Actually…: Vacation to Kansas

I decided that it was time to finish off some of my hard earned vacation time before the weather turned too cold. I’ve never been one to not use all my allotted vacation. I don’t believe in waiting too long or postpone it because “they really need me at the office right now”. All that is hogwash, so if your reading this and haven’t had a vacation this year..take one now.

This time around, I just decided to take some time and drive back home to Kansas. Too often we see family visits as obligation, but I really wanted to get away from work for a week and what better place than Kansas. I had no real plans at first other than I wanted to try to see all my family and friends (which I attempted but as always you never can fit everyone in, sorry if I missed you), play golf with my Dad (which I did), eat some KC BBQ and some Bo Lings Chinese (which I also did). Other than that, no real plans. But plans sometimes just happen…

Plaza Art Festival – On Saturday my mom and I went to the annual Art Festival on the Country Club Plaza. I’ve been to several similar art festivals. The one in Ft Worth on Main Street is the same kind of thing, but I like the one in KC the best. Why you ask, mainly because it is in KC, thus there seem to be less people than in DFW, and to top it off it is in Late September/Early October so the weather is usually starting to cool off. But mainly the charm of the Spanish architecture of the Plaza is what gives it a cool venue to match the event. I took my camera and snapped a few picks. Couldn’t photograph most of the art work, so I mainly took crowd shots and stills of buildings.

Chiefs Game – Sunday Mike and I went to the Chiefs vs. 49ers Game at Arrowhead. My friends Larsen and Alli have season tickets to the Chiefs games with another couple so we all met up at Larsen's house at 8am to roll out to tailgate. When Mike and I showed up at Larsen’s we saw the vehicle that would be our tailgating chariot. Larsen and his Dad bought it on Craigslist and fixed it up.

Being at Arrowhead reminded me why I like KC sports. The fans are real fans, not like Dallas where everything is a Corporate outing. And yes I know I’m part of the Corporate "outings” culture in Dallas sports, but I do miss the blue collar fans of KC. Where else would you see this…yes her hair is Chiefs red.

Mike taught me a new phrase this weekend “Camaro-head” a fitting description of the “blue collar” nature of Chiefs football based on their favorite mussel cars and 80’s hair rock.

Visiting Dad – mid week I drove down to visit Dad, Rick, Lisa, Troy and the rest of the Fam…and play a little golf. The golf course looked great for being scorched in the summer heat a month ago. Dad, Rick, Dave and George had the place in pretty good shape. They even had thing so under control that they had enough time to knock off early on Wednesday and play a round.

One thing scarred me a little….the book that was on the dresser in the guest room…I hope it wasn’t put there for my benefit.

Wichita – On Thursday Dad and I set out for Wichita to catch a show at the Orpium Theater by a great guitarist named Tommy Emmanuelle. The opening act was a couple of jazz guitarists that were phenomenal too. The next day we watched some Ryder cup, hit the driving range for a couple buckets, and saw the movie The Social Network while we waited for my step-mom’s flight to get in.

Don’s Memorial – Once we picked my step mom up at the airport we drove to Great Bend. My Step-mom’s Ex-Husband's Mother’s Second Husband, Don, [did you follow that?] had passed away earlier this year and they where having a memorial to bury his ashes in Hollyrood. Being with all the family reminded me how Lou and Don always treated all the grandkids, regardless of divorce, like their own. I even remember Lou sending me dishes and supplies when I went to K-State and how they were both such big K-State supporters.

After the service we had lunch and Lou got up and told stories. She knew everyone’s name in the room, and I mean everyone. She knew where they were from, how they knew the family, everything. I can barely remember that stuff now and I’m in my 30s…she’s a pretty amazing woman.

Mary gave Don’s son a Two Dollar bill that she had carried in her wallet ever since the day that Don (a famously frugal man) had given it to her on the day of her college graduation.