Kansas City MO...a beautiful city and home to Hallmark Cards

KC is a beautiful city in of itself.  Downtown skyscrapers mix with beautiful old buildings like their 1914 Union Station.  Courthouse and City Hall with statues playing homage to Abraham Lincoln, mansions dating back to the 1800's and Jazz.  I just love all the history and the architecture that shows it.  Driving around a city is one of my favorite things to do.

 KC is the home of the greats like Charlie Parker and Count Basie with music styles of the blues, New Orleans Jazz, ragtime, big band, swing, stride and Bounty Music.  18th & Vine was the center of all this, and still is.  Besides keeping Jazz "live" with nightly performances, they have the American Jazz Museum that by day it shares the wealth of history and by night it's the "Blue Room" where they play live Jazz along with storytelling and poetry.  We struck out in trying to get into any of these while we were there, unfortunately, as they weren't open on the nights we were there.  All we managed to do is drive the neighborhood and dream.  We will just have to come back again, and time it better!

Downtown KC also has revitalized their Historic City Market to include various shops and restaurants, that includes the wonderful Winslow's BBQ.  We were told that Winslow's was the best BBQ in all of KC - so, of course we had to check it out!  Well, they weren't lying, it was GREAT!  My personal preference still puts the Memphis TN BBQ as number one, but boy, this was a close second.  Yum!  We also have discovered another treat out here, and that's Frozen Custard.  This stuff makes Ice Cream seem armature.  It's so much more creamy, smoother and satisfying.  California, your really missing out on this wonderful dessert!  (please don't tell Jenny Craig my new addition)

A big surprise was finding out that KC is the home of Hallmark Cards!  What a delightful experience visiting their Visitor Center.  There was so much to see and listen to, I came back the next day too!  Granted, partly because Jack was enjoying the WWI National Museum, and that's not my cup of tea.  I LOVED this place!  Of course I have been a fan of Hallmark Cards for many years, and who doesn't just love Maxine?  It was evident throughout the exhibits what a great company this is.  It's a family owned company that was started by 18 year old Joyce C. Hall, who, with his box of postcards, started the business back in 1910.  He later brought his brothers into the business to help him keep up with the success.  It's stayed in the family all these years.  It was first called "Hall Brothers Cards" before they decided to change it to Hallmark.  He cared for his employees from the vary beginning by offering things like car pooling and day care, long before it was ever popular to do so.  How cool was that?  His employees cared for him back, by sharing their creative skills in an annual Christmas Tree (each year a different theme) and a special painting created just for him.

They also showcase some of the original artwork done by Saul Steinberg, Grandma Moses, Norman Rockwell and Sir Winston Churchill.  They played all their commercials on TV; as I sat and watched I teared up just like I do when they come on now!  Of course they showed samples of their cards as well as their awards that their TV show The Hallmark Hall Of Fame received.  I could go on and on, like I did those two afternoons, but I will spare you, and just offer some of the many pictures I took!
A sweet place.

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

 ...kicking back in KC, Marie

Memphis Tennessee - "Home of the Blues"

You can't love music, especially Jazz, Blues and Rock & Roll, and not want to go to Memphis where "it all began!" Legends like Al Green, BB King, Jerry Lee Lewis and of course the king himself, Elvis, all came out of Memphis. Downtown Beale Street is known for being where "the birth of the blues" and all R&B was played, and still is. So, that's where we went just as soon as we got ourselves settled in at "Tom Sawyer's RV Park" (don't 'cha just love the name?)

We were told that they were having a "Street Fair" that day, so when we got there around 11:30am we expected to see a huge crowd of people, nope. The street was blocked off, but found a parking spot just around the corner, a few vendors were just starting to set up in the park, but there really wasn't any people or music or "anything" happening! We did find a band playing in the park so sat and listened to them for awhile, they were good, then started on up the street. When we got to BB King's Club there was a host out front who said live music would be playing around noon. I trotted up to him and told him we had heard there would be a street fair today, and he said, "oh yea, it starts at noon." "Noon? Wow, ours in CA usually start early in the morning around 9am." He asked what time did they end and I told him around 4pm, that's when he shook his head and said, theirs doesn't end until midnight! "Oh my! I see you all like to party, that's why it starts late and ends late!" In actuality, I think they don't start early on Sundays because of church, that's very important around here.

Anyway, the "other thing" Memphis is known for is Bar-B-Que!! UmmMmm! We had heard about one restaurant named the Blues City Cafe. It had been featured on the Travel Channel & on the Food Network's Bobby Flay Show, so I was ready to give it a try!

We were greeted by their host, who looked to be about 75 yrs, a very thin black man with dreads kept up in a multi-colored cap. I leaned in and said in a low voice, "rumor has it, you all have the best BBQ in all of Memphis, is that true?" He said "yes ma'am, and cat fish too!" Everyone was right! It was outstanding, you just touched it with your fork and it fell off the bone, so juicy and tender and full of flavor. Hardly any "sauce" on it, and I didn't dare ask for any in case it would be taken as an insult, but in truth, it really didn't need any. I guess that's what REAL BBQ is supposed to be like.

So, when we left, he asked me if they had "passed the test" and I told him "absolutely! No lying going on here!" He said "Of course not, he's taste-tested every item!" I asked him if I would stay as slim as him if I did the same, he just twinkled his eyes at me as smiled and said "no promises." ;-)

Beale Street still has it's many night clubs, and they have added some "museums & tours" around the area on everything from Gibson Guitars to Rock & Roll. There was one we went to that was interesting and that was the "Pink Palace". It was the home of Clarence Saunders, founder of Piggly Wiggly, the first self-service grocery store. It was "pink" due to the color of the Georgia granite that he had shipped in to build it with. Unfortunately, due to a lost New York Stock Exchange battle, he went bankrupt and never moved into his home. He ended up giving it to the city on the condition that they use it for a museum. Kind of sad, really. Beautiful museum now though.














































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...kicking back in Tennessee, Marie

New Orleans Part 2: Music, Music, Music!

Jack and I both love music, and live music is the best! So, when people said to us "you ARE staying for the Festival, aren't you?" We decided we should, if we could. When the small FQ RV Park we were staying in actually had an available space for us, we took it as a good omen and booked it. And we're glad we did!

French Quarter Festival celebrated it's 29th year as the largest free music festival in the South. A record 22 music stages throughout the French Quarter presented the best in New Orleans music, representing every genre from traditional and contemporary jazz to R & B and New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, classical, cabaret, opera, Cajun Zydeco, Latin World, International, as well as a musical stage for children. They had over 800 local musicians, over 250 hours of free music and over 500,000 festival goers. Of course, throughout all these areas were food & beverage vendors (very good & very reasonable too) to keep everyone healthy. Did I say this was big? You bet! And FUN!!

We mostly like Cajun/Zydeco and traditional Jazz. The first two days were from 11-6 with only 5 stages having 5 groups at each stage. The weekend they expanded to their full hours of 11-9 with the 22 stages and varying the number of groups playing at each stage. All in all, we managed to listen to about 20 groups that we actually stayed and enjoyed (not counting the ones we stopped, listened to and said "not our taste" & moved on). Of course, the street performers were out in full force and of course, people watching was at an all time high in entertainment!

Here's just a few pictures of our many favorites, all the rest are in my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band














Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys















Charmaine Neville
















































The Festival ended our two week visit to New Orleans and we left the following morning. It felt kind of like one does right after you finished your Thanksgiving dinner, it was wonderful, but your to full to eat any more, and you have to back off from the table and just go rest. That's what we did when we drove to Natchez. It poured down rain (just like when we arrived in NOLA) for two days which gave us just the down time we needed before we began our "next adventure" - the Natchez Trace...

...on the road, Marie

New Orleans! Part 1 (Before the FQ Festival)

Finally! I feel like we've been trying to get here for forever. We found a great place just two blocks from the French Quarter, so we were able to walk back and forth as needed, which is a good thing. First day, once settled in, map in hand, we hit the streets to see what we could see. I hadn't been here in over 20 years, Jack, never. First thing I noticed was the change in the music! 20-30 somethings took over and brought in rock and turned the loud speakers all the way up! Yikes!! How could they do that to Bourbon Street? Rock can be played in every club throughout the US; it should not take over the ONE STREET KNOWN FOR JAZZ!! We found some, but we had to really go looking. We had spent some time with one of the great gals in the Visitor's Center, and she gave us a list of where the Jazz was played - thank goodness!! Sad tho that we would need a map and a list in the one town that used to be ALL ABOUT JAZZ.

We no sooner got back to the rig, when the sky opened up and decided to pour! Lightening, thunder, the whole works! At about 3AM, we decided our shade awning wasn't going to make it, so we threw on some clothes and braved the storm and brought it back in. We were quite a sight, two old f--ts wrestling this big awning in the cold, pouring down rain with the wind whipping it and us in every direction! But, we got it in successfully!!

It was still raining all the next morning, but Jack had reservations for a private tour of the WWII Museum that he had been really looking forward to, and a little rain wasn't going to slow him down! I, on the other hand, chose to hunker down and catch up on some chores and writing. By the late afternoon, the rain was gone, Jack was back and we were able to meet up with dear friends from San Diego for our first night on the town! Dinner at Pat O'Brian's and jazz at Preservation Hall - it doesn't get any more "traditional" than that!!

Our "routine" quickly adjusted to staying up late listening to music then sleeping in the next morning. We'd eat "brunch" in the rig then head into the French Quarter for the rest of the day & night. We quickly found our way around town with several clubs & restaurants becoming our favorites. We found out that it was the week before the French Quarter Festival, a 4-day free music fest that fills the entire FQ area with stages and bands from around the world. Because of this, several musicians come into town early to visit with their friends. They sit in the audience, and sometimes jam with the bands. We ended up meeting a couple of them, and becoming friends with one of them, a tuba player, Keith, from Modesto Ca of all places! Keith brought a group of music students there years ago, made friends with some of the musicians, and comes back (without students) every year at this time to visit and jam with the bands. Great guy, friendly, funny and fun. We kept bumping into him at several clubs we'd visit, I guess because we liked the same kind of music! Another character was an Austrian who played clarinet, and man, could he play! He would sing too, and add scat then add a yodel to it, which was hilarious! We could count on seeing him at Fritzel's, a great European Jazz Pub on Bourbon.

We jammed so much into these two weeks that I'm going to break them down into separate subjects, otherwise, this would become the "great American novel" and I don't think we are ready for that one just yet! ;-)


















































...kicking back in Louisiana, Marie