Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition (Kansas City) - April 2022

Immersive art exhibits are the new hot thing and I've been wanting to go to one, but the only ones that have been available have been Van Gogh (not a fan of the Impressionists) and Frida Khalo (would have loved to see that one but it was in Dallas and not at a convenient time for us to get away). I was super pumped when I learned that there would be an experience in Kansas City... on our anniversary month... when we had a legitimate excuse to go somewhere and do something nice. Perfect!!

I always assumed the snake from the Adam & Eve story was a traditional snake. Michelangelo painted him as half snake and half human. I guess that makes more sense since snakes can't talk or have hands to hold apples. 

The Chapel Sistine (I guess they couldn't legally call it the Sistine Chapel) exhibit was advertised as a floor to ceiling reproduction of each of Michelangelo's frescos. I guess it wasn't exactly "immersive" since it didn't have any projections, lights, or 3-D effects, but it was still supposed to be a larger-than-life experience. Sadly, it wasn't. 😕 I still REALLY really enjoyed it, but the marketing was a little misleading. 

The exhibit had licensed reproductions of each one of the frescos. They were laid out in order from one corner of the ceiling to the other. Each one had an accompanying map that showed where it is located on the ceiling and a brief explanation of the painting and it's artistic and religious significance. I think they were reproduced using a mix of photography and a high-tech printing technique.

My favorite frescos were the three creation ones (Separation of land from sea, Separation of light from darkness, and Creation of the sun, moon, and planets). The Separation of light from darkness fresco is unique in that we're seeing God rising above us. The perspective in the other frescos show us looking straight onto the scene. Wes thought the "from below" perspective of Separation of light from darkness was neat but he said that the Sistine Chapel wasn't his thing. He isn't into religious art and said the colors were too dull. I really enjoyed it. The frescos are gorgeous!! I thought the reproductions were amazingly well detailed and it was cool that we could see the cracks in the paint and original brushstrokes; I also thought it was neat that you could tell which frescos have been restored more than others.  

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Country Club Plaza (Kansas City) - April 2022

Wes & I have been married for 7 years!! 💖💟👫💘💕 We went out for a nice dinner on our actual anniversary date and took a quick weekend trip to Kansas City for more celebrations. (Side note: Dallas, TX was my favorite quick weekend road trip destination, but Kansas City, MO & KS has overtaken it; just as much fun stuff to do, restaurants, culture & art but with waaaaay less traffic and construction.) We went to the Country Club Plaza shops in search of a new leather and/or bomber jacket for me. Wes bought me one ages ago when we first started dating and it finally got to the point where it desperately had to be replaced. I should have known that the shops would be showing their spring looks and there wouldn't be any jackets for sale but oh well. 🤷 While we were there, we ate at a bunch of restaurants (my sole reason for travelling) and visited the Sistine Chapel art exhibit (more on that in next week's blog post).

This was our third trip to the Country Club Plaza but our first time to actually spend a day walking around. The Plaza has a mix of high-end shops, restaurants, boutiques, and a lot of outdoor art. We went into a few of the shops but mostly just window shopped. The only things we bought were for the dogs. LOL A majority of the shops close at 7pm so if you really want to shop & explore, it will probably take two days of walking around. 

Since it was springtime/Easter season, there were lots of rabbit statues everywhere. They were each named, which I thought was cute. There was also a "Heart of KC" exhibit where storefronts each had a heart painted in the theme of what they sell. 

Outdoor art is definitely cool, but the highlight of our vacations is always the food. 🍖🍔☕🍪🍗 Our first stop was lunch at Shake Shack. My cousin (who lives in Australia) recommended that we eat at Shake Shack when we took our road trip to Las Vegas about 7 years ago and that recommendation always stuck with me. We ate at the one on the Strip and it has been my favorite burger place since. Too bad there isn't one in Oklahoma. 😔 Earlier that week, Wes & I had a conversation where we ranked fries in order of preference. Crinkle cut fries were on the bottom of my list. I had forgotten that Shake Shack's fried are crinkle cut and I was momentarily disappointed but theirs are sooooo good. I suppose crinkle cut fries aren't the worse anymore. Our lunch was so awesome. I would rank it as the best meal we had the entire weekend. 😋

I've decided that two things I need on each & every vacation is a tokodoki brand Unicorno figurine and boba tea. We got my Unicorno at Barnes & Noble and then headed to Bruu for boba tea. Their drink special was the Anchan strawberry milk tea with rainbow jellies. I had no idea what an Anchan strawberry tastes like but the drink in the picture was really pretty so I ordered it. It was delicious!! 😋 Probably the best flavored milk tea I've had in a while. The rainbow jellies weren't as good as traditional boba but still very tasty. Bruu didn't have any dairy-free options, so Wes went and got a cold brew at Made in KC Marketplace. It was a neat shop that had a café, bar, and all local goods. It had the cutest mugs and t-shirts, jewelry, candles, etc. Great place for souvenir shopping, but we didn't buy anything (we suck as tourists LOL).

For dinner, we went to Fogo de Chão. I was unaware of this highly popular steakhouse, but Wes said it was top notch. Oklahoma has Texas de Brazil so I was at least familiar with the Brazilian churrascaria concept. Maybe it was because we went on prom weekend and maybe it was because the restaurant was insanely busy, but I was NOT impressed. The food was similar to Texas de Brazil; it was good but not worth all the hype. The only things that stood out were that the lamb and chicken were marinated in a different (maybe tastier) blend of spices and they served this amazing grilled mozzarella dipped in honey.  Wes really liked our meal. I did too; I am not saying anything bad about the yummy grilled meats, but the vibe of the restaurant really ruined it for me. 

We had made reservations for 8:15pm but had to wait a while to get seated. Strike one. The restaurant itself was filthy. Strike two. The bathrooms were a disaster and there was food and trash on the dining room floor. The marketplace salad bar wasn't fully stocked, and our waitress forgot to bring out one of the complimentary side dishes. 😒 And, the bar was out of gin so they couldn't make the cocktail I ordered (a featured cocktail on the menu... so I was unsure why or how they could be out of the essential ingredient to make it). Strike three. After dinner, we headed back to the Intercontinental hotel. This has been our hotel for each of our Kansas City trips. Its very nice and literally across the street from the Plaza. You can park in the hotel parking garage and walk, which is the only way to do it since parking and driving in the Plaza is a nightmare. 

Before we went, we took a look at the Plaza directory and picked out the restaurants we wanted to try. One was Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro (a Brazilian bakery). We wanted to go there for breakfast and coffee so that was the plan for the next morning. We waited around until it opened... then waited about five minutes more... and then another few minutes. After a while, we decided that either its hours needed updating or it was out-of-business. So instead, we went to Messenger Coffee Co. for breakfast. We both wanted a chorizo burrito but they were out of chorizo so I got a chocolate chip toffee cookie & a chai tea and Wes just got a cold brew. My cookie was really good, but the chai had too much cinnamon in it. It was my fault, the barista asked if I wanted cinnamon and I said yes. Wes said his cold brew was good but not as good as the one from Made in KC Marketplace.

We also went to the Sistine Chapel exhibit but that will be for another post. We drove about an hour out of our way to go to Auntie Rita's Jamaican restaurant for lunch on our way home. We had planned to go there when we drove to Lincoln for the Ghost concert, but I was horribly sick and we had to skip. We made our way to downtown Salina, KS and everything looked closed. 😓 I checked and double checked the restaurant's hours online and it said they were open, so we parked and walked in. We were literally the only customers in the entire place. It was 3pm on a Sunday so admittedly a weird time to eat but still... I've never eaten at a restaurant where there was no one else in the dining room. The guy behind the counter was extremely friendly and gave us some pointers on what to order since we've never had Jamaican food and were from out of town. I got the BBQ pork and Wes got the jerk pork meal. We got the "regular" size and the portions were ginormous!! I can't imagine what a large meal consists of. We both really liked the food and I even ate the plantains (which I don't like). Wes said that he liked that the coleslaw was marinated in vinegar and blend of spices instead of traditional coleslaw dressing.

Overall, a fun and appetizing weekend getaway. Happy anniversary 💗 and looking forward to 70 more years of being married. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Lincoln, NE (musuems) - February 2022

 

American Museum of Speed

International Quilt Museum

International Quilt Museum (but with pictures of quilts this time LOL)

About a month ago, Wes & I drove to Lincoln, Nebraska for a Ghost concert; we also ate some good food and visited a couple of museums. We went to the American Museum of Speed and the International Quilt Museum. We visited one per day but they're both pretty small so if you're short on time, they can be fit into a one-day museum excursion. Both were really interesting, enjoyable and worth going to if you're travelling through.

The American Museum of Speed was advertised as a hotrod and racecar museum but there were a lot fewer cars than I thought there would be. The entire first floor and some of the second floor were filled with automobiles, but the other (larger) part of the second floor was filled with random things like car parts & engines, movie posters (Wes has seen all the car & racing themed movies, I had seen none. LOL) and retro lunchboxes. The entire third floor was a display of vintage pedal cars for children and model & toy cars.  

My favorite "car" was the above pictured solar racecar. It looked crazy and tiny. The driver must have been bone-thin to be able to fit in that slender machine. I've never seen anything like it, nor did I know that solar racing across deserts was a thing so that's why I thought it was so cool. Wes said he didn't have a favorite car but the museum had all of the cars and models that he wanted to see, so he enjoyed it overall.

Another thing that I really liked (and was surprised by the fact that I enjoyed walking through the exhibit) were the pedal cars for children. I usually think model cars are boring but these ones weren't. They looked like exact replicas of what the actual cars were. I'm not sure if kids ride around in pedal cars nowadays but I'm pretty sure they don't do it in cars that looked as neat as these ones. I was very jealous. 

The International Quilt Museum looked huge from the outside but there weren't that many quilts in it. There were several galleries, but we were in & out in less than an hour. There probably could have been more quilts if the ones on display weren't GINORMOUS. I have never seen quilts so large in my entire life (and I see roughly 5-10 beautiful king-sized quilts per month at my sewing club's "sew & share" sessions)!! Only one or two quilts could fit on each gallery wall at the museum. As we were walking through the museum, the main thought running through my mind was, "How did the artists make these without losing any pieces???" People who quilt are so talented and have my utmost admiration. Each quilt on display had won some sort of award. There were all different styles of quilts represented. I only recognized the traditional ones with quilt block patterns. 

The featured gallery was a selection "modern" quilts. They were all really cool and innovative, but my favorite gallery was the first one we walked into. I don't remember the entire story, but the artist's son got really sick and was in the hospital; she started making these fabric collages depicting fireworks and she made them throughout the time he was ill. They were made from both fabric and other mixed media. They were stunning. The gallery had wooden lawn chairs for people to sit in to look at the quilts and it really did give the feeling of staring up at a fireworks show. 

Tied for my favorite gallery was the last gallery we saw. A mixed media artist made a children's book titled My Bed. Each page showed a child's bedroom from a different part of the world. The author did a lot of research to ensure the dioramas were as accurate as possible. Yes, they were adorable, but what made me really enjoy looking at them were the materials she used. Along with researching sleeping conditions around the world, she also researched fabric and art materials used in each country. She incorporated the appropriate materials into each collage. She used so many interesting things: feathers, jewelry, hair, beads and other textiles. 

Sorry the pictures are bad. The dioramas were behind glass and there was a glare.

So that concludes our road trip to Nebraska. Next on the list is a spring craft show (Alpaca Farm Days on April 2nd; I'll be posting updates on my social media). We hope to travel more this year but have nothing planned, yet. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Ghost - February 2022

 

Ghost

Volbeat

The main reason why Wes & I ended up in Nebraska was to see Ghost in concert. [Who knows why they chose to play in the middle of nowhere in the Midwestern United States, but they did... and I'm pretty sure they didn't enjoy it. Don't feel bad, Nameless Ghouls, I didn't like Nebraska, either.]  Back in August of 2021, Wes found out that Ghost would be touring in 2022. Ghost is the last band on his "must see live" list so, obviously, we'd have to attend a concert. The closest they'd be playing to Oklahoma was Texas, but those shows were on dates that conflicted with Wes's job's blackout dates so he wouldn't be able to take time off work. The next closest concert venue was the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, NE. We haven't travelled to Nebraska so we thought this might be a fun opportunity to cross another state off our bucket list.

The concert was great! 🤘 I have never heard of Ghost, so to prepare myself, I added them to Pandora and listened to a bunch of their songs. This is the same strategy I took before we went to see Judas Preist and Iron Maiden. LOL Of the three, I'd say I enjoyed Ghost more than Iron Maiden but not as much as Judas Priest. Wes loved it!! He said they played all of the songs he wanted to hear (except for maybe 2 but he knew they wouldn't play those songs anyway).

The opening band for the concert was Twin Temple. They're a jazz/rockabilly duo who's show reenacted fake & silly satanic ritual. They came out and anointed us in the name of Satan, then sang a few cheesy songs (with lyrics that included, "let's all love Satan," "I'm evil" and chanted 666), then closed with another cult-like ritual. It was pretty terrible, extremely weird and overall cringeworthy. Wes said the performance was supposed to be a gag, like a Saturday Night Live skit. The only good part about them was their saxophonist, who was really talented and made me wonder why he's working with them. LOL

After that disaster, the real show started. The tour featured Ghost and Volbeat, but Wes didn't tell me that it was a double headliner show. I spent all my time listening to/familiarizing myself with Ghost and didn't know a single one of Volbeat's songs. I didn't even know that Volbeat was a band until they came on stage. (Yes, I'm a terrible "fan".) Volbeat was SO GOOD! They were loud but not screamy (like other rock/metal bands), they were super fun on stage and smiled & waved a lot, and I actually liked them more than Ghost. 

They had a large screen that showed videos that went along with their songs. The best one was a song dedicated to the lead singer's wife and children that had random mixed media collages. The other one that was really good was the song dedicated to the lead singer's late father. Sadly, I don't remember the names to these songs, but I took lots of pictures. LOL Other thoughts - One of the bandmates looked like an older rock & roll version of AJ from the Backstreet Boys. They brought out a jazz pianist and saxophonist for one of their songs and jazz metal became my new favorite thing. Volbeat cured my stomach virus. I felt terrible all day up until about their third or fourth song. 

I enjoyed Volbeat so much that I decided to start listening to their music when we got home. I have to admit they are amazing live but awful on the radio. Wes says that they are overly produced on their albums, but the lead singer has such a good voice so that makes it really unnecessary. I completely agree. The singles I heard sounded like Puddle of Mudd, Staind, and all the other disgusting rock bands I don't like. I am so glad I saw them in concert first.

At a little after 10pm, Ghost came on. The arena was pretty empty (maybe a little over half capacity) until then. It filled up a bit but there definitely wasn't the crowd that the band was expecting. I think that affected their vibe and energy of the show. Ghost's "gimmick" is that the lead singer is the leader of a band of nameless/faceless ghouls. Everyone in the band is covered from head to toe in costume. The lead singer is, too, and he wears face paint and a latex mask. I loved the ghouls--they interacted a lot with the crowd and played around with each other--but I kind of felt bad for them. Their costumes and gas masks seemed super uncomfortable under the stage lights and pyrotechnics. The lead singer told us that after the show, instead of partying, he'd be taking a violent shower. I totally would, too! LOL 

The lead singer had a few costume changes. My favorite was a glittery teal tuxedo jacket. He wore bat wings in one of his costumes but didn't flap his arms like a bat, which was a little disappointing. I enjoyed all of the lasers and confetti. One of the confetti cannons shot out fake bills with the ghouls' faces printed on along with gold confetti. I tried to catch one of the bills but couldn't grab one. 😞 I was also really close to getting a guitar pick but it landed right next to the woman I was standing next to's foot and I didn't want to fight her for it. LOL

They played all their popular songs (which I actually knew, thanks to my pre-concert research). They played Wes's favorite songs of theirs and he really enjoyed the concert. His only complaint was that they played a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman," which is funny because he loves Metallica so I would think he'd enjoy the cover. I hate Metallica and even I enjoyed it. 😂 We both thought the setlist was a little short. I think they only played ten songs. They did tell us that they were running short on time in the middle of the show. They implied that it was the fault of city curfew, but I think they weren't having as much fun performing for us as they usually do in bigger cities, so no encore. Even with the abridged setlist, Wes & I had a good time and enjoyed the show. And now, Ghost is a regular feature on my Pandora station. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Lincoln, NE (food)- February 2022

I like to stop at the state line and have Wes get out of the car to take a picture of the "Welcome to <whatever state>!" sign but neither of us were in the mood to do anything fun after driving through snow packed roads of Oklahoma & Kansas. So instead, here is a picture of The Hub Café. 

Despite encountering obstacle after obstacle in the week prior, our first road trip of 2022 is in the books! 🚗 We drove to Lincoln, Nebraska the first week of February to see Ghost play at the Pinnacle Bank Areana. Ghost is one of Wes's favorite bands and the last on his list to see play live. We'll talk about the concert later, but first we must chat about food. 🍔🍗🍝🍨🍳 Trying new restaurants is one of my favorite parts about going on vacation. Sadly, I was sick with a stomach virus during this trip, so I barely ate anything, and we had to skip three of the restaurants I had picked out for us to try. I did not enjoy Nebraska and do not think we'll be returning so let's just hope The Parthenon, Tini Café and Auntie Rita's Jamaican Cuisine weren't as good as the internet boasted. Now onto restaurants that we did try...

The half-way point between Oklahoma City and Lincoln is Salina, KS. We stopped in Bravo Sliders-n-Bites for lunch. The building is small and unmarked (only one tiny sign--it looks big in the picture, but I was standing pretty close to it). I guess the polite way to describe this place is "no-frills" ... and no heating. The dining room was freezing! 🥶 But the food was good, and I suppose that's what matters most. I got a slider with beet slices -- something I've never tried before. Their fries are called Frips, a portmanteau of fry and chip. I got mine dusted with dill pickle seasoning, which was really good. Wes got a cheesesteak slider, a breakfast slider and regular Frips. 

We ate at Villa Amore for dinner our first night in Lincoln. It is a nice Italian restaurant attached to the Country Inn & Suites hotel. We were both pretty confused when our maps navigation took us to the hotel parking lot. LOL The food was amazing! I ignored my stomach troubles and ate so much (probably too much because I was super sick again the next day). I don't think I've drank an authentic peach Bellini until that night. I was shocked and amazed that it had actual peach puree in it (and not just peach flavoring); like the entire peach was blended and juiced into my drink! [Side note -- I am an extremely simply person and easily amazed.] We started with salad, bread (Wes said it was really good) and soup. The soup was a creamy potato bisque. For dinner, Wes had the shrimp and scallop pesto alfredo and I had one of their nightly specials: roasted eggplant with pasta and vegetables in a spicy marinara sauce. The pasta also had chunks of eggplant so double eggplant!! I was just telling Wes earlier that day that it's about time that beets & eggplant burst onto the food scene and this did not disappoint. 

For breakfast the next morning, we went to the Engine House Café. This was the first warm place I've been in since leaving our home two days prior. The restaurant is an old firehouse with exposed brick and high ceilings. Very small and cozy. Their coffee was so good (probably my favorite part of breakfast). ☕ It was a light roast but still full of flavor. I wished they had beans or K-cups for us to buy for home. I got the cinnamon roll, which I thought was way too buttery, and Wes got the standard two egg breakfast. He said the sausage patty was a little thin but he did like that it was crispy. 

We skipped lunch (stomach virus, yay 😑). It was probably 20℉ (or less) but I wanted ice cream. (402) Creamery was only a block or so away from the hotel, so we took a brisk walk for a snack that afternoon. I chose that place for its vegan/dairy-free options (for Wes) but he ended up getting real ice cream and I got one of the vegan offerings. LOL I got one of their Valentine's flavors -- the Breakup Blues, a blueberry and pomegranate sorbet with dark chocolate chunks. Yum! Wes got the snickerdoodle ice cream and he said there were too many cookie chunks in it and not enough ice cream. The spiced waffle cone piece on top was really good, too.

After the concert, we picked up dinner from Boss's Pizza & Chicken. It was the only place open past midnight that wasn't a bar. Its website boasted, "Famous late night eats!", but when we got there, it was a sketchy, old, run-down building with zero customers. There was a sign on the door instructing patrons to enter via the back door (by the dumpster and railroad tracks) when it was past 11pm ... super sketchy. I wasn't expecting much but the food was actually really good. Or I was just really hungry (my stomach started feeling better in the middle of the concert and I actually felt like eating again! Only there was no food at the venue so 😣😞😠) We got the chicken meal from Boss's. I was cracking up at the packaging because the franchisee didn't even bother to use Boss's logo/brand box. I guess Gold'n Plump had some extra boxes he didn't want to throw away. I liked the chicken because it was thoroughly spiced and flavored. Wes said it was waaaay too salty. LOL 

We got back to the hotel a little past midnight and our parking card didn't work. We paid to be able to park at the garage across the street from the hotel during our stay. Wes called the hotel and the night employee told us to (not even exaggerating) park at the meters because its free until 7am. 😶 Instead of offering to give us a new parking card or research the issue, this woman expected us to park my car on the street even though we paid for garage parking and not only that, she also expected us to get up before 7am to either move my car or pay the meter. 😡 Instead, I took a self-serve ticket at the garage and pulled in. We thought we would just clear this up with her in person when we got in. Some things are hard to explain over the phone... surely, she would be more accommodating in person. Nope. She was adamant that we did not pay for a parking card (even though Wes showed her the physical card we were issued) and since I took a self-serve ticket, I now owed an additional $11 to park my car and there was ABSOLUTELTY nothing she could do to help us. Ugh. Luckily, the manager in the morning was a million times more helpful and reactivated our parking card with no problem. 

The next morning, we had breakfast at The Hub Café. My stomach was cured and I was going to eat again!!! 😁 The Hub is a restaurant located on a really nice park/walking trail. Since it was the middle of winter, the park was sort of dead & ugly, but I bet this is a beautiful place to dine in the springtime. The farm-to-table restaurant only uses local ingredients from Nebraskan farms. Everything did taste extremely fresh. Wes said the bacon tasted like the same bacon his great-grandpa used to make when they slaughtered their own pigs. The best bacon he's had in a long time, he said. I noticed the goat cheese tasted different (aka no preservatives) than the stuff we get from the store. I got the roasted beet sandwich and it was ginormous. 🥪 Probably the size of two sandwiches. I thought it was a little bland, but I know they wanted to showcase the natural flavor of the fresh ingredients instead of hiding behind a bunch of seasonings. Wes got a cold brew coffee that he wasn't a fan of but I loved my chai latte. 

Just as my stomach virus was wanning, I started having painful menstruation cramps. (Oh the joys of endometriosis.) So needless to say, I was back to not eating. We skipped lunch and just powered on home. As I was driving through Kansas, I kept seeing signs for Lindsborg, KS aka Little Sweden, USA. I love making random stops on road trips to explore but we haven't been able to do that much due to tight schedules on our last few trips. Making unplanned stops is one of Wes's least favorite things but I really wanted to visit so he obliged. It would be nice to take a potty break not at a gas station and maybe we could get a snack. The town is tiny and we almost drove through without seeing the touristy part. There were small signs pointing toward downtown but I didn't see them; luckily Wes caught them and we turned toward Little Sweden. It took us less than an hour to walk around downtown and visit their famous Hemslojd giftshop. 

Dala horses are the town's mascot and there were replicas outside of each establishment painted to match the business. It was late Saturday afternoon when we stopped into town so most of the places were already closed. There was supposedly a Swedish cultural museum somewhere, but we couldn't find it. It was still nice to get to stretch our legs and get some fresh air, plus, I enjoyed the giftshop. I wanted to stop in the bakery but it was already closed for the day. So, we got our potty break but no snack. Back into the car we went. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and although I wasn't feeling well enough for a meal, I knew we couldn't also skip dinner. I saw Taco John's when we were driving though either Wisconsin or Missouri last year and laughed at myself. What a silly name; I bet the food is horrible. I saw Taco John's again when we drove through Salina a few days ago but this time, I was curious to try it. We needed to get gas so Wes found us a gas station/Taco John's combo in Wichita, KS.

Taco John's is not good but I wouldn't say it was bad. I rank it alongside Del Taco. The meat in the crispy tacos was mixed with refried bean paste. Good thing Wes got the soft tacos. He said they came pre-dressed with chunky "salsa".  It was a little sad to end our trip with subpar food. But, everything else we ate was good so one bad meal didn't ruin it. Aside from eating, we visited two museums and, the highlight of our trip, the concert. More on those to come!!