This post covers our return to our house in St. Joseph, MO during February and March.

We left on February 26 and did the bonsai, two-day drive to our house in St. Joseph, Missouri. We arrived the next evening around 9 PM after driving for about 25 hours over the two days. It lightly snowed on us for the last hour of our drive, and started to snow harder as we exited the freeway and were a few miles from our house. That was not expected. We woke up to next morning to this weather comparison.

Fortunately, not much of the snow stuck overnight.

Even though it was freezing out, and we were tired from the drive, we braved the cold and loaded up on groceries. That evening, we had dinner at the Culver’s house. The next day, we all went out to The Den for drinks and music trivia night.

I had my usual favorite, the Aviator. It is a whiskey-based drink with a burning cinnamon stick garnish. The music quiz was very hard and we finished in the middle. Here is Cindy having our answers checked.

The Den is always link worthy, so check it out. We went home at a reasonable hour so we could get our beauty sleep for the weekend, which was the UCP Chili Cook off. We had to defend our 1st place booth from last year and hopefully improve in the chili category. Our theme was the Muppets with Scott and I dressing up as the grouchy Muppets in the balcony, Statler and Waldorf.

Clearly, we were close. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not. Here are some more pictures from our booth.

Once again, Cindy did an outstanding job designing our booth, and Heather and Machelle were a great help making Cindy’s vision come to life. We were obviously going to win first place in the booth category. When the awards were announced, here is our trophy.

Second place?!?! So, who beat us? A major sponsor who had store bought ballons.

I have to admit, I was not happy that a sponsor with store bought ballons beat us. We may not be back next year if this is how we will be treated. We put a lot of work and our personal money into this and if we have to compete with a sponsor with deep pockets, the effort is no longer worth it, charity or not. At least our chili fared much this year. We finished 20th out of 62 teams in the overall category, and 5th out of 12 teams in the All-Meat category. We have not decided yet if we are returning next year.

On this trip, we tried a new “adult beverage” place. It is called “Smooth Endings” and is a non-descript brick building.

It is a liquor store, with a cigar humidor, and a small bar in the back. On Tuesdays and Fridays, they have a taco cart that is outstanding with $2 tacos. This is really a hidden gem that earned a link. You know where to find it. On this visit, we were talking about a concert we will be seeing in May called Celebrate Neil Diamond, with a Neil Diamond tribute band. That made us break out singing, “Sweet Caroline.” The couple we had never met before at the table next to us joined in and sang with us. We all had a laugh and the woman told us it was her birthday, so we sang happy birthday to her. She then gave us the rest of her birthday cake, a lemon bundt cake. It was delicious. Only in the Midwest would you accept food from a stranger and eat and enjoy it.

The next day, we went to the Shriner’s Circus at the Civic Center. This is one of the Shriner’s big fund-raising events and was a fun evening. Before the circus, and during the intermission, they had pony and elephant rides on the main floor.

The circus itself was interesting.

The circus ended with the stereotypical man shot from a cannon. At first, I thought it was going to be cheesy. However, it was actually very exciting. See for yourself.

The next day, Scott and I headed out to the River Bluff Brewery for some delicious beer and a pinball tournament. Before I get on to the pinball, I have to say River Bluff earned a link you can find in the usual place.

There were 19 players in the tournament. The format was four players per machine, with one machine having three players. There were seven rounds and you switched pinball machines, and opponents, after each round. In each round, the first-place finisher received 4 points, second place received 2 points, third place received 1 point, and fourth place received no points. The top eight finishers were in the playoffs. Here are the machines we played on.

Scott and I were paired together in the first round on the “Venom” machine.

I finished second and Scott finished third. We were both happy to be in the points. From round two on, Scott had the worse luck I have ever seen playing pinball. Literally every ball would go down the middle or down one of the sides with very few points scored. This happens to all of us every once in a while, but every ball? I am not exaggerating. Scott ended up finishing 19th out of 19 players. So how did I do? See for yourself.

With 15 points, I was in a three-way tie for 7th. The problem was only eight players moved on to the playoffs. We had a one game tie breaker with the three of us in 7th. First and second place went to the playoffs, and third place went home. The machine was the Foo Fighters and three balls would decide the playoffs.

This was one of my favorite machines at the tournament, so I thought I had a chance. I was third in the rotation, which meant I would know exactly how many points I needed to finish in the top two. After the first two players finished their three balls, player 1 had around 75 million points, and player 2 had around 55 million points. I started my third ball with…………..around 8 million points. Easy right? Just score 48 million points on one ball. I figured my run was over and I just relaxed to enjoy my last ball of the tournament. 70 million points later, I finished in first. That was one crazy ball of pinball. I followed up that amazing feat by immediately losing in the first round of the playoffs, finishing 7th overall. Now I can’t wait for the next tournament.

The day before my birthday, Corrianne flew in from Texas to spend the week with us during her spring break. She brought a fantastic birthday gift. I am a huge fan of the tv show/cartoon Futurama. She had an artist use one of our family photos and draw it in the Futurama style. Here is the family photo and the artist’s drawing.

It was very well done and a great gift. For my actual birthday, we had plans for dinner with the Culvers, Broyles, and Corrianne, followed by some golf at a place similar to Top Golf. The dinner and golf were to take place in the north Kansas City area, about 35 minutes south of St. Joseph. All of our plans were cancelled when this warning came in on our phones.

Luckily, there were no tornados that night, but we had the most amazing lightning storm I have ever seen. It lasted about an hour and there was lightning every few seconds. I sat on the porch and watched it roll in until it was too close for comfort, then I went inside.

Clearly the gods were helping me celebrate my birthday with that light show. A few days later when the weather cleared up, Cindy, Corrianne, and I went to the downtown area for lunch at Q39, one of our favorite BBQ restaurants. Cindy and Corrianne split a plate of beef tips, pulled pork, BBQ chicken, and mac and cheese. I had the Ruben sandwich with fries. Neither meal disappointed. Was it link worthy? Absolutely.

Our next stop was at the Kansas City library. Cindy is compelled to see every library in the world and most of them are in very interesting buildings. This was no exception. Here is the outside.

The inside was just as impressive.

There was a rooftop terrace with a giant chess board and great views of the downtown area.

There was a building across the street that had some really interesting reliefs beneath the windows.

They also screen free movies in the Durwood Film Vault, an original bank vault converted into a 28-seat movie theatre. Most of the movies are from the early 2000’s, but they are free. The KC downtown library is worth a visit. Just use the link below. The next night, we returned to Smooth Endings for some delicious tacos.

The next day was the third annual birthday bar crawl in downtown St. Joseph. This year it was on the same day as the downtown St. Patrick’s Day parade, which was also the same day as the animal shelter’s St. Pittie’s Day fund raiser at River Bluff Brewery. The obvious choice for us was to brave the crowds and start our pub crawl at River Bluff and support the animal shelter by buying some t-shirts. This year’s lineup was Cindy, Corrianne, Scott, Heather, Bobby, Machelle, and of course me.

There was live music and delicious beer.

We had a table near the large front windows and were able to watch the parade as it went by.

After the parade, we started our pub crawl by walking across the street to the brand new Parkway Distillery. It was so new, they were not officially open yet. It was a kind of open house with t-shirts for sale where they explained what they are going to be doing when they open in the late spring or early summer. It sounded interesting and we will definitely be giving them a try. Stop number two was at the St. Joe Cookie Company, owned by our friends John and Janaha Anderson, who had joined us halfway through our very first pub crawl two years ago. St Joe Cookie Company not only sells cookies and baked goods, but has a delicious brunch on the weekends as well. Check it out by using the link they earned at the end of this post.

And they had big news. They had bought Angry Swede Brewing and would be moving the cookie company into the Angry Swede building, combining the two business. They were also changing the name to “The Provident,” in honor of the building’s past life as The Provident Savings and Loan in the 1920s. They have a lot of guts and we wish them well. They should be opening “The Provident” in June. We will be sure to visit upon our return in September. We continued on to Norty’s, which was very close to where the parade ended.

It seemed like every person from the parade, plus five of their closest friends, were there. We had a quick drink and were off again. Stop four was at Mokaska Coffee House, a coffee shop that happens to have a bar in it. How convenient.

Of course, we had to make a stop at one of our favorite bars, The Den. Guess what I had.

If you guessed “The Avaitor,” you were right. Cindy had the “Papa Don’t Peach,” a peachy kind of drink with a name like a Madonna song. Both drinks were up to the Den’s usual high standards. By this time we were all pretty hungry, so we popped into Boudreaux’s Louisianna Seafood and Steaks for some dinner. This is one of the better downtown restaurants.

We started with our usual appetizer of Fried Alligator, and it was delicious. I had the Super Jambalaya, which had seafood, chicken and sausage with a side of Dirty Rice. Cindy had the Pork Tender Medallions, which was marinated pork medallions served with a side.

Everyone really enjoyed their meals, and Boudreaux’s earned a link below. We were all satisfied as we headed off to our last stop at Club Geek. This is a really fun bar that has vintage video games at every table. We ended up at a table that had Ms. Pacman.

And that ended another successful birthday bar crawl. A few days after the bar crawl, I received a notification from Fedex that a package was delivered. Here is the picture to show proof of delivery.

It looks like they sent me proof the package was NOT delivered. In reality, the package was on the chair in the left of the picture. I’m not sure why the driver chose to take the picture he did and send it as proof of delivery, but I got a kick out of it. Once Corrianne flew home, Cindy surprised me with an overnight trip to Excelsior Springs. Excelsior Springs is an hour southeast from our house. It is known for its many natural mineral springs, which have been used for centuries for their healing properties. The famous Elms Hotel & Spa, which has been open since 1888, features a variety of luxurious spa treatments and mineral baths. The mineral baths are said to have a calming and therapeutic effect. We had a reservation at the Elms Hotel, but arrived well before check in time so we went into the downtown area and had lunch at the Willow Springs Mercantile. The main floor is a mercantile with a variety of items for sale. The cafe is in the basement and our table had a view of the Fish River that runs through town.

I had the Greek Veggie Wrap. It had several types of lettuces, tomatoes, olive tapenade,
marinated artichokes, onions, feta cheese, red wine vinaigrette and tzatziki sauce in a tomato tortilla. It was pretty darn good. Cindy had the Hot Ham and Cheese. It came on a ciabatta bun with homemade pimiento cheese, red onion, chipotle mayo and bacon. Cindy also had a side of Cowboy Cavier and chips. Cowboy Cavier is a mix of black beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, corn, shredded cheese, some oils and spices. It looked very strange, but tasted delicious. Overall, it was a very good meal. Because of the very good food and the interesting cafe, Willow Springs Mercantile earned a link. Use it to have your own interesting lunch experience.

After lunch, we walked down the street to the Hall of Waters, a historic building built in 1937 that used to be a type of “Water Bar” where you could drink different types of mineral water. It now houses the town’s Visitor’s Center and some city offices.

Here are some pictures from the inside.

Inside the Visitor’s Center was the bar where you could get any one of several different types of mineral water.

There was a pool in one of the lower floors, but it was abandoned several years ago when a flood came through and flooded the pool area.

Also on a lower floor, was a display of what the old “spa” looked like.

Overall, the Hall of Waters is well worth a stop. They would have earned a link, but they did not have a website. We walked through the downtown area back to our car.

It was still too early to check-in, so we visited Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site. Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site gives visitors a sense of life in the 1870s. The mill is the only 19th century textile mill in the United States with its original machinery still intact. In addition to the mill, there is the original Watkins home and several outbuildings, all of which have been meticulously preserved.

The mill and family house were not open for tours when we visited, so we toured the visitor center. Here are some of the displays.

Here is a diorama of the mill.

Even though we could not tour the house or mill, we could see them from the outside. We walked the several hundred yards to check them out. Here is the house and a few out buildings.

This is the mill.

The family cemetery was also on the grounds. These are always interesting and a bit creepy.

It was finally time to check-in to the historic Elm Hotel and Spa.

After getting settled in, we had reservations at the Elms Hotel’s Restaurant, Three Owls.

The Three Owls had their own custom barrel of whiskey made by Maker’s Mark. They offered bottles from that barrel for sale. As a whiskey lover and Maker’s Mark Ambassador, I was very interested in purchasing a bottle of this unique whiskey.

That was until I found out it was $240 a bottle. That was about $100 more than I was willing to spend. Maybe next time. I did have a whiskey drink. It was an Old Fashion with a red wine float on top. It was pretty good.

The restaurant had some interesting art. There were giant pictures collages of Harry Truman and Al Capone, both guests at the hotel.

For dinner, I had the fish special and Cindy had a steak. Our meals were good, but not great. And they were not cheap either. I would not return to this restaurant because I feel it was overpriced for what you received. No link for them! After dinner, Cindy had signed us up for the Paranormal Tour of the hotel. There was a scary looking ghost in the ad for the tour.

The tour was given by an 18-year employee of the hotel who normally worked the night shift. He told stories he had heard from other guests and of things he had personally experienced. Here are some of the sights.

We had a really good time on the tour and talk. It had some spooky stories, but was also very interesting. We highly recommend taking this tour when staying at the Elms. We checked out the next morning and headed back home. We highly recommend a stay at the Elms Hotel and Spa, so use the link below to stay there.

That concludes this post. Stay tuned for the next post where we: see a great Chicago cover band; watch an Elite Eight women’s college Division II basketball game; visit the Den for their monthly new drink tasting; visit a money museum; golf in Mound City; and volunteer at the special Olympics. Too much fun ahead. Stay safe and avoid the ghosts until the next post!

LINKS

The Den

Smooth Endings

River Bluff Brewery

Q39

Kansas City Central Library

St. Joe Cookie Company

Mokaska Coffee House

Boudreaux’s Louisiana Seafood and Steaks

Willow Springs Mercantile

Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site

The Elms Hotel and Spa