National WWI Museum

NOTE:  This blog is part of the "1980 Buick LeSabre Road Trip - October 2011 Series".  Branelle and I flew up to Minnesota and drove back to Texas in her grandmothers 1980 LeSabre, a gift from her parents and Nana.  We took about a week getting back because, as I reminded Nel on a number of occasions, "sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination".

National WWI Museum

After visiting the Federal Reserve Bank in KC, we headed literally across the street to the National World War I Museum.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that even though I have visited KC before, and the museum has been here in some form since 1926, I wasn't even aware it existed before we planned this trip.  The outside is quite spectacular.  It's technically called "National WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial", with the memorial being the 217-foot Liberty Tower that rises above KC.  The place opens at 10am, but we were done at the Fed by about 9:30 so we walked around the outside to kill some time (and took the opportunity to take some pics of the still fantastic running Buick in front of the memorial).

The mighty LeSabre in front of the museum.

"In honor of those who served in the World War in defense of liberty and our country"

The actual museum is entered through what seem like bunker doors underground.  We were extremely surprised by how big and nice the inside of the structure is.  Entry through the bunker doors gets you into a corridor where you can buy tickets for the museum itself.  We did so, and then hit the "Over There Café" since Nel hadn't had any coffee yet this morning.

Breakfast at the "Over There Cafe".

To walk into the museum, you first cross the Paul Sunderland Bridge - basically a massive glass floor that spans a field of 9,000 poppies.  Each poppy represents 1000 combatant deaths during WWI - if you're doing the math, that's over 9 million.  Why poppies?  The battlefields of Europe during the war became desolate wastelands with virtually no vegetation, but every spring the poppies would rise out of the muck to dot the landscape with little reddish orange flowers.  This occurrence was immortalized by a Canadian lieutenant colonel named John McCrae in a poem entitled "In Flanders Fields".  This poem has been memorized by schoolchildren in Europe for decades.

A poor effort at photographing the poppies under the glass bridge.

After entering the actual museum, you watch a 12-minute film which does a pretty good job of offering insight into the events that led to the war.  Considering the lack of film footage from the early 1900's, it's very well done.  The next halls cover artifacts and history of the war from 1914-1917, prior to America entering.  They have an amazing collection of artillery, uniforms, etc., and some interactive sections including mock ups of a trench you can walk through. 

The artifacts are amazing.  We were pretty much alone in the place since it was early on a weekday morning and I was climbing all over everything - sitting in tanks and artillery - before I noticed the museums rather subtle way of posting "Do Not Touch" - oops.

 

When you leave the last hall of this section of the museum, you enter the Horizon Theater.  They show a 15-minute program about Americas decision to enter the war.  It's a very cool theater with some impressive artifacts (even a plane) that are part of the show.  When you finish the program, you enter the section of the museum that covers 1917-1919, the years of American involvement until the end of the war.  There's a giant crater with actual debris from a building destroyed by artillery and a lot more to see and do.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves but we didn't do everything.

When we had finished with the museum, we headed up to the roof to take a ride up in the tower.  There's a guy who takes you up in an elevator and then you walk the rest of the way to the top via a very narrow stairwell.  It's not for the claustrophobic or acrophobic, but the view from the top is great.  There's nothing else to do up there but look at KC and take a few pictures, so we headed back down after a few minutes.

Probably the best view of Kansas City there is.

The stairwell atop the tower isn't long, but not for the faint of heart either.

 

The National WWI Museum is a surprisingly nice and well down place.  It does a fantastic job of telling a part of our nation's history that I fear most of my generation is just too young to know anything about.  I learned a lot, and I kind of thought I knew more than most about WWI already.  Nel agreed that it was a wonderful history lesson and should be visited by anyone in the KC area.  My only complaint is that while they do a very good job of educating in a chronological manner, they don't really finish the story.  They really need a third film covering the events that ultimately led to the end of the war and what happened immediately after.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

NOTE:  This blog is part of the "1980 Buick LeSabre Road Trip - October 2011 Series".  Branelle and I flew up to Minnesota and drove back to Texas in her grandmothers 1980 LeSabre, a gift from her parents and Nana.  We took about a week getting back because, as I reminded Nel on a number of occasions, "sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination".

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

After hitting all the bridges of Madison County, we headed out of the area in the early afternoon.  I didn't have anything planned for the rest of the trip because I wasn't sure how far we would make it each day.  Kansas City was the next major area so we got on-line and booked a reservation at the Q Hotel right in the center of the Old Westport District.  Q is one of those upscale, trendy places that calls itself a "green" hotel.  To be honest, I find these places annoying.  We headed out for some BBQ, KC style, and drove down to Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ - voted the "Best BBQ in the Country" by Zagats. 

The next morning we got up and headed out for some sightseeing before hitting the road.  Our first stop was the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.  I had never been to a Federal Reserve Bank before, and they have a free museum at this one called "The Money Museum".

 

The Fed was our first stop simply because they open at 8:30, much earlier than any of the other attractions we planned to visit.  There was NOBODY at the Fed museum when we arrived, but there was a contingent of the 99% idiots camping in a park right next to the place.  A sad collection of young hippies and old….well, hippies, the 99% folks promote class warfare (ironically, probably the primary cause of WWI - whose official museum sits on the other side of their camp and was our next stop).  They blame the wealthy for their lot in life.  I guarantee that if I had walked over to these ignorant fools and asked them a few questions, they would have never been able to articulate a coherent "reason" for their "revolution" - as sad as it is.  We don't have these idiots in Texas.

99% Idiots camped across from the Fed.

Look closely at this sculpture next to the Fed - See it?

The Money Museum itself isn't really much to see.  The security getting in is quite extensive, as you might imagine, and the place is pristine, there just isn't much there.  You can't take pictures in most areas, especially the section where you can view people actually working near the vaults.  They have robotic machines that carry totes of money in and out of the giant vault areas.  On a given day this bank will have about 160 billion on hand.  They have about 40 million stacked up against the wall (encased in glass of course) that you can stand next to in one of the halls. 

One day minions, one day.

 

There are a few interactive things to do and a lot of little artifacts to see, and they even have a small gift shop.  It's educational and free, so worth the stop if you're in the area.  You can’t spend too much time there - we probably only spent about 30 minutes or so - but you will learn quite a bit.  When we left there were busses of school kids arriving.  It probably makes for a quality educational field trip.

The Bridges of Madison County

NOTE:  This blog is part of the "1980 Buick LeSabre Road Trip - October 2011 Series".  Branelle and I flew up to Minnesota and drove back to Texas in her grandmothers 1980 LeSabre, a gift from her parents and Nana.  We took about a week getting back because, as I reminded Nel on a number of occasions, "sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination".

The Bridges of Madison County

So, when planning a road trip I try to find interesting things to see and do along the way.  To be perfectly honest, the route from Brainerd, Minnesota, to Houston, Texas, isn't really the most interesting one that Nel and I have attempted.  I knew the trip was coming quite a bit in advance, but I kept putting off planning any stops because I just wasn't finding anything that grabbed my interest.  Then, while flipping through some random web sites about Iowa, I realized that Madison County, of book and movie fame, was located just south of Des Moines.  I made a hotel reservation for our first night of the trip in Des Moines and started planning our Buick's bridge assault!

I have to admit that I had never seen the 1995 movie starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, and I had certainly never read the book.  That said, the title is so iconic that I couldn't resist the chance to get a few pics of our maroon Buick traversing the covered bridges from the film.

 

The town that the bridges (there are 6) are in and near is Winterset, Iowa.  Aside from being the third star of the movie, Winterset has one other claim to fame:  It is the birthplace of one Marion Robert Morrison - better known as Mr. John Wayne!  There's a little 4-room home that is now a museum and a statue, but it's not really much to look at to be honest.  We certainly stopped by though since we were in town.

The Duke...on a van...outside his birthplace.

The bridges are spread out all over the county.  I had planned a route that took us first to Hogback Bridge on our way into Winterset.  The county is very rural and mostly farms, so I shouldn't have been surprised when we turned off of Highway 169 that the road to the bridge was entirely gravel.  The car got filthy and was sliding all over the loose gravel so I had to take it a bit easy.  I had planned to take a picture of the Buick driving over each bridge (not really sure why - it just seemed like something fun and random to do).  Unfortunately, when we got to Hogback we discovered that you can no longer drive over the bridges at all.  They are simply tourist attractions now.

The LeSabre getting as close to Hogback Bridge as allowed.

Not as excited about "walking" over The Bridges of Madison County as I would have been about driving over them.

After Hogback, we headed west to Roseman Bridge.  Roseman was the primary bridge featured in the book and movie.  It's the first bridge visited by the two main characters and where their ashes are ultimately spread in the end (spoiler alert - a little late).  It’s actually a bit of a drive and the last 5 miles or so is all gravel, but it was also supposed to have a nice gift store right next to it.  We found the bridge, but the gift store was closed so we took our pictures and headed into Winterset.

Roseman Bridge.

Inside Roseman.  The reason the bridges were "covered" was to protect the very expensive timbers used for the floor.

It was about lunch time and I had read that the Northside Café, which had been in town since 1876, had been in an important scene from the film so we headed into town and, after a quick stop at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum, we grabbed a booth for lunch.  The food was terrible, the service even worse, but it was kind of fun.  There was an old hat hanging on the rack connected to our booth.  Having never seen the movie, I wondered if it was left by Eastwood as a gift to the café or something.  I asked our waitress about it and she said "No.  Someone just left that here one day and no one's ever done anything with it".  Oh well.

Wondering if that hat belonged to Clint Eastwood...and where our waitress was.

A Northside Cafe drive-by.  Big pimpin up in the I to the O to the WA!

After lunch we drove up to Cedar Bridge and were pleasantly surprised to find that we could actually drive over this one.  The reason is undoubtedly because this bridge was actually burned down by an arsonist in 2002 and was rebuilt in 2004.  I was way more excited about this than I should have been.  I made Nel jump out and shoot me entering the bridge and then run across and shoot me coming out of the bridge.

Cedar Bridge - one I can actually navigate the maroon land yacht across.

Emerging victorious in my quest to traverse a bridge in the Buick.

Next it was back into town to the Winterset City Park where the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge is located.  The bridge was really nice and the park itself was surprisingly nice for such a small town.  They even had a hedge maze.  Of course we played in it.

Cutler-Donahoe Bridge.

Hedge maze - always fun.

We headed east out of town to the Holliwell Bridge next.  It's more gravel roads to get there, but it's on the way to I35 so it was OK.  Holliwell isn't the prettiest location of the six (the bridges themselves all kind of look alike) so we just snapped our picture and took off.

Holliwell Bridge - not the best one, but it was in the movie. 

The final bridge is actually located in the town of St. Charles right off of I35.  It's called Imes Bridge and is located in a small city park.  There was an older couple there trying to take pictures so we jumped in and gave them a hand. 

Imes Bridge - quest complete!

 

Mission complete!  All six "Bridges of Madison County" seen and photographed.  The bridges themselves aren't really all that interesting, and if you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all.  It was fun though.  It was kind of like a "bridge scavenger hunt".  They weren't as easy to find as you would imagine in a small town.  I was curious about the movie after completing our quest, so when we got to Wichita Falls I asked my mom if she had the movie.  She didn't, but she went out and bought it and we watched it.  It's TERRIBLE!  I love Clint Eastwood, so I hate saying this, but it was really one of the worst movies I've ever sat through.  Slow, pointless, sad, poorly acted (Streep was nominated for Best Actress for this one - crazy) and not even remotely interesting.  The bridges are more entertaining than the movie!

Barten Family Pumpkins

NOTE:  This blog is part of the "1980 Buick LeSabre Road Trip - October 2011 Series".  Branelle and I flew up to Minnesota and drove back to Texas in her grandmothers 1980 LeSabre, a gift from her parents and Nana.  We took about a week getting back because, as I reminded Nel on a number of occasions, "sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination".

Barten Family Pumpkins

www.bartenpumpkins.com

Hanging out in my first pumpkin patch with Nel.

The first leg of our trip took us from Brainerd, MN, south to the little town of New Prague, just outside of Minneapolis.  Nel's entire family was heading there for the baptism of Nel's nephew Paul.  Nel's sister-in-law Gina, and her entire family, are from New Prague and still own and operate a family farm there.  The primary crop seems to be pumpkins, and each fall they open their 'pumpkin patch' to everyone through the entire month of October.  The Saturday we arrived in New Prague they were hosting one of their "Family Fun Days" with pony rides (too small for me I was told), hay rides, face painting and caricatures, and more.  When we arrived, the traffic directors (dressed in orange - all family members) guided us to a parking lot.  There were hundreds of people there enjoying the afternoon and festivities.

I was hoping to use my family connections to score a primo parking spot for my new ride, but was ushered to the "public" lot instead.

I had never been to a legit pumpkin patch before.  It was interesting.  The pumpkins were arranged to a degree by size and there was an honor system for paying - very cool - so when no one is around on the less crowded days you could just walk up, pick your pumpkins, put your money in the box, and go.  I really didn't want to buy any pumpkins to lug back to Texas, but Nel insisted on grabbing a couple of very little ones.  They actually call the small one's "pie pumpkins" - apparently they're better for cooking. 

Guarding the Twinkie's pumpkins.

We hung around and visited with Gina's family as well as little Paul and even took a hay ride out into the actual 'patch'.  All in all it was a really neat day.  One of the more interesting things I got to do was walk on simple wooden stilts.  I've never even seen these things before, but I understand that they were common up north for kids growing up. 

Stilts - Surprisingly entertaining!

Enjoying the shade - it was surprisingly warm for Minnesota in October.

I believe it was Beulah Buick's (that's what we took to calling her) first trip to a pumpkin patch as well.

Pumpkin = $5 - Ari = free.  It's OK, we have another one.

We headed out to the home of one of Gina's sisters (or brothers - I'm not sure to be honest) for a BBQ that night.  It was very nice of them to include us in their family events for the weekend.  After dinner we headed to our hotel in the equally small town of Belle Plaine (both the hotels in New Prague were full - wedding) just up the road.  The next morning we headed to a small Catholic church in New Prague for the baptism.  I'm never really 100% sure what to do in Catholic services.  I feel a little lost to be honest - kind of like I'm the only one who doesn't know what to do and when to do it.  I usually just try to mirror the members with as little delay as possible.  It was a very nice service and the baptism was equally nice.  Paul, to his credit, handled it well.  Branelle is the Godmother and she also handled her duties without issue. 

Baptism.

After the service we were graciously invited back to the farm for brunch before hitting the road.  We had a not particularly ambitious goal of Des Moines that evening, which was only about 230 miles, and the old Buick made it without any issues at all. 

Made it to Iowa - outside the Visitor's Center.

Dock Party - Don't Fall For It!

Branelle and I flew up to Minnesota yesterday.  Nel is going to be the Godmother to her brother’s first son Paul and the baptism is being held on Sunday in New Prague, MN.  On the surface, this sounds like a simple and quick trip up north – too simple in my opinion – so to spice it up a bit we have made plans to road trip back to Texas in a 1980 Buick LeSabre!

Back story:  Last year during a visit, we were checking out Nels’ grandmother’s home (she doesn’t live there anymore) and I noticed a car just sitting in the garage.  It was a 1980 Buick LeSabre, the two-door model in a rather 80s maroon color with equally 80s maroon interior.  Always one to find nearly every car interesting, I inquired about it to Nel’s mom.  “What’s the deal with that old Buick?”  Her reply:  “You want it?”  Before Nel could scream her objections, I said “yes”.  We decided to drive it back to Texas at some point – sort of a fun road trip through Middle America.  That “point” is NOW!

Nel waiting for our ride at the airport.

We got into Minneapolis yesterday and Mrs. C picked us up at the airport and drove us back to Brainerd.  We spent the day hanging out with Nel’s brother Greg, his wife Gina, and their new boy Paul.  I played with Bubbles while Mr. C took the group out on a quick boat trip – which turned into a long boat trip due to a break down requiring a rather lengthy walk back to the dock.  Later that night (after some attempts at outboard motor repair by Mr. C and me) we all headed out to dinner at BWWs.

Playing with Bubbles - Stick, rock, or snowball - it's all the same to her.

We decided to go pick up the car today.  A local mechanic named Kelly had made sure it was road worthy for our rather lengthy trip.  It fired right up (much to Branelle’s chagrin – she was hoping it wouldn’t run).  We drove across the street to an auto parts store where I bought a couple quarts of oil and a few other items just to be safe and when we came out it started right up again.  Our next stop was a trip through the car wash – the old Buick had about a 10 year layer of dust on it. 

Our new Burgandy Bomber - pre wash.

After the car wash we drove around the block to Fleet Farm to pick up a few more trip essentials such as a small took kit and licorice (Nel doesn’t think it’s a road trip without Red Vines).  When we came out of the store the fun started.  The car wouldn’t start.  It seemed to be the battery, but unfortunately I couldn’t get the hood to open to check anything.  I went back in to Fleet Farm and talked to someone in their automotive department about getting a jump.  He came out and we figured out how to open the hood (a two person job with one lying on the ground under the car) and then jumped the car and drove it back to Nel’s parents’ house.  It was dead as a door nail when we got there.  I decided to jump that car again and take it back to the mechanic hoping it just needed a battery.  It turned out that it needs a new alternator.  Surprisingly (sarcasm) there isn’t an alternator for an ’80 LeSabre anywhere in Brainerd, MN.  They found one and will have it tomorrow morning, along with hood struts (so I won’t have to climb under the car in the unlikely – sarcasm again – event that I need to open the hood on our trip). 

I was invited to a Dock Party for the rest of the afternoon.  A little tip:  If you’re ever invited to a dock party in Minnesota, DON’T GO – it isn’t the same thing as it is in Texas!  I get invited to Dock Parties all the time back home by our boating friends.  Usually the only question is “do I need to bring anything?”  The answer is usually “maybe drinks or something to eat.”  The answer to that question here is “waders and a crescent wrench.”

Getting the Dock Party rolling!

The Dock Party Mr. C invited me to was the removal of the docks from the water for winter.  For all my Texas friends:  in Minnesota they actually have to remove the boats and docks from the water every year because the lakes freeze over.  I know, I was surprised too.  Mr. C, Greg, and I spent an hour or so removing the dock sections from the water and stacking them on the shore.  The boats aren’t coming out until next week (so I got out of that one).  It wasn’t that bad.  They gave me waders because I think the lake is basically just a big glass of ice water, even in the middle of summer.  We also floated the lift for the Glastron out about 30 yards or so.  Now you basically need a boat to get to your boat.

Party over.