Road Tripping Again: Kansas City

With Our Buddy

We are hoping to be on our way before 8:00 because it's a eight hour drive to our son Tom's house, outside of Kansas City. It's just 6:00 as I start this and the cafe has just opened and, of course, I am the only one up at this hour. 

Yesterday was a lazy day for us as we spend most of our time just hanging out with Beth and Marisa. We started our morning as usual, with my having coffee in the cafe until Evie got up. We then thought about what we would do with the day and decided to just head of over to Beth's apartment and see what we felt like doing. We watched some World Cup before going off to a couple of stores Beth thought we might like, like an REI with neat things and the other, more of a small shop with an eclectic inventory, from watch bands, to earrings, to clothes and twenty-five dollar shot glasses. . We really liked the REI imitation and Evie was able to find some neat things for gifts and I even broke down and bought another shirt, just what I don't need but I liked it.  We were back by 1:00 and had lunch, Beth's Turkish white beans stew called kuru fasulye, much better than mine, and a ham and cheese sandwich.  We watched half of the France/Australia futbol game, then went back to our hotel for a couple of hours.

Cozy 

We watched the second half at our hotel, napped some, then got busy packing so that we had the car basically packed and ready to go for this morning. We then drove back to Beth's at 4:15 and since they were out house hunting,  Evie took a Zoom call with her sister and I walked Kaia on the Katy Trail. We then enjoyed a glass of wine and cheese and crackers and watched some TV.

Sunset

They were back by 5:15, loved the house they saw, in time for Rami to make a couple of Old Fashions. We decided to just order out from a Chinese restaurant. It arrived via uber eats so we did not have to drive and pick it up, pretty nice. Living in a big city has its perks. The food was great, although one was so hot that it had us coughing, looking for water. We watched another episode of Yellowstone, then said our alohas by 8:15 because we wanted to get in a good night's sleep before our trip. What a fun visit. 

A Pensive Marisa

Another Night For Foodies

Ready To Head Out For Dinner

Once again I am the only one in the Beeman Hotel cafe, listening to elevator music and watching a silenced big-screen TV. It's 7:45 and I have been up reading since 6:45. Today looks decent, overcast in the morning, clear in the afternoon with a high near 60º. At the moment, it's a chilly 44º and overcast.

Monday was a day for shopping. It started as usual, with a coffee in the cafe, then rousing Evie to finish the blog and get going. It's nice, however, not to be in a hurry to drive to the next state so we didn't leave for Beth's until 9:45. I had a light breakfast there, the kind I have at home, yogurt, granola, and blueberries. We were not sure what to do with our morning and decided on visiting the World Food Market, a store that has mostly Middle Eastern foods and lots of things from Turkey. I drove Beth's Volvo and really like it. The Market was about 20 minutes away and surprisingly crowded in its narrow aisles. We had fun finding lots of Turkish spices, like Aleppo pepper and sumac, as well as their tomato salsa or paste which we like. Beth picked up a few things as well. We browsed down each aisle and found cookies we used to have in Istanbul with tea as well as tea from the Black Sea of Turkey. It was a fun stop, preparing us for the big shopping at, where else, Costco. 

Because it was the week before Thanksgiving, it was crowded although in my experience, it's always crowded with shoppers. Evie loves Costco and our shopping cart showed it when we left, with jackets, tights, a jersey, and an air fryer, a deal she could not pass up. I got tired of shopping, had the lunch special a dog and coke for buck fifty, the cheapest thing in the place, and ended up talking with a cute couple and their two daughters who moved to Dallas from Pennsylvania. They don't regret their move.

Once we returned to the apartment, we decided to grab our car and go back to the hotel for a couple of hours. I was able to watch the second half of the US/Wales futbol match which was fun. We are leaving for Tom's in Kansas City tomorrow so we started to think about organizing things in our car, now that we have added an air fryer in a box. Evie always can fit everything in so I am not really worried. 

We showered and got gussied up and left for Beth's at 3:45. We relaxed, had a glass of wine, and petted Kaia who hungers for attention and gets it. We had early reservations at Sister, one of the best restaurants in Dallas at 5:15. It was either then or 9:30 it's so popular. We met Rami there because he came straight from work. The ambiance was luxurious but not overdone, with a neat bar. We had a great server, of course, and we quickly started to order appetizers, then main courses, all family style. 

A Happy Trio

I will mention only a few of my favorites. First was beets and avocadoes, with rice, tahini, and lemon vinaigrette. We devoured it and should have ordered another. We also loved the marinated mushrooms but I was disappointed with the charred eggplant dip although others liked it. For main courses, the favorite was buckwheat lumache, noodles with parmesan shitake cream, and kale gremolata. The Calabrian chile raviolis were a disappointment but the chicken marsala was delicious. We also had a nice bottle of red to go with our dinner and Rami loved his Italian old fashion. All in all, it was another memorable night with Beth, Rami, and Marisa. 

Dining Out With Family

We didn't get back to Kaia and the apartment until 8:30. That is, Beth Marisa and me. Evie and Rami stopped at Krispy Kreme and picked up a dozen of their finest.  a tradition that started back when they lived in Winterpark, FL, Although they were not warm, they were delicious, hard not to have two. We watched another episode of Yellowstone and more of Rami's photos, this time of Istanbul and their visit to Kenya. We left at 9:30, tired of course and were happy to get back to the hotel and our beds. 

5:01

Looking West Toward Irving

South Towards Downtown Dallas

A Night At Mot Hai Ba

I am back in the Beeman Hotel cafe and the only one sitting here. Obviously, the girl's lacrosse tournament is over and all is quiet here in Dallas. It's overcast and 43º but will get up into the high 50s later in the day. And from what I can read, the snow has finally ended in Chautauqua. Fortunately, we were not hammered like Orchard Park's 77 inches. It looks like we may have gotten a foot and a half,  perhaps a bit more. 

One, Two, Three

Yesterday morning was like the day before, today, and tomorrow and I am up somewhere around 6:00 or 6:30 and quietly dress, grab my computer and phone, and sneak out of the darkened room so as to not wake my sleeping bride. Yesterday, however, I drove to Beth and Rami's at 7:30 and both Rami and I took Kaia out for a half-hour walk, and picked up amazing croissants at The Village Baking, filled with either spinach and cheese or bacon for our breakfast. We went back to their apartment and Rami made lattes and we enjoyed them with our croissants. At 9:30, I drove back to our hotel with a croissant for Evie. I showered and we both were ready to return to the apartment by 10:30. 

A Morning Walk On The Katy Trail

We relaxed and had some breakfast before driving off to the Open Market in downtown Dallas, about a 15-minute drive. On weekends, there's an outside market, filled with all kinds of food and merchandise, from clothes to coffee, and teas, to wooden kitchen utensils, to all kinds of foods, ready to eat. . It was packed and one out of five shoppers seemed to have a dog like us. Next door is an indoor market, mostly food stands, and it's open all week. Three of us had tacos and Beth sushi and it was warm enough to enjoy our food outside. We also did some shopping in a couple of stores and both Marisa and Beth picked up a few things. 

Outdoor Market

We then drove to the neighborhood where Beth teaches and looked at a couple of homes that were for sale, one an older ranch from the 1950s, the other a new two-story with a large backyard. Both had plusses and minuses and were fun to walk through. We then drove around the neighborhood looking at houses, both older, quaint 1960s homes, or new ones, obviously tear-downs. We resisted the urge to stop for donuts on the way home. Evie and I drove back to our hotel at 3:00 and fell asleep watching football, what else on a Sunday afternoon. 

View Of Dallas From White Rock Lake

We were back at the apartment at 6:00, in time for a glass of wine before driving off to our restaurant, Mot Hai Ba or One Two Three. We had reservations at 6:30 and like the other night's restaurant, it was crowded and you needed reservations. The menu is eclectic, a fusion of both French and Vietnamese cuisine created by its Serbian chef Peja Krstic. He has been in the news for cultural appropriation probably because he is neither French nor Vietnamese. What a crazy world. Rami and I ordered the famous Five Spice Old Fashions with Suntori whiskey, in fact, we each had a second. We had Banh Bao (steamed buns) and crispy rice cakes with veggies and shrimp for an appetizer. For dinner we shared a couple orders of amazing garlic noodles, along with a grilled Bronzino with lemongrass and scallions and Sakura Short Pork ribs with apples and radish salad. We also tried their fried avocado salad. What an amazing display of tastes and textures. We will be back next year for sure

We ended the night in their living room watching the end of episode one of Yellowstone, and some amazing photos Rami took of their trip to view the gorillas of Rowanda this past summer. We then drove home at 9:30, tired from our day, and ready for bed. 

Hanging Out In Dallas

Dinner At Javier's

 It's 6:30 and the cafe is crowded with girls' lacrosse players and families; games start at 8:00 outside so they are up early on this chilly 30º morning. I plan on letting Evie sleep in while I drive over to Rami's and we are going for a walk with Kaia on the Katy Trail, stopping for a coffee before walking back. I wish it was warmer. 

Next Door

Saturday we had a relaxing morning in our hotel room, in no hurry for once, to be on the way to the next city. I was in the cafe by 6:30, worked on the blog and read for forty-five minutes, and came upstairs and Evie was still asleep. Once she was up and had coffee, we got everything together we needed for the day and drove over to Beth's. We arrived by 10:45, had a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and lattes in Rami's new coffee maker extravaganza. Marisa was home, having arrived Friday night at 12:00 on a flight from Nashville. 

Dog Park

Kaia

With Beth

Her one request was to take Kaia to the dog park so off we went to join twenty to thirty other dogs of various breeds and mixes. Kaia loved it and spent most of the time running like crazy, like she was 'free at last, or playing with other dogs. It's amazing that there were no fights, mostly playing no matter the size of the dog. We stayed for forty-five minutes until Kaia was tired and begged for her leash so she could go home. 

Javiers

We can't visit Dallas without stopping at the Apple Store, always packed with people and at least 30 employees. Evie and Rami both found new watch bands for their apple watches so they were happy. We didn't get back to Beth's until 2:00, watched some football, and had ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, compliments of Beth. We wanted to relax some in our hotel during the afternoon, so we returned for a couple of hours, till 5:00, a good choice.  By the way, we have a suite so I could stay in one room watching the Ohio State football game, Evie in the other watching her shows. What a great idea. 

Dinner Time

We drove back to the hotel at 5:15 and walked over to Javier's, across the street from the apartment, 'the place to eat in the area.' It was packed, the bar, at least four or five rooms, with everyone enjoying their margaritas and Mexican food. We all ordered different things after an appetizer of individual quesadillas and chips and salsa. I had charbroiled quails in spicy ancho chile and garlic sauce over rice which was exceptional and everyone else enjoyed their meals. When we left, it was just as crowded with people waiting to be seated. We relaxed until 10:00 with the family, watching Somebody Feed Phil set in Vietnam because we are eating Vietemese tomorrow, and we watched the first episode of Yellowstone since we have yet to watch the series.

I love other people's dogs 

1350 Miles Later

Rami And Beth

Well, I am sitting in the cafe of the Beeman Hotel, as girls' lacrosse players and their coaches and families grab coffees before they are on their way to play in a tournament for lacrosse clubs, not schools. So it's a busy place at 6:45 in the morning. I just talked with one of the lacrosse moms from Baltimore, and she said there are close to two thousand girls here in Dallas, showcasing their skills in front of college coaches. Her daughter, by the way, is only a sophomore in high school but that's when coaches start the process of recruiting. 

We had a six-hour drive to Dallas which seemed like an eight-hour drive. I think we are getting tired of driving on truck-laden highways. We got off to a good start and were out of Memphis in ten minutes and on Interstate #40, heading towards Little Rock. Once we crossed the Mississippi just outside of Memphis, we were in the flatlands of Arkansas, the land of wheat and cotton fields. What a contrast in geography to Fayetteville, where our granddaughter  Marlena goes to college, a land of mountains, valleys, and trees. Once we got beyond Little Rock, it felt like we were traveling through South Carolina because the road was guarded by pine trees. Once we got close to Dallas mile-wise, we were not close to Dallas because of the traffic, which was horrendous, especially for us coming from a podunk town like Ashville. At times, the traffic was at a standstill and I can remember waiting under a cloverleaf of four or five overpasses, as thousands of cars seemed to be at a standstill as well, life in a big city. We arrived at the Beeman Hotel at 3:00, happy to finally be able to stay somewhere for a few days. I showered, Evie relaxed and we were on our way to Beth and Rami's 9th-floor apartment by 5:00. Beth was waiting for us when we drove into their parking garage and Kaia, their dog, was just as happy to see us when we opened the apartment door.

Mom And Daughter

It was good to see Beth and especially Rami because he was not able to visit Chautauqua this summer. He quickly pulled out a nice bottle of white for Evie and made his specialty, Old Fashions, for the two of us. After a long drive, it was a perfect way to kick back, knowing, too, that I won't have to drive for five more days. Yippee. Dinner was an old recipe from the 1980s Silver Palate Cookbook, Chicken Marbella, with olives, capers, and prunes. We have not had it in ages and forgot how good it was. For dessert, we had homemade apple pie with ice cream to top the evening off. We left at 8:15, exhausted but happy to be in Dallas with family. We both were in bed by 9:00.

Night Lights

 

Dallas Ho

Lunch

It's 6:30 in our terrible Holiday Inn, Memphis. I am downstairs getting coffee after our Keurig kind of exploded when we started it up. Just one of the many things that went wrong with this room, like no hot water and a thermostat that wouldn't work despite three guys coming up to our room to 'fix it.' Oh, well, at least we don't have to stay here another night. 

Brief Stop At Quality Auto

Yesterday day's drive was uneventful, even really good. We stopped in Jackson, about two hours out of Nashville to have our brakes checked. We could not have found a better, nicer place. They checked our brakes, said they were safe but we would need new rotors and pads soon. They did not charge us for pulling off the wheels and looking at the brakes and recommended places to get barbecue in Memphis. We left smiling, ready to visit Memphis. 

We arrived around 1:00, took our bags upstairs, freshened up and coincidentally, the most famous Memphis barbecue place was literally next door, to Charlie Vergos's Rendevous. We walked in, and picked a seat at the bar in one of the many rooms, every stitch of walls covered with memorabilia from its opening in 1948. I ordered a barbecue sandwich, Evie a Greek salad, and we sat there, watching an older black gentleman, wash the glasses in the 20-foot-long bar. Yep, they had a dishwashing machine inside the oval bar. The waiters were all black and efficient and looked like they had been serving for quite a while. We took photos of each of the rooms, then were on our way to Beale Street, a ten-minute walk away. We just wanted to get a feel for the area and checked out various restaurants and bars to see which we might want to go to at night. We met a guy and patron outside a restaurant and they were fun to talk with and we took their photo because they were both so nice 

Come Into Our Restaurant

Beale Street At Night

We walked back to our room and relaxed as workers came up to fix our heating and hot water three times. Each time they left they said to watch the heat go down. Well, it didn't nor did the hot water come on. We tried to relax, took cold or lukewarm showers, and were on our way back to Beale Street by 5:45. We picked B, B, Kings for dinner, and because they had music starting at 4:30. Surprisingly, they charged us ten bucks a piece just to come in despite the fact we were having dinner. We sat at the bar, had a great waitress/bartender and, unfortunately, the band was loud and brassy, band we did not much like their music, all recommendations from the patrons. The food was decent. I had a blackened catfish and shrimp over rice and Evie had a hot chicken sandwich with fries. 

Home Of The Blues

We stayed till the band stopped then walked down a moderately busy Beale Street to the bar I wanted to visit, The Rum Boogie Cafe. It was a great choice as the Eric Hughes Band, four of them, played most blues and some of their own songs like our favorite "Did You Have To Take The Dog, Too? 

Eric Hughes Singing The Blues

The Band

A Buffalo Bills Fan

We first sat at the bar but it was hard to see the band so we then found a table in the front row and enjoyed their music until 8:45. We also had a great conversation with the black guitarist who stopped at our table to thank us for smiling as he played. He even turned out to be a Buffalo Bills fan. We were home by 9:15, happy to have found a great band, and were ready for an early bedtime.

 

On To Memphis

Marisa And Her Granny

It's 6:45 and I am in the Vanderbilt Hampton Inn, sitting in their basement breakfast room along with probably 15 other hungry patrons, watching ESPN with no view out the windows. Still, I slept pretty well, not waking until 6:30, really 7:30 EST.

We left from our good friends, Joe and Mary Lou's, at 8:00, hoping to get to Nashville by 2:00. We forgot the time change, however, so we ended up arriving at our hotel at 1:00 which was not a problem because we were able to relax until we left to see our granddaughter, Marisa at 3:30 in her dorm apartment. The drive, fortunately, was uneventful and before we hit some sunshine in Tennessee, we ran into rain and some sleet around Louisville. And like yesterday, it seemed like a truck holiday as they dominated the route south to Nashville. What made it worst was the work on the roads, as they were blasting through what looked like hills of rocks to make a third lane much of the way.

Once we got to our room we were lucky to be able to check in early. We both took showers, relaxed and I was even to take a short nap. We met Marisa at 3:00 and she took us up to her dorm apartment where she and her two roommates live. She shares a fairly small bedroom with her roommate, from last year, but they have a large living area and kitchen making up for the small bedroom. It was great to see her and we just sat around talking until 5:30, catching up on her life, her tough courses like organic chemistry. She tried to explain what she was doing in that class and all we thought was we were glad we never took it.

She had suggested a Turkish restaurant called Anatolia, about a 15-minute drive away. We made it in 20 twenty in crazy, crowded rush-hour traffic. The restaurant had a Turkish feel, with kilims on its walls, a couple looking like kilims we have. We liked our Turkish garcon bey (waiter) and talked to him about the good old days in Istanbul in the1970s and 1980s and how it has lost its soul 21st century of untamed growth and wealth. The menu had many Turkish delicacies and Evie and I both ordered our favorite, Iskender Kebab, basically shaved beef/lamb, over pita bread, covered with tomato sauce and yogurt. Marisa had lentil soup, veggie kebabs, and rice pudding for dessert. Evie and I also shared a bowl of lentil soup and toasted shredded wheat soaked in sugar and honey water for dessert. We left happy and full. We dropped Marisa off at her dorm, hugged and said we would see her in three days.

Turkish Delight

We arrived back at our Hampton at 8:00, watched TV, and relaxed until 9;30, feeling guilty that we did not hit the music bars but both of us were too tired and were happy to go to bed early, at 9:30. Today, we have to stop at an auto repair shop to have our squealing brakes checked out. Despite the fact that they were supposed cleaned and checked on Friday, they make this loud, obnoxious squeal when we pull to a stop. Fortunately, we only have a three-hour drive to Memphis.