Final Day - Tallgrass Prairie National Park

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep…
Robert Frost

Last year, when the boys took their final Junior Ranger oath of the summer at Mesa Verde, the Ranger in charge of the swearing in ceremony took a little liberty with the official words. He ended the oath by having the boys swear, hands raised, that they would bring chocolate chip cookies to every ranger that they meet.

He was working for a laugh from two tired boys, but he may very well have unwittingly started a Hicks family tradition.

Before we headed out to the Tallgrass Prairie National Park this morning, we stopped by the grocery store to purchase some bakery fresh chocolate chip cookies to take to the rangers in charge of the facility.

We parked in the gravel parking lot below the stone house and headed to the visitors station located in the barn right after it opened. We were some of the first people on the property that morning and Ranger Ron Clark was working the desk when we arrived. He met us at the door.

Isaac’s first order of business was to give him the cookies while I explained to him how that he had a Mesa Verde ranger to thank for those. And we got what we wanted – we caught him completely off guard.

There were three rangers working Springhill Ranch that morning and as we saw each of them, they all smiled and thanked us for the cookies. Ranger Ron, who also gave us a guided tour through the one room school house and drove the tour bus a little while later, told us that we had accomplished a first in the history of the Tallgrass Prairie. Those reading this blog, maybe we can start a trend.

Ranger Ron started us off in high style by giving Isaac his Junior Ranger activity booklet and firing up the orientation video for us to see. The video was excellent, giving a history of how the land came to be part of the park service and how the park rangers were working to restore the natural state of tallgrass prairie that once was all over the region. I will confess that I did not tune in to the video entirely as my attention was drawn away by two barn swallows flying in and out of the rafters above us. The air was quiet and smelled lightly of horse manure and hay. It was a scene that took me back to days on the farm growing up and it was heavenly.

After the video, Ranger Ron gave us a brief orientation to the trails that we should walk and what the outbuildings were. While he was talking, a large, fat, orange cat resembling Puss in Boots from Shrek IV meandered from the depths of the barn. “That’s Lou,” he said, as the cat opened its mouth and squeaked out a meow. “He and Bob are on rodent patrol,” Ranger Ron explained. “As you can see, they do a pretty good job.”

We decided to take advantage of being the only people on the grounds at that moment and took a Ranger led tour of the stone house. The tour was led by Ranger Pete and it started on the front porch. We walked there from the barn on the gravel drive that connected the two buildings in the back of the house. As we walked, Sam said, “This is just like being at Uncle Vernon’s house.” And it was.

The three story house is built into the side of a hill in the Second Empire style. It was built by Mr. and Mrs. Steve Jones who moved to Kansas from Texas after Mr. Jones noticed that the grasses growing in this area were perfect for grazing cattle. He, his wife and his young daughter built Spring Hill/Z Bar ranch in 1881 out of native limestone mined from the area. Mr. Jones also built the Lower Fox Creek school for his daughter Luttie to attend in 1882.

We entered the house through the formal front door and entertainment parlors and then went into the parts of the home that were underground – the winter kitchen, walk in root cellar and spring house. Then, we walked upstairs to the middle of the house to tour the Mr. Jones’ office, the family parlor and the dining room. Mrs. Jones had a dumb waiter and butler’s pantry on the main floor that she used to bring food upstairs from the kitchen below. The upstairs, where the Jones’ had their bedrooms was not part of the tour as the park service is currently using those as offices. A very nice gift shop was located in the dining and living areas of the second floor.

In back of the house was a fancy, limestone outhouse with three different seats – one for each member of the family. There was also a summer kitchen, a nod to Mrs. Jones’ southern roots. The hill on which the house was located was populated by cedar trees and the Ice House on top of the hill was the beginning of one of the most popular, and shortest nature trails on the L-shaped property.

And it was there, after spotting a school bus from Marion USD, that we disappeared onto the Southwind Nature Trail which led across the creek and to the Lower Fox school. This short, two mile trail wound up around behind the house to the top of some hills overlooking the pasture land to the west. We wound through the short grassy hillside watching for wild roses, yellow primroses, BobWhites, meadowlarks and lizards.

It was a bright sunny day on the prairie with no rain in sight. The sun and wind had dried up much of the damage done by the rain earlier in the week. The only downside to our walk was the 25 mile an hour wind gusts that were, depending on the direction we were walking, urging us forward or holding us back.

Let it be said that I am not a big fan of Kansas wind. The wind is the one downside that holds spring well below fall as my favorite of the four seasons. But I didn’t mind the wind on the Tallgrass Prairie. This land was pasture land. Where I have experienced wind, it has been farmland. The wind held no dirt that I could feel. It didn’t sting. There was no spray of sand to close the mouth and eyes against. It was a clean wind, blowing back the hair and cooling off the body. It was actually quite pleasant which was a huge surprise.

After a cool respite at the school house with Ranger Ron, we headed back to the ranch house and the car for a quick sack lunch on one of the picnic tables in the parking lot. The gift shop offers light snacks and soda, so if you want a lunch, you have to bring your own. By now, the parking lot held a few more cars and so we checked out license plates just for fun. Scattered in among the various Kansas counties, there was a plate from Virginia, California and Tennessee. Pretty cool. Pretty cool.

When we finished our lunch, we headed back to the barn to talk to the rangers about longer hikes through the pasture land. Based on the ranger’s recommendation, we chose the Scenic Overlook Trail which was just over 6 miles round trip. The “trail” was actually a gravel road winding back into the pasture land for three miles to the highest elevation at the park – 1,495 feet. A regular bus tour follows the same route so we figured, when we got tired, we could just hitch a ride on the bus.

Before we headed out, though, we made sure to have Isaac’s Junior Ranger activity booklet checked out and verified. Ranger Eric Patterson had a conversation with Isaac about the things that he had learned that morning and swore him in as a Junior Ranger of the Tallgrass Prairie. Earlier in the day, Ranger Eric had abruptly interrupted a tour he was giving of the barn to Marion field trip goers to thank us for the cookies as we walked by. “There are many of us who wear this uniform,” he said to Isaac during the swearing in ceremony, “but only 2,000 who can call themselves Park Rangers.” He knelt down to Isaac’s level to give him his Tallgrass Prairie badge and Junior Ranger patch, shook Isaac’s hand and said, “So Isaac, we need your help.”

Ranger Ron was back in the barn after Isaac was sworn in, so we talked with him that the other rangers about the trail we were about to hike. Making this trail a little more interesting was the small herd of bison occupying the Windmill Pasture. The rangers were working hard to re-establish the herd and were bragging that their very first baby calf had been born on Mother’s Day weekend. Depending on their grazing habits, it is sometimes difficult to see the bison, but on that day, the rangers reported that they had been hanging out close to the Scenic Overlook trail road.

“Just give them some space,” said Ranger Ron. “The mother appears to be used to people, so they shouldn’t give you any trouble. And if they do,” he winked, “just make sure you aren’t the slowest person in the group.”

With those words of advice ringing in our ears, we headed out with at least one wide-eyed boy who thought we were going on a death defying adventure into the Kansas prairie.

While we were not as impressed as the folks from Tennessee who were blown away by the ability to see over 18 miles from the scenic overlook, it was still wonderful to get back in over the hills and away from Highway 177 to hear the birds singing among the grass, look for wildflowers and walk by the herd of buffalo lounging about 200 feet to the north of the trail.

I walked remembering the earlier conversation with the docent in the Kansas History Museum in Topeka who described the experiences of the settlers traveling the Oregon trail. I walked remembering the Kansa Indians, otherwise known as “the people of the southwind,” who made these hills their home. I walked thinking about the 12 and 15 foot root systems that were under my feet and supporting the big blue stem and little blue stem grasses that are common on the tallgrass prairie. I walked and enjoyed the movement of my body over familiar gravel and grassy terrain.

As we expected, the boys did great for the first three miles, but by the time we crossed the third pasture gate into Big Pasture, they were ready to call it quits. So, we caught the bus as it was coming back from the scenic overlook. The couple from Tennessee were aboard and it was interesting to hear their reactions to land that was a familiar to me as my front porch.

Ranger Ron was driving what he called “his favorite 95 minutes of the day.” He had great stories of the people in the area, the grasses that were growing, the cattle that were grazing and the different areas of burning that were occurring throughout the park. True to his park ranger nature, you could tell that he enjoyed being on the tallgrass prairie and was passionate about the job that he was doing.

On our hike, we had noticed that on one side of the trail, the pasture land was green and fresh, as if it had just been burned and was now reestablishing itself. On the other side of the trail the pasture contained lots of brown, unburned grasses in among the green and growing ones. When we asked Ranger Ron about the uneven burning practice, he said that they are burning the park in sections in an attempt to mimic the natural burns that would have occurred before the area was settled.

The rangers figured that in a natural state, the prairie would burn every three to seven years. We were right, the one side of the trail had just been burned that year – Ranger Ron called it a one-year burn. The other side of the trail represented an area of two-year burn. Then, as we drove, he pointed out additional areas that were two and three-year burns. He said that his dream was that as people flew over the park in an airplane that they would see this splotchy, some-brown and some-green, L-shaped area that was the national park surrounded all around by brilliant, green rolling hills.

The other thing that he taught us on the bus ride was the different grazing habits of cattle versus bison. He said that cattle tend to walk in a nose to tail fashion over a pasture land carving it up and making trails. They graze in certain areas causing the grass to be overgrown in places and very short in others. Bison, on the other hand, do not walk in lines. They walk spread out, in a herd and graze the grass evenly. Ranger Ron said that a pasture grazed by bison looks like a neatly manicured lawn. He couldn’t explain the behavior, just was an observer of it.

After the bus ride back to the barn, we were tired, sun and wind burned and ready to get in the car and go home. We said goodbye to all the Rangers, grabbed an annual events brochure, vowed to come back in the fall when the grasses on the bottom land pasture trail were seven and eight feet tall and headed south on Highway 177 towards Winfield.

We rounded out the trip by traveling through Bazaar, Kansas – the town near where Knute Rockne’s plane crashed, passed the dude ranch just north of Cassidy, Kansas and zipped around El Dorado lake. We hooked up with Highway 77 just outside of El Dorado and headed on south, getting into Winfield around 6:00 p.m. We unpacked, relaxed on the couch and went to bed tired but having had a satisfying, four-day Kansas adventure.

Day 5 - Lawrence

Today, Sunday, we followed God’s example and mostly rested. We started the morning at the 8:30 service of Immanuel Missouri Synod Lutheran church where, for the first time in our married lives, Ross and I shared communion.

For those of you who don’t know, Ross is a member of the Missouri Synod Lutheran church. I am a member of the United Methodist church. For the most part – although there are those in both faiths who would staunchly deny it – the faiths are similar. There are, however, some important sticking points. One such sticking point is the topic of open and/or closed communion.

Traditionally, the bulletins of MS Lutheran churches have a little note in them that explains communion is closed to those who are not members of the MS Lutheran community. At this church, however, the note was a little different. At this church, the note listed the beliefs a person must have to take communion. If you as a member of worship agree with those beliefs, you were welcome to take communion. And so, I went. And so, I will always remember Immanuel MS Lutheran fondly.

As always, we were warmly greeted by the members of the church and practically escorted from the parking lot to the pew by friendly, smiling faces and people who were interested in who we were and what we were about. Several of them had friends or relatives in and around the Winfield area.

Because the church is located across the street from the University of Kansas campus, we were expecting a service that was college student friendly and young at heart. We were not disappointed and were also introduced to another novel aspect of this particular MS Lutheran church. They had a vicar. Because it is important for a person serving in a vicarage to have opportunities to preach from the pulpit, we heard from Vicar Will Main – a nice young man with a million dollar smile who also was serving in mission at Haskell Indian Nation University just down the road.

Vicar Will was from the Dakata Sioux tribe. He was nervous, forgot to close the gospel reading and got lost in the middle of his sermon. But his Pentecost message was spot on as he spoke of the uncomfortable aspects of change. He spoke about the trappings of success – how continuing to do something the same way because it has worked in the past can lead to problems. He spoke about how during Pentecost, God used change to step out of a successful comfort zone and spread Christianity to a world that was not familiar with the Jewish tradition. And he ended the service with words spoken in his native Sioux language.

When the service was over, we hopped in the car receiving the well wishes of many of the same people who led us into the service and headed back to the hotel to change, pack the car and head downtown to meet up with Brenda’s cousin Phyllis and her husband Jim. Jim is a retired Lawrence fire fighter who is turning 80 this year, but who doesn’t look a day over 72. (Jim, you can pay me later.)

We met them in downtown Lawrence and had brunch at Tellers. We ate there because Isaac was fascinated with the idea of a restaurant that used to be a bank. Immediately upon arrival he said that he had to use the restroom – which he knew was located in the bank’s safe. The food, however, wasn’t near as good as the conversation around the table. Still, we enjoyed the meal and the fellowship and received several tips from Jim and Phyllis who are great travelers in their own right.

After promising to come to their house when we were finished “seeing the town,” we headed into the heart of the KU campus to wander through the Museum of Natural History. On a tip from Phyllis, we also saw a stick house that had been created outside of the museum by artist in residence Patrick Dougherty. Patrick creates his work from saplings found from local sources and uses them to create massive sculptures sometimes as high as 40 feet. He created this one as part of an ongoing University project called “Trees and Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature and Culture.”

And then we turned our attention to the four stories of dusty looking specimens from all over the world stuffed and stuck behind glass for us to view at our leisure. The best part of this free museum was BugTown – located on the first floor of the exhibit area – and the large replica of an HIV virus.

In the former, we walked past cages of creepy water beetles, hissing cockroaches and huge poisonous crickets. We easily spent about 1/3 of our time at the museum in this room alone. It was pretty cool.

It was too early for the bees to take up residence in the bee tree at the top of the museum. So, after wandering all the way through the rest of the exhibits, we headed back out and off the campus to see Jim & Phyllis again. We spent the better part of the early evening chatting with them in their family room and having a great time discussing trip memories and getting more tips of things to see and places to go. Phyllis served the boys a slice of gingerbread and cool whip which they ate with gusto. Thanks Jim and Phyllis for a very nice, relaxing Sunday afternoon and evening.

When we left, we turned back to I-70 and then south to check in to our hotel in Emporia for the night. After a quick dip in a crowded pool, we went back to the room to bed. We needed lots of shut-eye for our big day on the prairie tomorrow!

Goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come.....We had a somewhat lazy morning as, apparently, nothing in Kansas City opens until 10:00 a.m. – a major difference between hikers and city travelers. We hopped on the Interstate and headed into the depths of the biggest city the boys have traveled around in to date.

We headed straight for the Liberty Memorial and National World War I museum in located on Main Street in downtown Kansas City Missouri. Because we are more of the hiker variety, we got there about 10 minutes before the doors opened. So, we wandered the grounds a bit.

The Memorial is built into a hill overlooking downtown Kansas City. The closely manicured but flowerless grounds are powerful, majestic and library quiet in the first few hours of the day. The 217 feet stone tower (almost as tall as a football field) sits atop the Liberty deck flanked by the Memory and Exhibit halls to the east and west. We learned that the bungalow sized exhibit hall housed the entire museum collection until the larger, underground portion of the memorial was built.

The first thing that I noticed as we climbed up to the windy Liberty deck was two large, stone sphinxes with their faces covered. Immediately curious about the symbolism, I learned later that the one facing east is called “Memory.” It is apparently hiding its face from the horrors of war. The one facing west is called “Future.” It hides its face from the future which is unknown. At a few minutes to 10:00, we walked down to the solid wall of metal doors that are the opening to the musuem. Isaac was watching the clock on my cell phone and was impressed as one door opened unaided just after the digitial display on the phone changed to the top of the hour. Out stepped an elderly gentleman -- I can only assume a veteran of some war -- to welcome us inside and give us directions.

We bought our tickets, just over $20 for all four of us, and proceeded as directed into the heart of the museum where the orientation video was just beginning. To get to the video, we walked over the Paul Sunderland glass bridge which spans a symbolic field of a 9,000 bright red poppies. Our museum guide explained that each poppy represented 1,000 dead combatants during World War I. It was an impressive, visual display that brought the massive casulaties caused by warfare home in a way the brain could process and easily understand. It was also a perfect introduction to the sites and excellent presentation we were about to experience.

Why the flower? Normally, to symbolize the dead in battles you see rows of gravestones lining a distant battlefield. How did such a bright, beautiful flower become a symbol of death? The giftshop provided the answer. The flower was used because it was the only thing that would grow among all the devastation caused by World War I. Each year, when the weather warmed, the red poppy would flower and decorate the mud and destruction with its bright, red color. Apparently, poppies lay dormant beneath the earth for years without germinating and only grow after the ground above them has been disturbed. Seeing seas of poppies appear among the mud and destruction must have been surreal for those in and on the battlefields of Europe. A sign from God. A symbol to ponder.

After that, we went in to the 15 minute orientation video which did an excellent job presenting the cultural context of the world leading up to the world war and a mind-blowing demonstration of exactly why the war began. The phrase about this war that I remember from school was "like lighting a match in a tinderbox." The video made that phrase abundently clear.

Through video, artifacts and interactive displays we learned about the contextual circumstances leading up to feelings of nationalism and power. We saw what it was like to be “in the trenches” with the Germans, the English and the French. Because they had time and inclination to establish their lines of defense, the German’s definately had the best end of that deal. We learned first-hand how big of a hole a mortar shell can blow into the landscape by standing in a life-size representation of one. And, each of us made a propaganda poster that we emailed to our home inbox.

We all enjoyed going through this museum and each of us found something to stir our interest. Sam enjoyed examining the trenches up close and personal that he had been reading about in school. Isaac enjoyed walking into the representation of the crater created by the mortar shell. Ross enjoyed seeing the weapons and tools used in trench warfare – mountable wire cutters and other things he had never seen or thought about before. And Brenda finally got to see an actual, factual Oscar up close which had been donated to the museum by the family of Gary Cooper.

The tickets are for two days and, if you are a military buff, you could definitely spend that walking through the halls of this wonderful museum. For us, it was a terrific explanation of why wars begin and a reminder of the need to avoid them if at all possible. Hanging like a spector in the final gallery was a poster and quote from Adolf Hitler vowing revenge for the defeat of the first conflict.

At one particular display and explanation of gas masks and the use of poisionous gas as a weapon in the first war there was a quote from a surviving soldier describing what it was like to watch a green, wispy cloud take shape and slowly, casually bring its promise of death your way. "You just hoped that your gas mask was tight enough," said the young soldier. The National World War I museum displays are real, educational, and disturbing. It is a “must see” in the Midwest.

Our tickets included a trip up to the top of the tower to view the city from its observation area at the top. The elevator was the old fashioned, gated kind with an operator directing the number of passengers and spouting jokes that seemed a little out of place after our earlier experience. We reached the top and exited into an extremely narrow space crowded with people and assaulted by high winds which threatened to remove every single piece of unattached paraphernalia we had. We made a quick trip around the circle, peeked over the edge while holding on to our glasses and sunglasses and headed right back down.

After that, we headed north up Grand street, past Crown Center and towards the Missouri River to the City Market and Steamboat Arabia museum. After a walk around the perimeter of shops offering everything from hot dogs to Ethiopian cuisine, we landed at Carollo's Groceria Italiana - an authentic Italian deli. We ate inside the store lined with shelves of things that we didn’t recognize and didn’t know how to use – including a barrel full of octopus tentacles labeled "Octopus Salad" ready to dish up and take home.

After lunch, we walked to the museum and bought our tickets just as a tour was ready to go. We followed Greta, our tourguide, down into the basement of the museum. Greta was an animated guide who told the story of the Steamboat Arabia and how it sank using her entire body. She was passionate about the story and kept the boys trained to her speech – which is a coup in itself. She engaged several of the children on the trip, using one young man in front of us to open the tour rope and, as expected, noticed Isaac's freckles and offered to count them.

From the story of how the Arabia sunk and how it was discovered, we moved into a theater and watched a movie made by the family. After the movie none other than Bob Hawley, patriarch of the family of explorers who dug up the Arabia, showed up to talk to our group a little before we headed into the museum of treasures.

And then we walked into what Greta called an 1800’s Walmart of supplies that were found on the steamboat. The display is nothing short of incredible. The Hicks family is used to seeing things like we saw on display. But, normally there is only one in the case – and it is chipped, broken, bent or incomplete in some way. Behind these cases were rows and rows of plates, glassware, silverware, knives, jars of pickles, doorknobs, key rings, boots, hats, shoes, pipes, tools, buttons – everything you could think of that might be headed to the furthest reaches of the United States in 1856 to be sold to the settlers who were heading west.

According to Bob and Greta, only 75% of what the group uncovered is on display. They are still restoring and preparing the other 25% of the treasures for the museum. The museum also contains a life size replica of one of the water wheels, a demonstration of how the steamboat was powered, the snag that sank the ship, a piece of the boat's deck, and the bones of the only casualty on the trip – a mule that was left tethered to the hold and was unable to escape.

It is difficult to describe the impression a person has walking in and amongst the cases and cases of items on display. Many of the items were things that are one of a kind – things that only exist in pictures or through writing – that were perfectly preserved in the mud and silt of the Missouri for 100 years. If you are in the area, go. It is worth the price of admission.

After the Arabia museum, we went back toward the Plaza to end the day zipping through the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Fine Art. I'm pretty sure that Mom was the only person who enjoyed this little trip into culture. There were a few moments of giggling around some of the statues that according to Isaac were "inappropriate."

But, maybe someday, the boys will remember that they were able to see a Monet, a Renoir, a Van Gogh and a Remington. There was an Egyptian mummy on display that interested the boys for about two seconds longer than anything else. I did also get a slight response from an oil painting depicting the scene of the beheading of John the Baptist. Other than that, we were in and out in about an hour and a half. A world record, I’m sure.

We topped off the day eating at one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas cuisine - Fritz's Union Station. There is a spin off of the original spot located in Crown Center, but we were topping off a day of seeing LOTS of originals -- so we traveled to the first location off of the North 18th Street exit off of I-70. It was an older section of Wyandotte County, but our quest paid dividends as we were almost the only patrons in the place for dinner.

Due to a shortage of waitresses and labor, the original owner set up a restaurant where you order by phone at your booth, and your meal is delivered by train. The ladies serving behind the counter immediately gave the boys paper engineer hats -- having a little fun with the length of Sam's hair. We ordered our burgers and fries and watched in fascination as a little blue engine quickly sped from the kitchen to our table carrying our meal. The meal which had been packed into a shelf-paper lined hamburger box slid quickly on to a silver elevator tray and descended to our table. The ticket which had been artfully arranged on the train dislodged in this whole operation and floated to the tabletop like a paper airplane caught in the wind.

After we ate our hotdogs, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese and Fring (fries and onion rings), it was back to Lawrence and the hotel where Mom enjoyed a quiet hour or two alone in the hotel room while Dad took the boys to the pool. He returned with two wet, exhausted but happy boys and stories about how at one time he counted 40 kids jumping in, out and around the pool area. I think I picked the right night to be the Hicks off duty lifeguard.

Journal - Topeka

Today we somehow managed to get all the benefits of the Field Trip season, with none of the problems. It was an early morning after a late arrival at the hotel last evening. We woke in time to eat some breakfast out of the back of the trunk, check out and still make a 9:00 a.m. reserved tour at the Capital building.

For those of you who don’t know, the Kansas state capital is undergoing an extensive renovation project. Although the results are definitely worth it, the construction did make the trip to the capital a little underwhelming. It is decreed that we will have to go back in 2012 when it is finished. But, all things considered, the tour was about the best it could be given the circumstances.

We parked in the brand new underground garage with plenty of space and plenty of time to spare for our tour. As we arrived at the visitor’s desk after maneuvering a maze of hallways and tunnels, we discovered that we were the ONLY 9:00 a.m. tour requestors of the day. Not only that, but the tour guide that showed up to escort us around the building was none other than Larry, the singing tour guide.

Larry, a retired music and social studies major from Baker University – the other Methodist College in Kansas – was a terrific and engaging leader. I have benefited from Larry’s talents before on other trips through the capital and I was excited to see that he would be guiding our boys through the capital today.

He showed us the murals that were visible as we wound around the construction walls that completely blocked the rotunda. In fact, the only view that we had of the rotunda was through a 3 foot by 4 foot window on the second floor. But Larry kept us entertained by sprinkling his historical facts with songs from the various periods represented by the art and symbols throughout the first two floors.

We listened as he sang a cowboy song in front of the mural showing the cattle trade on the Santa Fe Trail. We listened with fascination as he sang “John Brown’s Bones” – the song that inspired the infamous “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” We listened as he sang a song for a visiting Russian dignitary to Kansas. And, we joined him in singing a Hicks family version of “Home on the Range” in the corridor between the rotunda and the House side of the capital.

Larry was informative and entertaining. If you are lucky enough to be on one of his tours through the capital, you will enjoy the experience and leave with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. He is a living example of a person who is using his God given talents and interest to put a unique stamp on an otherwise traditional profession. Thank you Larry! You done good.

The boys enjoyed the ride in the old fashioned elevator that was featured in the movie Truman. Mom enjoyed seeing the refurbished copper finishing on the main staircase, Dad enjoyed viewing the newly uncovered marble that had been painted over in the house and senate chambers, and we all enjoyed the newly uncovered use of the skylights and additional skylights added to the office area in the basement. On Larry’s suggestion, we decided to go through the tunnel to the Docking building on the west side of the capital. As we were walking through the tunnel, a helpful employee gave us a valuable tip. Apparently, if you ask nicely at the security desk of the Docking building, they will give you a key to the observation deck on the 12th floor. From this area, you can view the entire city. That was a fun and unexpected adventure that put a perfect bow on a beautiful morning.

As we walked out, we noticed three field trip groups gathered around three of the murals on the first floor. We got out just in time with our peace intact.

After the capital it was on to the Kansas Museum of History. Again, we pulled in to the parking lot just as two school busses pulled out. To top that off, we hit the museum between two school tour groups, so the docents working the museum that morning were still located within the building as we walked through.

We only experienced two of the volunteers, but we had a great time talking with them about all the ways that the plains Indians would use the buffalo – otherwise known as the “Indian Supermarket.” One of the volunteers had a cart full of buckskin, a buffalo robe, tools made from bones and gourds, arrowheads and spearheads, fly swatters made of buffalo tails and a deer hide drum.

The second docent, obviously a retired history professor, talked to the boys at length about life on the Oregon Trail. He was engaging and did a terrific job of making the experience come alive for the boys.

Though small, this museum is packed with a terrific, personal view of Kansas history. The full-size train that you can walk through is a highlight as well as the parade of average household items from the 20’s through the 80’s in the modern section of the gallery. There is a replica of a mobile diner and a life size version of a grass hut, teepee and Conestoga wagon.

A special exhibit called “The Need for Speed” was occupying the traveling exhibit area with several interactive options including a quiz connecting popular songs about cars with events in Kansas and a “What Kind of Car Are You” quiz to determine how fast of a car fits your personality. All in all it was a fun cap to the morning.

After that it was lunch at Jason’s Deli and an early afternoon visit to the Combat Air Museum and Air Reserve Museum at Forbes Field.

This, I must confess was the least favorite part of Mom’s day. Although I enjoy looking at military aviation history, I am only moderately interested in the details of artillery, gunships and warfare. But, I submit that I am in the minority in my family and, as such, must “suck it up” occasionally and endure trips through this kind of an experience. The boys, on the other hand, were circling like moths to a flame.

The museum is comprised essentially two aircraft hangers with tanks, Cobra’s Huey’s anti-aircraft missiles, bombers, fighters, spy planes and army helicopters. I will say that the most impressive thing that Mom saw was the Heavy Lift Sky Crane Helicopter. I have never come up close and personal with a helicopter that large. It was definitely an impressive sight to see.

The other interesting part of the museum for me was a series of letters written to a local woman about her son – a soldier who was missing in action during World War II. She kept all of the official correspondence sent to her over the 18 months that her son was missing – cumulating in his discovery and final note from her son written on the back of a Camel cigarette cover.

In addition, there was a very cool exhibit on the Titan II missile silos that were peppered throughout the state – including one just off Highway 160 near Winfield. Destroyed now and backfilled into oblivion, how cool if a person could have turned something like that into a home. The guy working the gift shop said that some people have – a home of merely some 9,000 square feet that must be continually heated throughout the year. Apparently, the army did keep one intact for a museum that is located near Tucson, AZ. Sounds like a good reason to return to the Southwest to me!

After that, we headed to Lawrence for an early evening of relaxing in the Holiday Inn Holidome. The boys enjoyed the pool, Dad took a nap and Mom read her library books by the pool after a quick 18 holes of mini-golf. Then it was a nice, quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant and an early evening in bed watching Men In Black – a great first day of what promises to be a wonderful vacation.

Journal - Day 2

Music. It inspires the soul. It allows the body to feel. It speaks when words cannot. Music is how we began this vacation.

Our trip was kicked off by Isaac’s piano recital. He played two pieces – a fast, staccato one which he had memorized and a slower, lyrical one which was a duet with his piano teacher. Both pieces had him working on new skills. On the fast one, he had notes all over the keyboard and in some places had to cross hands to hit everything. The lyrical one had him working on phrasing, timing and rhythm. He performed extremely well and his parents were proud.

Everyone performing that evening did well. It was an impressive showcase of young and old talent and the best yet from Ann’s students. Ann Fell, his piano teacher, has a style that is focused on enjoying the music and minimizing the stress of the performance. She is relaxed and comfortable, attitudes which translate to her student’s fingers and composure. Even though the word “recital” is in the program, when you are with Ann and her students it feels more like an impromptu living room display of talent. She is a fantastic teacher.

After that it was back home to change, gas the car and get on the road. We traveled up I-35 to the Matfield Green Service stop where we got out, stretched our legs and had a late dinner at the McDonald’s inside. We also spent a little time at the Knute Rockne memorial – mostly because of the life size cutout of Knute that stands by the display. The boys noticed it on the way back from the bathroom and asked, “Who is this guy?”

A plane that Knute was on crashed near Bazaar, Kansas – a scant three miles north and east of the rest stop. The building, which doubles as a storm shelter in bad weather, documents the crash with a museum quality display of a piece of the plane and several panels describing the importance of Knute’s legacy to football. You can also play several recordings of Knute’s speeches, including the one featured in Rudy.

“And then we’ll go inside. And then we’ll go outside. And then we’ll go inside and outside and we’ll get ‘em on the run boys!”

I don’t know how many times my Dad has told me the story about the crash when we would stop here on the way home from some judging contest or vacation. I don’t know how many times that I’ve been through this rest stop on my various travels throughout the state. This was the first time I connected “the famous guy who crashed near Matfield Green” to the famous and beloved coach of Notre Dame who forever changed the game of football.

Because of the time and date, the rest stop was nearly empty except for us, a couple of businessmen and some truckers. It was peaceful. And we enjoyed taking a break from the road to enjoy each other for about 30 minutes – the Hicks’ secret ingredient to traveling happily in the car with children.

Perhaps it was Knute’s memorial, perhaps it was the night sky, perhaps it was the peace of driving through the quiet Flint Hills – but we did a little remembering of our own on the next stretch. Sam took over the radio with his IPod wanting to share his Newsboys album with the rest of the family. He carefully hooked it up and arranged the music on shuffle for the fullest enjoyment. When “Shine” was queued, the words and music transported us to thoughts of the great lady who left our family this past October.

We talked about Grandma Cress. We remembered her smile and her touch. We cried a little and held hands. And we thanked God together for giving us such a bright light to enjoy even for a short while.

Pretty soon, the cloudy horizon glowed orange with the lights of the Capital City. By the time we reached the first Topeka exit, both boys were sound asleep in the back seat. We maneuvered the car around the city to our hotel – the Candlewood Inn and Suites just off of I-70 and checked in around 11:00 p.m.

The Candlewood Inn is a favorite of business travelers and of yours truly. Every room comes with a kitchen, spacious bathroom and the softest sheets your feet have ever touched for the price on the road. There is no continental breakfast offered here in the morning and no pool, but when all you need is a bed and a comfortable, quiet place to recharge away from home, this hotel is a terrific answer.

We wasted no time picking bed partners, getting changed and hopping in to enjoy some soft sheets and a little shut eye before our big day exploring the city of Topeka.