"Exotic Locations...like Kansas"

So, we went to Kansas last week for vacation.  Yes, Kansas.  Why do you ask?  First, Mark has a friend from his deployment who is at UK in Lawrence and wanted to visit him  Second, we found some nice golf courses.  So why not?

With the holiday falling on Tuesday, Mark managed to have 6 days without using vacation time.  Me, since I'm an hourly consultant, I just took the time without pay.  We got up on Friday morning and made our way west.

We had a dinner date with Doctrine Man and his wife that night.  It was neat to finally meet him, especially since he and Mark had become friends in Iraq.    It was fun to see the cartoon the next day:

However, to step back a few hours...As I was trying to figure out some logistics for our golf (such as departure time), I realized that maybe I shouldn't have trusted Mark with all the details.  While he did a great job getting us tee times on the top 2 golf courses in Kansas, he missed a minor detail...they were both on the outskirts of Wichita, not Kansas City or Lawrence.  So we had a 2.5-3 hour drive to each of them.  Oh-well, now to rearrange dinner and figure out other things to do.  Luckily, we were able to figure out both.

First was Flint Hills:

Scissor Tail Flycatcher.

We also saw Mississippi Kites, however I was unable to get a good photo of the Kites.  Turns out we were in an extreme north region of their range.  It was neat to see them flying around catching bugs mid-air.

On Sun, we headed down to Prairie Dunes:

After golf, we headed to Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve to hike around a bit.  While we were hoping to see some bison, it was still a great experience.

Mark looking at what we later determined were Nighthawks

So as the sun was setting, we were headed down the trail to the car and heard a 'brrrrrt' come within feet of our heads.  It sounded like a mini A-10 buzzing us!  We watched this bird diving and swooping for quite a bit making a very distinct 'ping' sound.  Upon getting back to the hotel, we did some research based on the sound and photos to find out that we had been observing a Nighthawk!  What a neat experience.

On Tuesday, we woke to rain.  Actually, given that our hotel room didn't have a window to the outside, we didn't realize it was raining till we went down for breakfast.  Watching the radar, we realized that our plans to play Kansas City CC were a wash-out.   So we looked west and found Colbert Hills in Manhattan.

So, you may ask where the title of this post comes from. Mark and I have this joke when he is picking on me.  I always tell him to be nice to me.  This time his response was "I'm always nice to you, I take you to exotic locations...like Kansas".  What a great quote!  It was fun watching the faces of those who asked what we were doing in KS.  Telling them we were on vacation got a priceless reaction.

We headed home on Wed as planned, however, when we stopped for gas and lunch, the airplane had other ideas.  The starter decided that it wanted to be replaced.  So we got an extra day of relaxing.  oh-well.

Flying

Okay, this is a bit overdone, but I kinda like it...

Grandma's 90th

My grandma celebrated her 90th birthday this week.  She wanted a party and that is what she got!

 (I'm only holding the dog to allow grandma some time to eat her cake)

 Eight of the nine grandchildren (unfortunately Chris was delayed by circumstances). 

She had a great time visiting with family and friends.  Thanks to all who helped arrange this great event.

United States Military Academy (West Point)

I had a chance to visit United States Military Academy at West Point this week for the first time ever.  What a neat place with a great history.

Orchids are blooming!

I got this Paphiopedilum in 2016 with a bud on it, but the bud died before it could open (turns out I didn't water it enough).  So imagine my excitement when I noticed not one, but two stems coming up!  I asked the orchid society what to do to make sure I didn't kill it this time.  Now the bud has opened!  It's also got a second flower (in addition to the other stem).

In addition, one of the orchids that I bought in UT has a bud on it (the first in about 2 years).  That should bloom in about 3 weeks given my experience from before with this particular plant.  Finally, the phalaenopsis that Terri and Bill Stockman gave me for my retirement has also re-bloomed spectacularly:

Misc photos

Flowing river:

Roots (there was a cool red reflection on these from the water, I tried to capture it, but not sure I did)

Flying

What a treat to fly to GA this weekend.  Flying home today, I was able to pull the canopy back and take a few aerial shots of the Georgia Death Race 'course'  It's somewhere in those hills....