2021 Trip – 2 / Part 4, Week 3 in St. Joseph, Missouri

This post covers our third week in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Wednesday

As usual, the day started with a weather check.

If three weeks ago you would have told me I would be excited for a 6 degree day with light snow, I would have told you you were nuts. Yet there we were and we were excited to see this “warm” day. This was obviously a “suit up” day and we did. It warmed all the way up to 12 degrees by the time we left the house to meet the Culvers for lunch at Pappy’s Bar and Grill.

Pappy’s was a pleasant surprise and was more of a grill than a bar. The service was outstanding and everyone really liked their food. I had a hot pastrami sandwich on rye and it was very good. All four of us gave it two thumbs up.

Afterward, Cindy and I drove around a bit, looked as some houses, got some gas, got some souvenirs, and finally returned to our place. You may recall I wrote about Cindy leaving peanuts out for the squirrels. The peanuts she left on the front walkway ended up feeding the birds. There was a least one bluejay that would sit in the tree above the walkway and squawk until Cindy came to the window. Then he would drop down, pick up a peanut, and fly off. At one point, some little chickadees started to peck at the peanuts, upsetting the jay who made all kinds of noise. Here are a few bird tracks in the snow.

Another interesting thing we have discovered here is how the snow will collect in your wheel well, then drop off at random times as you drive around town. All around the town’s streets are varying sizes of dirty ice chunks that have fallen from wheel wells. At one store parking lot, people were staring at me as I kicked the ice trying to knock it off of the car. I guess they are used to it. Here is some wheel well ice from our car.

OK, maybe it’s not that interesting, but it was to me.

Thursday

Wooo whooo. It warmed all the way up to 20 degrees, with a light snow. We “suited up” and were off. We had soup and half a sandwich at McAlllister’s Deli, drove through a car wash to get the wheel well ice and salt off of the car. And yes, the car wash was open in sub-freezing temperatures. We went by Ross to get a few things we wanted, and ended up at Price Chopper for some supplies for dinner, since the Culver’s were joining us.

With the nice weather, we took another picture like the one we had taken earlier.

Can you spot the 5 differences between the two pictures?

We were wearing caps, then no caps.
The street behind us was snow covered, then it was plowed.
Our jackets were zipped all the way up, then they were zipped down.
The background sky was cloudy, then it was blue.
My goatee was there, then it was not.

So what happened? At Ross, I bought a small travel size beard trimmer so I could trim my goatee. It had three different guides that you clip on to the clipper so you can control how much hair gets cut. I chose the guard that was supposed to cut the least amount of hair. Unfortunately, it was backward day and the trimmer just trimmed away. I hate it when that happens. At least it will eventually grow back.

In the evening, the Culvers came over and we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner with meat and sausage sauce, garlic bread, salad, some parmesan cheese crisps, and some wine. Delicious.

Friday

The weather was really heating up. We were expecting a high in the mid 30’s so it was a sort of “suit up” and get out day. Thermals were no longer necessary, and I got away with one long sleeve shirt under my jacket.

We headed out to the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. In 1966, Albrecht Gallery opened in the former home of Mr. and Mrs. William Albrecht. Here is the “house” part of the museum, located at the front.

In 1991, Mr. R. Crosby Kemper made a significant donation and the museum was able to add a second building to the back, attached to the “house” museum. The new building was build more like an art museum and made it easier to display the art. The new combined museum became The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. Here is the back of the building, the newest building with a few of the outdoor art pieces.

As soon as we entered the building, we saw a “coat room” by the front door.

Because it was very warm inside the museum, we used the coat room, a first for us. As we walked away, I had to check to make sure it was in fact a coat room and not some modern art piece we had just trampled over. Luckily, it was just a coat room. Here are some of the pieces we saw.

These two pictures were painted, but looked exactly like photographs.

This horse was cast in bronze, but made to look like wood. It reminded me of the wood horse at the Palm Springs Art Museum I got in trouble for touching. I did not touch this one. I learned my lesson.

Here was another picture that was painted, but looked like a photograph. Cindy really liked it until she saw the name was “Four Plumbs,” but we could only find three in the picture. Maybe you can find the extra plumb. Before you say, “Ah-ha,” there are two purple looking fruits that have a yellowish point on them. We believe they are figs. One is on the top right to the right of a banana and the other is left center with bananas above and below it. If you insist they are plumbs, I’ll give it to you. Now there are five plumbs in a piece named, “Four Plumbs.” Still a problem.

In the basement, there was a Museum Members art exhibit. It was exactly what the name said. Art made by museum members. This won first place in the quilt category. It was creepy and cool at the same time.

This was titled “Self Portrait,” and won in the Oil on Canvas category.

This didn’t win any awards, but I really liked it. It was a super sized fly fishing lure made from wood.

Here is an interesting shaped door from the main house.

And finally, the part of the door knob you grip and turn was made of stone with a different type of stone inlay, even though it looked like brass. The part screwed into the door was brass. Unfortunately, there was no information about the door knobs, so that’s all I know.

After the museum, we drove over to the Missouri River to see the ice flow. This is a very uncommon event and we wanted to see it. Even though it was just chunks of ice flowing down a large river, it was neat to know we were seeing something that did not occur very often.

We also learned something while we were looking at the ice flows. In town, the temperatures were in the mid 30’s. Next to the frozen, moving, ice filled river, it was down to single digits. The lack of thermals and multiple layers was immediately noticed. We only spent about 10 minutes outside before returning to our warm car.

We went to the Hoof and Horn for an early dinner. Scott had told us this was a must visit, so we took him at his word. As we drove up to the address, all we saw was what looked like an abandoned warehouse in a sketchy area. It wasn’t until we turned the corner that we finally saw a sign hanging on the derelict building. It said the Hoof and Horn had been there since 1896. My guess is that is also the same year the building was last updated. Clearly we had been pranked.

We parked and had to see this place and get a picture. That way we could prove to the Culvers we had been there and they got us good. Once we were inside, it was a whole new experience.

The inside was very nice, and clearly much more modern than the outside. We had a really good steak dinner and listened to a young man play the guitar and banjo (separately) while singing. This place is a must visit!!

Saturday

Oh what a glorious day. We woke up to sunshine and temperatures in the mid 30’s going up to the low 40’s. Now this was more like it. We picked up the Culvers at their house and drove to the town of Weston, about a half hour away. Weston is a small town of about 3 1/2 square miles with a population in the neighborhood of 1,700. It has a quaint downtown area of about 2 blocks in each direction with shopping, food, a brewery, a distillery, a winery, and an additional location just for wine tasting.

We met Scott’s cousin, John, and his wife Dana, at the Pirtle Winery for some wine tasting.

The Pirtle Winery was located in an old, historic building. The wines were very good and they also had some mead. If you recall from a previous post, I tried mead in Prescott, Arizona and really did not like it. Our wine steward for our tasting went on and on about how great their mead was. I let her know very clearly about my previous experience and she still insisted I try their mead. So with an open mind, I tried two of their meads. And they were not half bad. Or even a quarter bad if we’re being honest. I was glad I kept an open mind. That being said, I’m not going to rush out and start buying cases of mead, but I will try it again. On with the wine tasting. All of their wines were good, and we enjoyed one enough to buy a bottle of it.

Our next stop was The Weston Wine Company. We tasted a few wines there and they had a mixture that was predominately cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, one of my personal favorites. This wine from Australia and did not disappoint. I went home with a bottle.

Stop number 3 was at the McCormick Distillery. We visited here on our last trip and had to stop again.

They had a new product there were advertising.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. It is a spicy pickle flavored whiskey. I love pickles, but am not a huge fan of whiskey. They had tastings of their vodkas and whiskeys, so I had to try the pickle whiskey. Upon arrival, it had a very strong pickle smell. And then down the hatch. It had a very strong pickle flavor, but not strong enough to override the whiskey flavor. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will love this. I am not one of them. At least I tried it. I asked the bartender what you would use it for. He said it is best used in bloody mary drinks. I’ll stick to my vodka. Interesting side note, Dana, Scott’s cousin-in-law, grew up in Weston and knew several people at every place we visited. Her mother and grandmother both worked at the McCormick Distillery,

We walked around the downtown area and did some shopping, then had dinner at the Tin Kitchen.

We headed home and called it a day.

Sunday

Even though it was a cloudy, gloomy day with the chance of snow, the snow never materialized. After lunch, we met the Culvers at the Jesse James Home Museum, near the downtown area. The website said it was open from 1-4:30 pm. It was not. So we headed off to the Remington Nature Center, located on the beautiful and still partially frozen Missouri River.

Since Scott and Heather didn’t get to see the ice flow, we walked over to the river’s edge. The ice flow was much thinner and less impressive compared to when we saw it on Friday. That was until we looked up river and saw what looked like a huge ice burg floating down toward us. Scott and I scrambled down the boat launch to the frozen edge of the river and confirmed it was a giant ice burg floating down toward us. It was at least 200-300 feet long and ranged from only a few feet wide to around 50 feet wide.

Just like on Friday, it was much colder by the river so we watched the ice burg for a short time, then headed indoors to the Remington Nature Center.

The Nature Center was not only a nature center, but also a bit of a museum. Here were some of the nature pictures.

They had an example of the very rare near sighted red fox.

After the animal exhibits, was an exhibit of humans through time. Here is Early Man.

One of the first farmers tending corn, a popular crop through time.

Notice the head of the hoe is made from a hip bone.

All I could think about was the song, “And the hip bone is connected to the hoe stick………..”

This early man was forced to quarantine for two weeks when he was diagnosed with Covid 1.

Here are a few more pictures moving through time.

And here was Cindy’s personal favorite. An early hand crank washing machine.

We finished the day with dinner at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen with the Culvers.

Monday

We woke up to continued warm temperatures and clear skies. By mid day, it was in the low 50’s. We started our late morning going to a donut shop Cindy had to visit. It was named, “Gold-N-Glaze Do-Nut Shop.” They claimed to have “A delight in every bite.” The reality was this was just your typical donut shop.

However, next door looked like an exciting place. I was trying to figure out if the name was a greeting or the sobriety level of some of their patrons.

We may never know. We went to the St. Joseph Visitor’s Center and picked up some tourist information and were off to visit the nearby town of Savannah. It was only about 20 minutes north of us and was where Heather worked at an elementary school. Savannah has a population of just over 5,100 spread out over 3 1/4 square miles. Just a side note, I noticed in the Midwest, there are a significant number of cities that share names with cities in other states. Savannah is an example. Savannah Missouri was founded in 1841, while Savannah Georgia was founded in 1733. So the Georgia city came first. What happened? Were the settlers in Missouri so tired they couldn’t come up with a name and maybe someone was from Georgia and said, “How about Savannah?” And if that is true, is that what happened with the countless other cities with duplicate names? If not, then what happened? And where the heck was that other plumb in the picture?

I digress. We drove into Savannah and had lunch at one of the few diners in town, the Savannah Family Diner.

Cindy had some soup and a grilled ham and cheese. She enjoyed her meal. I ordered the chopped steak sandwich. This is not something I normally order, but the few times I have ordered it in the past, it was a sandwich with cubed steak spread over an elongated deli type bun. When my meal arrived, it was the familiar elongated bun, but the meat was a surprise. It was a ground beef patty the was oval instead of round. So to me, I got a an oval burger. It tasted fine, it just was not what I was expecting. According to the internet, a chopped steak sandwich can made with either cubed steak or ground beef. Who knew?

We drove over to Heather’s school and left her a note on her car. The mascot for the school district is the “Savage,” as seen here.

I’m not one to get caught up in all the “change the mascot name” nonsense going around, because I think people tend to over react to things and get offended way too easily. That being said, I can see why there is currently a movement to change this mascot.

We headed home and I made us a steak and potato dinner that was delicious.

Tuesday

This was hands down the best weather day so far. It started in the mid 30’s and had a high in the mid 60’s. With just a few days of warmer temperatures and sun, the view from our place changed significantly. The left was the first week of February, the right was today.

For the first time on this trip, we got outside and went for a walk. We walked a mile and a half around the neighborhood. At one point, we walked past a river where the top was frozen and the river continued to flow beneath the top layer of frozen ice. I had never seen anything like that before. Unfortunately, it is not super clear in these pictures.

After our walk, we drove around town, looked at some more houses, got the car washed, and ran a few errands.

We went to the Culvers’ house for dinner. Scott smoked a tri-tip and as usual, it was outstanding. After dinner, we watched the sunset from their west facing windows overlooking their back deck. Here are a few pictures. The shiny circle on the right side of the pictures is their neighbor’s frozen pond.

The next post will be our final week in St. Joseph with Sylvia flying in on Sunday to join us for a few days before we all take a leisurely drive back to Commiefornia.

2021 Trip – 2 / Part 2, Week 1 in St. Joseph, Missouri

This post covers our first week in St. Joseph.

Tuesday

This was our first full day in St. Joseph. We started by going to Cindy’s favorite coffee shop, Hazel’s. Ever since we were first here in August, all I have heard about is Hazel’s. Cindy finally got her fix and I’m sure we will be there many more times.

Our next stop was the St. Joseph East Hills Library. Because of Covid, we could not go inside. So why would we be stopping at the library? So Cindy could pick up her new library card. She wanted a library card so she could use the remote check out and get some reading material in case we got stuck indoors because of weather. But what are the chances that could happen?

Next we went to a grocery store named Cosentino’s Price Chopper. We wanted to check it out for meal ideas so we could make some meals at our place. It was a brisk 29 degrees out, but manageable with very little wind.

I didn’t think I would like a store named “Price Chopper,” but I have to admit I was impressed with it. They had a large pre-made food area, in addition to the normal meat, deli, bakery, etc. They also had a decent wine selection at reasonable prices.

By this time we were getting hungry, so we picked up some sandwiches for ourselves, and Scott and Lauren Culver. We ate at their house and caught up a bit. They live less than a ten minute drive from our Airbnb.

We did some shopping and Cindy really needed a mirror she could use for her make-up and drying her hair. I suggested we get a lightweight dollar store type mirror and I could hang it with a single nail. Obviously, I would repair the nail hole before we left. Cindy was having none of that. So we did buy a mirror at one of the dollar stores and I figured out a way to hang it so it didn’t do any wall damage.

Unfortunately, a wire coat hanger was sacrificed during the process.

The weather was pleasant most of the day. We decided to check the forecast to see how many meals we would need to eat in: Wednesday looked great; there was a rain/snow mixture forecast for Thursday, so possible stay in day; Friday looked cold, but clear so going out was in the cards; Saturday was forecast as cold and snowy, a definite stay in day; Sunday and Monday were WTF………..

We made our shopping list and loaded up at the ole Price Chopper so we would have plenty of food on hand.

Wednesday

Our Toyota hit 5,000 miles on the trip out and kept giving us the “maintenance required” message every time the car was started. We assumed this was the first oil change and since we have “Toyota Care,” the service would be free. I made an appointment at the local Toyota dealer and we took the car in. While it was getting serviced, we walked around a nearby shopping center. Once the car was done, they told us they had found a screw in a tire and were able to patch it. Since our car uses synthetic oil, it turns out the 5,000 mile service is nothing more than a tire rotation. The oil change will come at 10,000 miles. At least it was done and all of the tires were back in tip top shape.

We spent the afternoon driving around the area looking at houses for sale. We are not specifically looking to buy anything, but we enjoy seeing what is for sale and the prices. In the evening, the Culvers came to our place and we caught up over a glass of wine. We then dined in the downtown area at Boudreaux’s Louisiana Seafood & Steaks. We had “alligator bites” as an appetizer. It was small cubes of deep fried alligator you dipped in a spicy sauce. It was delicious. Cindy tried one and was done and Heather would have no part of it. If you are in the St. Joseph area, this is a must visit if you want a great Cajun meal.

Thursday

We expected the day to be cold, rainy, icy, and possibly snowy, so we planned this as a stay in and relax day. That turned out to be a pretty good call. After a short rain shower at about 5:30 in the morning, this happened for the rest of the morning until about 1 pm.

By the time it stopped snowing, there was at least an inch of snow covering the ground. While that may not seem like much, for Californian’s like us, it was a huge amount. It was about an inch more than we are used to seeing. So we enjoyed our inside day looking out at the snow.

We also discovered something interesting about our kitchen when cooking dinner. We made some stir fry beef and vegetables and used the hood vent over the stove to vent some of the smell outside to avoid having a place that smelled of stir fry. When we turned the vent on, we realized it sucked the air in from the bottom of the vent and shot it out of an opening at the top of the vent right back into the kitchen. If you are going to vent the air from the kitchen into the kitchen, are you really venting the air at all? The answer is no, you’re just moving the cooking smells around in the same place. We were able to place a box fan near the back door and open the window in the door to vent the odors out. While not a perfect solution, it worked.

At the end of the day, we checked the weather forecast to see if it had improved at all. Nope.

Friday

The weather was very nice, partly cloudy with temperatures in the low to mid 30’s. It was time to get our sightseeing on. We went and toured the Pony Express Museum, located near the old downtown area.

This was a fascinating museum that is a must visit if you are in the St. Joseph area. Here are a few general pictures from the museum.

This is Cindy pumping an old fashion water pump.

This clear top allow you to look down into the 22 foot well.

Here is the employment flyer looking for Pony Express riders. Note how “orphans” were preferred.

Here is a map showing the route the riders took.

This is a Colt Model 1851 .36 caliber cap and ball gun. It was the gun carried by Pony Express riders.

We also learned a lot about the Pony Express that we did not know. Here are a few interesting points: The Pony Express only operated for a year and a half; a rider typically rode around a 100 miles a day, before handing off to another rider. The riders would change horses every 9 to 12 miles; the Pony Express operated from St. Joseph, Missouri to San Francisco, California, going both ways; the first westbound rider was 19 year old Johnny Fry.

A 16 year old named William Frederick Cody claimed to have been a Pony Express rider. You may know him as “Buffalo Bill” Cody.

“Bronco” Charlie Miller claims to have been the youngest rider at age 11. He outlived all of the other riders, dying at the age of 105 in 1955. James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok never worked as a rider, but did work for the Pony Express as a stocktender in Colorado. He could not be a rider because was older and heavier than the other riders.

And the most important thing I learned was no one should ever name their child “Dorcas.”

After our Pony Express Museum experience, we felt daring and tried a Mexican food restaurant named “Barbosa’s.” We tend to be Mexican food snobs and have discovered in our travels that once we are outside of California, we just never know what we are going to get. This experience was no exception.

I will start with the margarita. I ordered the plain house margarita and it was pretty good. And as simple as you would think it is to make a margarita, I have had my share of average or worse ones. So this was a good start. Next we learned the chips and dip were not complimentary, but something you had to order as an appetizer. We looked at the menu and they had homemade corn or flour chips with a choice of 5 different dips. We chose the flour chips with the regular salsa.

Even though this was different to us, it was very good. So far, Barbosa’s was two for two. For me, the first test of any Mexican restaurant is their pork chili verde. Barbosa’s didn’t have that, but they did have a pork chili rojo that they called red pork chili. This came with flour tortillas and a tostada! I knew that would be too much food so I cancelled the tostada. The waiter could not believe I didn’t want the tostada, but still took it off of my order. Just the pork chili rojo and the Spanish rice was more than enough food.

Drum roll please…………..The verdict…………….The pork chili rojo was outstanding. The rice was average, but that is ok. They were now three for three, an impressive feat for any Mexican restaurant in the Midwest. The last test was Cindy’s order of cheese enchiladas with rice and beans. Probably the simplest item to make. We received a bad omen when Cindy asked if she had a choice of red or green sauce. The waiter explained the enchilada had cheese fried into the tortilla and a type of mole on the outside.

As you can see, that is not an enchilada. It looks more like a folded quesadilla. It had American cheese in it and Cindy said it tasted exactly like a grilled cheese. So we called it the Mexican grilled cheese. And that was not a good thing. Oh well, three out of four wasn’t too bad.

Saturday

We expected a cold, snowy day and were not disappointed. It started snowing around 8 am and didn’t stop until around 5 pm, dropping around 2-3 inches of snow. Around mid day, I noticed the road was getting covered with snow and ice and was getting slippery. I also noticed our car was parked at the end of a T intersection. Notice how the turning cars had left marks that headed toward our car then veered to the left.

I remembered Newton’s first law of motion. “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” So what does this mean to us and our car? A car in motion going toward our parked car on a slick road will stay in motion until acted upon by being stopped when it hits our parked car! So I moved the car across the street. Notice the black spot where our car was parked.

By the end of the day, our walkway was completely covered with snow. I went out and gave it a quick shovel.

At 8 pm, I checked our forecast again. Besides the fact it was 3 degrees, with a real feel of -5, the rest of the week wasn’t looking so good either. Were we in Missouri or Montana? Oh, I checked. The Dillon, Montana area was actually warmer.

Sunday

The day started with another snow storm. Imagine that. We were supposed to go to the Culver’s house for the big game (I refuse to acknowledge the name; I protested this season and did not watch a single game), but that was in jeopardy. By noon, our back deck had so much snow, it was partially blocking the back door.

Luckily, it stopped snowing and warmed up to a balmy 7 degrees around 3 pm. That was our window of opportunity to head on over to the Culver house. All of the roads were plowed, except for the 200 yards leading up to the Culver’s driveway. There was about 6 inches of snow on the road, but we made it through. There ended up being a total of 9 people at the event. In California, we all would have been arrested and thrown in the gallows for a gathering that size. It was fine in Missouri.

Usually at this event, I bring my world famous award winning chili. Being away from home and not having access to what I needed for my chili, I was unable to make it this year. Scott also always makes brown stuff he calls chili, but is has beans, and corn, and other items that make it non-chili. This year, he made an all meat chili using some of my super secret chili spices I gave him when he left Cali. I feel as if my long time chili student has finally passed the test. It was outstanding!

And in case you were wondering, the reddish spots were diced tomatoes, not beans. Scott got two thumbs up and a snap in a Z formation.

Around 6 pm it started to lightly snow again and the temperature had dropped to 4 degrees, so it was time for us to get home before we turned into frozen pumpkins. We got home safely with no incidents, but it was starting to get slick on the roads.

Monday

There was no forecast snow for the day and it was supposed to warm up into the teens, so we made plans to meet the Culvers for lunch and then we would all go to a local museum. In the morning, Cindy and I went to Walmart to get a few more groceries. It was cold, to say the least.

There is a song that says one is the loneliest number. I believe two is one of the coldest numbers.

We met the Culvers for lunch and afterward headed over to the Glore Psychiatric Museum. It was closed because of the weather. We should have called, darn it. We went to the local mall and walked around to get some exercise. From there, we went to Hazel’s for hot coffee and tea, then called it a day. At home, I checked the weather forecast again. It was not promising.

It was this last weather check that made me realize what had happened. We must have gone to the St. Joseph in Antarctica, not the one in Missouri.

Tuesday

Another brutally cold day, imagine that. We stayed inside until the warmest part of the day, 3 pm. It had warmed all the way up to 14 degrees. We drove to our favorite grocery store, Price Chopper and bought mostly treats for ourselves while trapped inside. We returned home, had dinner, and watched some TV. At about 8 pm while watching TV, there was a knock at our door. This was the first time this had happened since we had checked in and we were not expecting anyone or any deliveries. I answered the door and it turned out to be a food delivery guy looking for the unit next door to us. That was the most exciting part of our day. I checked the weather report, and holy cow.

The good news was it was still 12 degrees outside (in what world is that good news?). The bad news was it was forecast to be -3 on Sunday. That’s so cold that if Aunt Barbara were here with us, she might have to wear a sweater. Now that is cold.

The next post will cover week two in this frozen hell, I mean vacation paradise. I will also discuss some things we have learned about staying in an extremely cold environment.