midwest road trip
Monday we got home from an 11-day road trip. We drove through Kansas to Missouri, up across a smidgen of Iowa, through Nebraska, and back home. Kansas City, MO is our old stomping grounds, and we have friends there whom we hadn’t seen in years. We made the trip to see them, and also to meet the new tenants of our little house (where we lived when we first got married, and where Zia was born). š
After the 11-hour drive, (and after sleeping) our first excursion was to Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead in Overland Park. I used to take Zia there when she was tiny, and it has expanded since we’ve been gone. The kids took pony rides, bottle-fed baby goats, hand-fed lots of animals, played on playgrounds, ran through the splash park, watched a goat’s hooves being trimmed (how come they never watch when I trim our goats’ hooves?) rode the tiny tractors, and had ice cream from the new ice cream parlor. It was “hand-scooped,” LOL. Well, whoop-ti-do. We’re in the real Mid-west now, folks–where they scoop their ice cream by hand! š
It took 3 1/2 hours to partake of all the glories of the farmstead, and it was roasting. Kansas City was like a sauna the entire time we were there. Oh how I love Colorado.
We spent time with our friends, including Javier (who David used to work with) and his family. We also saw Luke and Ricci, whose basement I rented when I was single; Will, who has been our good friend since before we were married; and Cindy, who was like our mama-away-from-home, and was at both Zia’s and Cash’s home births.
Seeing the people we love and miss was like a long, cool drink at an oasis in the desert. It has actually been a little lonely up in these mountains, even though I like to tell myself I’m not really a people-person, haha.
We drove out to Lawrence, KS about mid-week. I’ve never been there, but we were on a hunt for Birkenstock sandals for David, and I kind of wanted a new hippie dress. It’s a cool little college town, and we found the sandals and some sweet boho duds for me. There was a giant toy store the kids loved, and we had lunch at a little pizza joint. The pizza was humongous and the kids barely put a dent in their slices.
Saturday we left KC and headed to Nebraska, where our friends the Hosiers live. We had never been to their little farm, and it was amazing. They live in a 100+ year-old farmhouse, have three lambs, lots of chickens and ducks, guinea hens, two farm cats, and a dog. Zia and Cash had a blast with their four kids. Darci is one of my top two friends, LOL, and Chase is about that high on David’s list.
We hung out at their farm, went to the original Cabela’s with them, ate lunch together at another pizza place (where they served me the hugest salad I’ve ever seen in my life–and that’s saying a lot. I could only eat a layer off the top). We went to a local splash park where the kids played for hours, then back to the farm where we helped (sort of) with barn chores, egg-candling, and picking and preparing veggies for dinner with grass-fed beef steaks. Darci has a big garden that made me wish it wasn’t so hard to grow things where we live.
We drove back home both happy and sad, but very full and contented. It was so good to be away, but so good to come home, too–with enough memories to last us another seven years in the mountains, as David says. š
LOVE the pics and you all look like you enjoyed it so much….nice to see a pic of Darcy and kids! Looks like fun! Zia’s hair is so long and beautiful!
Had a great time with friends, farms, and ribs, glorious ribs!