Month: May 2015

Voluntary visitors

Last weekend we had a special treat:  a visitor who came to KC just to see us!  Don’t get me wrong – I love it when people stop by because they are in KC on business or passing through on their way somewhere else.  But for the first time someone who doesn’t share my DNA came to KC on purpose!

Erin and I have been friends for 30 years – since our junior year in college – and we have traveled the globe together and she did me the honor of being a bridesmaid when Frank and I got married.  It had been far too long since we had seen each other (10+ years?) so when I got the FB message asking if I minded company for Memorial Day weekend, I was elated.

So the planning began:  how to best spend 3 days catching up with an old friend and still enjoying what KC has to offer?  Erin arrived from Denver late on Friday night (after many travel travails!) and we slept in on Saturday.  Lots of pancakes and bacon fueled us for a trip to the River Market and an an exploration of the early farmer’s market offerings.  Then a trip north to Weston – a lovely little Missouri town with quaint shops, a passable winery, a local distillery, and a brewery that produces hard root beer – sold!

IMG_1127 We wandered the shops – lots of local art work and other interesting collections of stuff, including the storefront for McCormick Distilling,the oldest continuously operating distillery in the U.S. and maker of 360 Vodka and other liquors. A few samples led to the purchase of some whiskey, mandarin vodka, and Ke-Ke beach – a lime cream liqueur.  Think key lime Baily’s…. Yum! Then we wandered to the Pirtle Winery – it’s in an old church building, the tastings are free and the wine is palatable.  Erin had several bottles shipped back to Denver and we replenished our supply of port.  A final stop at O’Malley’s Pub – retail outlet for Weston Brewing Company – and we found ourselves in an old beer celler style room (down several flights of stairs from street level with no windows and thick stone walls) where we could watch live music and enjoy Row Hard Root Beer on draft.  And so we did.

Emerging back to the light, we found ourselves in the middle of a local car show and Frank was in heaven chatting with local car enthusiasts about their cars. His favorite was the hand assembled, air-cooled diesel rat rod truck.   I thought it was butt ugly but what do I know.  We finished the evening with the obligatory barbecue dinner: Jack Stack’s take out of ribs and burnt ends, complete with cheesy corn.  A few drinks made with our Weston purchases and a viewing of Stripes put day 1 in the books.

On Sunday, the weather forecast was of utmost concern as we had tickets to the Royals game.  IMG_1131The prognoses did not look good but we waited until the last minute to pick up snacks and head to the K.  The rain held off long enough to get the game in but my boys in blue were not successful.  They lost to the Cardinals and unfortunately we were surrounded by St. Louis fans so it felt more like we were the visiting team rather than the home team.  Not a typical experience at the K unfortunately.

The evening plans included dinner at Tannin – a favorite of ours.  Four course dinner with wine pairings.  The sommelier reminds me of a physics post doc at Berkeley – jeans, loping stride, Birkenstocks – but his recommendations are always spot on and we rolled out of the restaurant well fed and watered.

And just in time to see the fireworks from the nearby Celebration at the Station – the annual Memorial Day outdoor symphony performance at Union Station.  We decided to pass on the concert in the rain with 50,000 others and headed instead to the Green Lady Lounge – a KC jazz bar and institution.  Unfortunately, most of the rest of KC (and some Cardinals fans!) headed there as well and while the music was wonderful, the crowds were a bit hard to handle.  There were only 2 bartenders who were run off their feet.  A couple of drinks and some great jazz and it was time to call it a day.

Day 3 started sunny for a change!  After breakfast we decided to do a tour de fountains. IMG_0589 KC is “the city of fountains” so the top went down on the convertible and we drove all over into parts of the city that we had never been to.  Unfortunately, the clouds began to assemble and we decided to head to the Plaza for some lunch.  Apparently you can’t say you’ve been to KC until you’ve been to the Plaza so we checked that box.  We emerged from lunch to sunshine again and so off to the Nelson-Atkins Sculpture garden to get our Vitamin D and some culture.  A quick stop a the grocery store was next to prepare for dinner.

And what could possibly make the weekend any better?  More visitors!  And from Colorado!  MoIMG_1127 and Brett were driving their “Rolling Palace” east for vacation and KC was a logical stop.  We hadn’t seen them for years either and so fabulous KC steaks on our back deck were enjoyed by all before Mo and Brett headed back to their sumptuous home on wheels and we prepared to say goodbye to Erin at an inhumane hour the next morning.

So now we have some experience with non-family visitors and we are ready for more!  Thank you Erin for making the effort to come visit and being patient with our new tour guide status – it was wonderful to see you and be able to spend time catching up.  And show off our new hometown (which Erin declared delightful and surprising).

Who’s next?  We’re ready!

New beginnings, old friends, and family

Duncan Francis Cannon, bachelor of science in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry, ACS certification, and with university distinction.  

  
 Those were the words we came to Charlottesville to hear and I confess that I got a bit teary.

We flew into DCA on Friday, scheduling Jesse’s flight to land within 30 minutes of ours. Of course she landed at the opposite end of the airport from us so finding each other was a comedy sketch of cell phone geolocation: “No, where are you? I don’t see a Dunkin Donuts. What do you mean you are downstairs? There is no downstairs. Meet us at the rental car counter. What? There has to be a sign for rental cars. No, I don’t think you need to take a bus. Are you sure you’re at the same airport as us?”

Eventually we found each other, the rental car, and the way out of the airport and ran straight into a DC landmark – traffic. We were trying to get out of the city at 3pm on a Friday afternoon. Well that was stupid planning on my part. The drive to Charlottesville that usually took just over 2 hours lasted 3.5 and we barely made it to the bed and breakfast before the 7pm check in deadline. Luckily we are longstanding customers at the Foxfield Inn (can’t recommend it highly enough BTW) so Dan and Katheryn still met us with hugs and a smiles – and a much needed glass of wine!  Then off to greet the graduate, score some dinner and rest up for the big day. 

Saturday arrived warm and sunny  and threatening thunderstorms. We found seats on the lawn in the shade and watched the endless parade of graduates stream in. It took more than  30 minutes for everyone in caps and gowns to process from the rotunda to their seats in front of Old Cabell Hall.  

 Then the black robed mass sat in the sun for 90 minutes of speeches and it was done. The commencement speaker was Govemor Terry McAuliffe who was entertaining and mercifully short and yet still managed to piss off the conservatives in the audience with references to reproductive rights, gay marriage, and female presidential candidates. 

We had several hours before the department ceremony where we would hear his name so off to get pizza and beer in the frightful heat.  

 Cap and gown donned again for the walk across the stage with the other 107 undergraduates, dozen or so Masters degrees, and another dozen PhDs to be hooded. I don’t remember  much from my ceremony – other than it was unbearably hot for Wisconsin in May – but I’m pretty sure my advisor did not wax eloquently about my research and present my hood. Then again, it was 19 years earlier almost to the day so it’s likely that such details have been lost to my memory. 

After more “Pomp and Circumstance” than anyone should be forced to endure, we were free to put on comfy clothes and really celebrate. And where do Cannon’s do that, especially in May? The Melting Pot of course! My mother’s favorite place to not eat nearly enough and still complain about being full. Funnily enough, we were two tables away from the Conover clan. Jeremy and Duncan have been friends since 3rd grade and shared an apartment one year so it seemed fitting that we should meet them by happenstance. We then rolled out of the restaurant and the young folks played Mario cart until the wee hours while the old folks waddled off to bed. 

Sunday was cloudy, somewhat rainy, and still hot but we were no longer required to follow a particular dress code so comfy was the order of the day. Frank and Duncan spent some time replacing the radiator and brake master cylinder in Duncan’s car (whose name is Steve BTW) and then we were off to another of our favorite destinations: a winery!  We found ourselves at the Trump winery which we had not been to since he took it over from the Kluge family. We were not fans of the wine when they owned it so we were not holding out much hope now. 

And yet we were pleasantly surprised. We genuinely liked all the wines, some more than others, and purchased a bottle of the sparkling rose to share with friends we were meeting there. Duncan has gone to Sunday school with Kate for as long as either of them can remember and over the years we have had the honor of calling the Rozelsky’s our friends. We hadn’t seen them since the move to KC last summer so we passed a pleasant hour or so catching up, talking about plans for after graduation since Kate had also just graduated and we helped celebrate her 22nd birthday. (It would have been my mom’s 77th so a drink seemed appropriate. Miss you mom.)

  Then we indulged ourselves in the other thing we miss in MO besides good local wines: mountains. We drove through the foothills of the Appalachians and found ourselves at Devils Backbone Brewery for dinner. The food was excellent, the boys declared the beer delicious and we followed the meal with a wander along Rockfish Creek before heading back into town. A brief stop at Duncan’s pigsty, er, house to congratulate the other graduates and their families then Frank and I headed back to the B&B so that the youngsters could have their time together.  

And now we head back to KC, Jesse heads back to Vermont, and Duncan continues to ponder what his next adventure is . It is unlikely that the four of us will be together again in Virginia any time soon so it was nice to have had some family time there. Let’s see where our other family adventures take us next.  You can be sure the Bow Tie Brigade will be there.