After a non-stop deluge of activity around here (and none of it particularly exciting) I have a bit of time to chat.
Just to catch you up a bit....we have been on a never ending "remodel" of our house. What started out with the intention of remodeling one bathroom but that quickly morphed into multiple rooms getting a major "redo". Clearly, we are insane.
If my mind and house weren't in enough chaos, we had out-of-town guests for a few days last week. Now...don't misunderstand me! I love having guests. Truly, I do! Just come and visit me and I will prove it to you. BUT...and this is a fairly hefty BUT....it is often hard to entertain people that are very different in their interests and/or tastes than you are. No criticism, you understand. It's just a case of different strokes for different folks.
This became painfully clear last week while trying to entertain people that live very differently in every aspect than we do. That is not to say that their life is any better or worse than ours... but just different than ours. Living in a large metropolitan city of over 3 million people is not everyone's lifestyle choice. I get it!! Traffic, congestion, lack of personal space seems to make people crazy if they are used to rural living. I totally understand that. I have lived in rural areas and small towns and find the peaceful, wide-open spaces wonderful. Unfortunately, if you are staying in my guest room, I can't remove it from the geographical area of Kansas City.
Which is leading me to today's subject. If you were in a new location (even if it was for a few days) aren't you even a least bit curious about "what's things are interesting?", "what is there to do?" or "what is there to eat?" Are you a curious person????
Hubby and I are both major players on team "curiosity". We are the type of people that drive the back roads to wherever we go, pull off the road to read historical markers, and visit museums that no one would actually consider to be a "real" museum. In cities that we are unfamiliar with, we seek out the local points of interest with the same fervor that the FBI tracks down one of the most wanted.
The subject of how different people's level of participation in "things to do and see" became evident recently when we were visiting a local museum here in KC in the River Market part of town. There is a museum here that houses a pre-Civil War steamboat, paddle wheeler (Steamboat Arabia) that was dug up from 45 foot under the Missouri River. It sunk in 1856 while hauling 222 TONS of pre-Civil War goods to towns along the Missouri River. Thanks to the glorious mud that sealed off all manner of air and light, the cargo came up not showing a bit of wear and tear. Well...except for a mule that went down with the ship....he doesn't look quite as good as he did when the boat sank.
Anyhow...as I was saying about people with regards to their level of curiosity...there were a couple of people from New York in the tour that were totally fascinated by the artifacts and asked a lot of questions. (LOVED THEM!) and they mentioned that they had dragged their Kansas City relatives whom they were visiting to see the museum. The Kansas kin folk had never visited the museum and it was apparent to me and anyone that saw them there was a definite lack of enthusiasm on their part for the sight of an enormous paddlewheel that was hauled out of the muck of the Missouri River.
Two days later while we continued to force-feed our guests more KC tourist attractions, we signed up for the Boulevard Brewery tour. AGAIN... I see different levels of enthusiasm among the crowd for drinking free beer. OK...even if Boulevard Wheat or Pale Ale isn't your alcoholic cup of tea...IT's FREE!!! Let's show some enthusiasm, folks.
I realize this need to see all that is to be seen stems from a long line of curious kin folk. You might remember in long ago written posts, that even as a small child riding around on the rear deck of my dad's old car (safety be damned in the 50's and 60's) we stopped to see every Civil War site, haunted house, cave, or "odd" museum that was in the continental U.S. If there was a point of interest to be seen off of some random state highway, it beckoned us to stop and savor it's greatness. There hardly exists a state that I haven't traveled the back roads to see some funky and unusual "claim to fame".
So, my blogger friends...I invite you to come to visit any ole time you want but beware that you will be wrangled into eating at old dive barbecue joints, visit random museums, traipse around Country Club Plaza and you may possibly be forced to drink free beer. Don't say I haven't warned you. I hope you like adventures.
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