2024 Trip 2, Part 4 – Our Return to St. Joseph, MO With a Visit from Todd and Edie

This post was originally going to cover the rest of our trip to St. Joseph, MO. But we did so much stuff that it got too long. So now this post will only cover our visit by Todd and Edie. What are you waiting for, let’s go!

After our eventless and enjoyable drive back to St. Joseph, we grabbed some dinner for ourselves and our soon to arrive guests, Todd and Edie. They drove across the country from California to Tennessee and Kentucky, during some pretty questionable weather, and encountered none of it. Cindy and I were jealous. They had visited with some of their Kentucky (and other places) family and visited some distilleries in Tennessee and Kentucky. The main event of their trip was to attend the 150th anniversary of the running of the Kentucky Derby, complete with the hats, suits, dresses, and of course the mint julips. Now they were going to stay with us for five nights and learn what we love (and don’t like) about the Midwest. Because the storm we had driven around was supposed to hit us before midnight, we had to prepare Todd and Edie for that possibility. Ater explaining the difference between a tornado watch and warning, describing the tornado siren, and showing them our version of a tornado shelter, Edie was not a happy camper. She said if there was a tornado watch, we could “watch” her run to her car and drive back to California.

After dinner at our house, we all got some well needed sleep. Luckily, the storm missed us like so many of them thankfully do. The next day we went for lunch at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ. This is one of our favorite BBQ places and we really wanted to share it with Todd and Edie. Todd is great at making BBQ. He smokes and BBQ’s different types of meats and other things, like a smoked cream cheese appetizer that is just phenomenal. And don’t get me started on his Armadillo Eggs. They are top notch. With all of Todd’s BBQ cooking experience and Edie’s BBQ tasting experience, we wanted to see if they enjoyed Joe’s as much as we did. We arrived at 11 AM, right when they opened. This was a great strategy as we were one of the first people in.

I had the Z-Man Sandwich, their signature sandwich. It had beef brisket, smoked provolone cheese, with two crispy onion rings, on a toasted Kaiser roll.

Cindy and Edie had the Pulled Chicken Breast Sandwich which was a smoked chicken breast, BBQ mayo, lettuce and tomato jam on a potato bun.

And Todd had the beef ribs with burnt ends, a good choice to judge their BBQ talent.

We loved our food, as usual. But what was the “Todd Ruling?” Todd says they earned a link. You know where it is. After our delicious lunch, we headed over to Union Horse Distillery. Their website said they were open, and we were excited to try some local whiskeys and spirits.

It turned out their offices were open, but the distillery and tasting room were closed. Dirty rats. Not only do they not get a link, they get a thumbs down for having such a misleading website. From there we went to the Country Club Plaza for coffee and shopping. We returned home, freshened up for dinner, and all headed out to Smooth Endings for drinks and Taco Tuesday. We met the Culvers and Broyles there and had a great time. The next day Bobby and I took Todd to the Mound City Golf Course. Scott had to work so he couldn’t make this trip. The course was in great shape.

Here we are on the 7th hole tee box. The 7th hole borders a cemetery, so yes that is a cemetery in the background.

Another great time was had by all. If you want to golf next to a cemetery, use the link below. The next day, we went to Atchison Kansas to visit the most haunted house in Kansas, the Salle House. We visited this house once before, but Todd and Edie had not been there, and they like spooky stuff. We were a little early for our appointment, so we stopped to see the Missouri River, which was swollen due to a lot of rain along its route. Here is a full-sized tree trunk floating down the river.

Next stop was the haunted Salle House.

Here is some of the basic story of how the Salle House came to be haunted.

I’m sure you guessed that Salle didn’t make it through the surgery and now haunts the house. But she is allegedly not the only one.

Three ghosts. Holy cow. And there have been numerous investigative teams and shows that claim the Salle House is legitimately haunted.

During our first visit, I never felt anything specific that felt “haunted.” It was the same on this visit. But it is a creepy house. It smells musty and just feels a little off. Here is the dangerous staircase to the second floor and a creepy baby doll in a carriage.

The kids’room is still very unsettling.

Once again, there was a Magic 8 Ball in the kids’ room. Last time I asked it if the Salle House was haunted and it answered, “Yes, Definitely.”

I had to ask the same question again. Here was the result.

The Magic 8 Ball cannot be wrong twice, so clearly the house is haunted. If you want to visit a haunted house, fell free to use the link at the end of this post. Atchison Kansas has a bunch of alleged haunted houses. We drove by several of them.

We stopped at the visitor’s center and there was a display for MGP Distillery. There is a MGP distillery in Atchinson. Even though you may think you have not heard of MGP distillery, you have probably drunk some of their whiskey if you’re a whiskey drinker. If you have drunk Templeton Rye, Angel’s Envy Rye, Bulleit Rye, James E Pepper 1776 Bourbon and Rye, or Whistle Pig Old World Rye, you have drunk MGP whiskeys and bourbons. Since I love ryes, I have had the majority of the rye’s they produce.

At the visitor’s center, we spoke to Ms. Krueger, who had booked our Salle House tour. What a perfect name for booking tours at a haunted house. And that was not lost on her. She said her now deceased husband would get a lot of prank calls from kids because of his last name. If they called more than once, he would threaten to go into their dreams and harm them. They rarely called again. You have to love someone with a great sense of humor like that. Ms. Krueger recommended we eat at Jerry’s Again in downtown Atchinson.

Jerry’s Again is located in a historic building in the downtown area. The food was average at best and there will be no link in the usual place. Ms. Kruger may know scary, but she doesn’t know great food. On the drive home, we stopped at the Riverwood Winery and Distillery. Todd and I did a whiskey tasting. Todd tried a few local whiskeys, while I tried a rye selection.

One of the ryes was from Union Horse, the place that was open, but not for tastings. That turned out to be my least favorite so maybe we were lucky they were not open for tastings. Todd and I enjoyed our tastings and can recommend a stop at Riverwood Winery. Use the link below. We headed home, then Todd and I were off to golf in the Men’s Leage at Copperhill Golf Course. We scored a respectable 34, which was 5 over par. The girls joined us after golf at Prestyn’s where we had dinner and drinks. We went home and rested up for a very busy next day.

The next day we went to Weston for lunch and shopping. We had lunch at the Tin Kitchen, one of our favorites. It was delicious and earned a link that you can find in the usual place. One of the stores on the main street in downtown had an amazing collection of taxidermy. See for yourself.

After seeing all of the stuffed dead animals, we went off to a tour at the Holladay Distillery. The Holladay Distillery is just outside of Weston. It was founded in 1856 and is the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi River that remains at its original site. In 2016, they started making bourbon whiskey again, using the original recipe from 160 years ago. Now why is Missouri a great place to make whiskey? Because of the abundance of limestone springs in the area. That makes Weston, Missouri, an ideal location for bourbon production. And an ideal location to tour a bourbon whiskey distillery. Here is our tour guide, Morgan.

She did an outstanding job on our tour, and we actually learned some things even though we have been on numerous bourbon whiskey tours. Here are some pictures from our tour.

Here is the original spring visited by the Lewis and Clarke Expedition in 1804.

And here is the original Bonded Ancient Cave.

And here is the best part of the tour, the whiskey tasting. Delicious. If you want an excellent whiskey distillery tour, check out the link below.

We hustled back to our house and freshened up for dinner and a concert. We went to dinner at Room 108 with the Culvers (the Broyles were golfing). The meal was delicious and had a unique twist. They had free bahn mi tacos. I really like free and I like bahn mi so I had to try them.

They were pretty darn good, and I would even pay for them next time if I had to. Of course they earned a link that is below. Our next stop was the Missouri Theater to see a Neil Diamond tribute band. It was Matt Vee and the Killer Vees Celebrate the Music of Neil Diamond, I Am…..He Said.

The band has Matt Vee, who performs as Neil Diamond. The band includes his cousins Jeff and Tommy Vee, both local music scene veterans and sons of the legendary Bobby Vee. Up until seeing this band, the Chicago cover band Brass Transit was hands down the best tribute band I have ever seen. However, this band had great energy, great stories about Neil Diamond and Bobby Vee, and put on an enjoyable show. I didn’t realize Neil wrote “I’m a believer” and had it recorded at the same time as the Monkeys. I always knew the Monkey’s version, then the Smashmouth version, which were both hits.

I left feeling this was the second-best tribute band I have ever seen. Then I kept singing Neil Diamond songs for the next two weeks. I would definitely see them again. If you want to see them, you can use the link below. After the show, we had a drink at Jake’s Steakhouse and Bar before heading home. The next day Todd and Edie headed back to California, ending a great visit.

Stay tuned for the next post that will include Mother’s Day Midwest style, a pinball tournament, a golf tournament and league, another menu tasting at the Den, Ben and Hanna’s wedding, and our triumphant return to California. Try to “stay a believer” until then!

LINKS
Joe’s Kansas City BBQ

Mound City Golf Course

Matt Vee and the Killer Vees

2024 Trip 2, Part 2 – Our Return to St. Joseph, MO

This post covers the rest of our March stay in St. Joseph, and part of our April stay. And away we go.

The last post ended with our visit to Excelsior Springs. Right after our return to St. Joseph, we went with the Culvers and Broyles to the Missouri Theatre to see “Brass Transit,” a “Chicago” tribute band.

I was a little leery of this act because Chicago has a very heavy brass sound, and it was going to take some talented musicians to pull that off. They had three musicians that played a combination of sax, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, and flute. And they were outstanding.

The rest of the band was outstanding as well. I have to admit, this is one of the best tribute bands I have ever seen.

This band was so good, they actually earned a link so you can see if they are playing anywhere near where you might be. If they are, go see them.

Once again, St. Joseph played host to the Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship game for women’s Division 2 college basketball. We went to a game last year and really enjoyed ourselves, so we had to return this year.

We went to see #1 Gannon (35-2) from Erie, Pennsylvania play #8 Cal-State San Marcos (26-6) from San Marcos, California. This year the California team was present for the National Anthem and stood for it. That meant we could root for the California team this year. They were extreme underdogs, but we were hoping for at least a close game. It was very close in the beginning. At the start of the second quarter, Gannon lead by 2, 17-15.

The rest of the game was back and forth and really exciting. With three minutes left in the 4th quarter, the game was tied at 69.

At the end of regulation, the game was tied at 74-74.

We were very proud of the California team for hanging in there for so long and taking the game into overtime. They were playing very well, the crowd was going crazy for both teams, and the game had been a blast to that point. The overtime period was five minutes and both teams were playing very good defense. With one minute left in the game, San Marcos lead 80-78.

It stayed close, and with only 12 seconds left in the game, San Marcos led by 5, 85-80.

That would end up being the final score, capping a great upset. San Marcos would lose their next game to the eventual champions, #5 Minnesota State, in a close game 70-68. We can’t wait to go back again in 2025.

The next night we went to The Den for their monthly new drink menu tasting. They do the event every month, and we always try to go when we are in town.

Before the tasting started, I had to warm up my palette with my favorite drink, the Aviator.

With most of the tastings, I usually like most of them, but there are always a few that just are not my favorite. This tasting, I really liked all of the new drinks. Here is the Swing It On.

The See You Next Tuesday drink had some boba in the bottom of the drink. I’m not a boba fan. I think it is the texture. The drink itself was very good.

The Den is always a great time. They earned a link in the last post and have another one at the end of this post too. A few days later, the BBC Gang (Baileys, Broyles, Culvers) went to the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

This is a really fun place to visit. It works for adults, kids, and families. There were a lot of interesting displays.

This is the Bobby the eagle display. There were all kinds of money displays and information.

There was a 27-pound bar of gold you could lift through a hole in its display. It was awkward, but we were able to do it.

You were able to design your own money. Here was my bill.

There was an area where you could watch the employees sort, count, and check money. They were behind a clear barrier and there were no pictures allowed. They would take stacks of money out of money carts and run them through a machine that checked and counted the bills. It was really interesting. Near the exit, there was a bin that had shredded money in it. We were all allowed to take one for free.

As a matter of fact, the museum was free too. This is an absolute must visit when in Kansas City. Use the link below. After the Money Museum, we all went to the Kansas City Union Station. Besides being a train station, it has displays, events, and vendors.

The local schools’ science fair was in one of the display areas.

There were some pretty advanced projects about pollution, chemicals, and chemistry. We learned the Home Depot brand HDX were the longest lasting batteries of all brands. They also had displays about product ideas by the students. One idea was for “Scrub Gloves.” The idea was to have rubber dish washing gloves with scrubbers built into the palms. It sounded like a great idea to me. All of that learning made us hungry, so we headed off to Jack Stack BBQ.

I started off with a jalapeño cucumber margarita and we all shared some jalapeño cheddar corn bread. The margarita was very good and the corn bread was outstanding.

For dinner, I had the house specialty, the Crown Prime Dinner. It was a well marbled beef short rib with one bone in it.

It was a little fatty for my taste, but the overall flavor was very good. Everyone else tried something different and everyone agreed it was very good BBQ, but not the best.

If Jack Stacks had been in Los Angeles, it easily would have earned a link. But with all of the great BBQ in the Kansas City area, it fell short of link status. The next day, April 1st, Scott, Bobby, Machelle and I got up early and golfed at Mound City. It is a beautiful 9-hole public course that is very fun to play. If you need an 18-hole course, just play it twice like we did. It is rarely crowded, so use the link below to get their address, or to make a reservation.

On this golf outing, the weather wasn’t too bad all morning and afternoon, but took a turn for the worse as we were leaving. It turned into a tornado watch with a tornado touching down in Smithville, about an hour east of us. Ya gotta love the Midwest weather.

On the first Saturday of April, the BBC Gang participated in the Downtown Sip and Stroll Wine and Beer Event. As the name suggests, you received either a small wine glass or small beer glass. Because the vast majority of the local wines are way too sweet for me, I chose the beer glass and Cindy had the wine glass.

We walked around the downtown area with Cindy getting wine samples and me getting beer samples. Besides the obvious enjoyment of the alcohol samples, it was really fun walking around the downtown area and learning about businesses we didn’t even know existed.

As Bobby and I walked past the Missouri Theatre building, a huge gust of wind blew, followed by a really loud crashing and window breaking sound. We turned around and a heavy metal framed window had blown off of the second floor and crashed to the sidewalk about 10 feet behind us. That got our attention! Luckily, we were not hurt and were able to carry on.

At the end of our sip and walk, we ran into some of our friends from Prestyn’s.

The next day Cindy was featured on the local TV news in a story about the event.

April 8th was a huge event in the Midwest with a solar eclipse. In our neck of the woods, we experienced about a 90% coverage of the sun. Several of our neighbors came by as we sat in our front yard and used our special eclipse glasses to watch. Here is Pat, Cindy and me.

The eclipse itself was interesting. This is the first time I have seen one with this much of the sun covered.

Plus, my phone did some odd things and made up its own pictures. It had the eclipse moon separate from the sun when the moon was actually covering part of the sun.

Then there was this cool picture.

In the middle of April, we had a very busy Saturday planned out. It started with Cindy, Heather, Machelle, and I volunteering at a Special Olympics track event in the town of Gower, an approximate 40-minute drive away. We were put in charge of handing out the awards. I have done that before in Los Angeles, so we were ready for our assignment.

Machelle was our award announcer, Cindy and Heather handed out the awards, and I coordinated our activities.

I struggled a little bit without have a spreadsheet to follow, but the girls kept me in line and our awards portion of the event went very smoothly. Plus, we had a really good time. If you want to volunteer for Special Olympics, or make a donation, use the link at the end of this post. We went home, cleaned up and were off to dinner at the Salty Steer. It is a Tex-Mex place that just opened downtown.

We were excited to try this place and boy were we disappointed. The chips and salsa were pretty good and plentiful and that is where the good news stopped. Most of the food that came out was luke warm, and my chili verde was the saltiest thing I have ever tasted. Maybe that is how they got the name Salty Steer. Definitely no link for them.

We walked from the overly Salty Steer to The Den for a quick drink. Guess what I had.

If you said a Vodka Collins, you are wrong and have not been paying attention. After our beverages, we drove over to the civic center for our final activity of the day. Bull Riding! And not us bull riding, but us watching professionals ride bulls.

This was a very fun event and we learned Bobby was a bull rider as a much younger man. That was new to us and he gave us some interesting insights into what was going on. Especially how dangerous it was for the riders when they were on the bull in the chute waiting to come out for their ride. He said the bull would often shift its weight and position and pin one of his legs against the metal bars of the chute. That does not sound like fun.

Of course, Uncle Jewel was there, so Scott when over and said, “Hi.”

Then there was the dance contest in the stands and this rather large man took off his shirt as he danced. I will never be able to unsee that. And now you will not be able to either.

And of course there was actual bull riding. Here are some riders still on their bulls.

And here are some riders off of their bulls.

Bull riding is a must-see event. We will definitely do that again. A few days later, we returned to The Den for Halloween trivia night. Why Halloween? Because April is the halfway mark on the calendar to Halloween.

As usual, we finished in the middle but still had a great time. A little later in the month, Scott and I went and saw Jeff Dunham in concert in the town of Independence.

He was hilarious and put on a fantastic show. He earned a link you can find in the usual place.

That ends this post on a fun note. The next post will include Cindy and my 32nd wedding anniversary, more tornado fun in Missouri AND Texas, another tribute band or two in concert, our adventure drive to south Texas to visit Corrianne, our actual visit with Corrianne, a visit to our Missouri house by the Webers, and a few more surprises. Avoid the ghosts and goblins until then as it is only six more months until Halloween.

LINKS

Brass Transit

The Den

Money Museum

Mound City Golf Course

Special Olympics Missouri

Jeff Dunham