Gone About As Fer As They Can Go

We had a wonderful 4th in Kansas City. A nice, quiet 4th. The only noise and excitement came from the weather; we got caught in a horrible storm with pea-size hail. Luckily, Al, being the smart and resourceful guy his is, pulled into a car wash and we sat under the shed until it let up. But this is what it looked like driving back to the hotel:








We went to some old favorites and discovered some new ones during this trip.

We went to Lidia's, as usual, and I'm glad we did because I was a little disappointed last time and it was really good this time. I think I love going there so much because we hardly ever go to elegant restaurants and get wine, salads, entrees, and dessert without caring about the cost. It's quite a treat.

We also headed down to the Plaza again so that we could go to the Apple store and check out the new iPhone and The Better Cheddar to pick up some cheese (a Petit Basque and a 1 year old Spanish Mahon). Al was disappointed that I didn't go apeshit over the iPhone. I have a hard time controlling the scroll and hitting the right letters on the notepad. Everytime I tried to type and "i" I would get an "o" and so on. Apparently, this is all my problem because Al thinks it's the most awesome thing ever and would buy one today if I even hinted at a nod in agreement. No bobble head here, baby!

We also went to one of my very favorite stores any where--Pryde's Old Westport. And I think I showed great restraint that all I insisted on buying was an insulated French Press coffee maker. Here are some photos of the store:









New for this trip, we went to Zona Rosa, a "new urbanism" shopping district, to go to O'Dowd's Irish Pub for lunch and Barnes and Noble. It was the nicest, best B&N I've been in. Two stories (with an escalator, thank you very much) of books and books and books. It was hard to leave without burning the credit card.

Also new, we went to Briarcliff Village, which is also a new urbanism development. I had been there before because that's where Urban Arts and Crafts is, but this time we went to Rimonn Liquors. They had our favorite Riesling (Monchhof), which we can never find, so we bought 3 bottles. Here's one of the houses in this "village." Just a humble little home.




Another new thing, especially for Al, was the Harley Davidson Plant. Unfortunately for Al, there were no tours because they were working on the 2008 models. But, the Visitor Center was open and if there's anything that Harley Davidson knows, it's marketing. Don't worry, Al doesn't want a Harley, especially since he bought the new bike. Oh, did I tell you he bought a new motorcycle? Yep. BMW 1200 GS, used.





And finally, on the way home, we stopped by Weston, Missouri, to go to Pirtle winery. We didn't make it to the winery because Al needed to get home, but we did walk around their charming Main Street and go to The Celtic Ranch. I can't wait to go back to Weston. We didn't spend nearly enough time there. I didn't even peek into the antique shops and there was no time to go to the quilt shop. Plus, we have to go back to do some wine tasting and go to the Irish pub. Here are a couple of pictures: