rented a car and drove 3,000 miles in a big loop up and down the Mississippi River. We were very fortunate weather-wise. Yeah, it was pretty hot and pretty muggy, but could have been worse. We seemed to follow the bad storms. It rained on us briefly twice while driving and there were two big storms at night…but nothing to spoil plans. We took 1,011 photos and found 19 geocaches and 4 Travel Bugs (dropped 5 TBs) and accomplished our goal of filling in 8 more states on our geocaching map. (We only have about 10 states to go!) Here’s a day-by-day, blow-by-blow documentation in photographs if you are interested. I'll try to post a day or two at a time during the next couple of days.

Before leaving Kansas City we really wanted to see the giant Shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. They were the coolest. Shortly after this photo was taken, Dad thought he heard a voice and looked around but no one was there. Then he heard it again, saying, "Sir, please do not touch the artwork!" Then we noticed a camera and speaker behind him--busted by the Birdie Art Police!!

Mom and a Birdie--I didn't get caught!

There were about 30 sculptures outside the museum. Here is "Large Torso: Arch" and the one on the hill is called "Three Bowls."

...at the entrance to the museum with "The Thinker" and another Shuttlecock.

..."Peace on Earth" with a dove on top.

Dad with "30 Standing Figures" (headless)

Totem Pole

Saxaphone (inside)

The Rozzelle Court Restaurant where we had a great lunch...glass ceiling.

Afterwards, we drove on to Branson which is a town full of hotels, restaurants and theaters for live performances (more than 30, I'm sure!) situated in the beautiful Ozark Mountains.

We saw "The Magnificent Variety Show"...3 talented couples and a darling 5-year-old daughter singing and dancing to songs from the 40s to today with a live band and 300 costume changes in 2 hours. We enjoyed it, very entertaining.

Hollywood (Titanic) is alive and well at Branson, Missouri. There were also several go-kart tracks and and bumper-boats. Lots to do.

King Kong.

2 comments:

Autumn said...

Wow that art museum looks awesome! Looks like the weather was great too. A good start to your wonderful vacation. -and Dad is always breaking rules!...touching art, putting out his incense in a coi pond....hmmm there's a pattern here ;)

Airie said...

We should play badminton with one of those next time Dad - I doubt it would get stuck in the tree! :) Neat stuff!!!!