Dinner Date! Escargot? A Cardio-Genital Defect? Wakeeney, Kansas; Unity Village; St. Louis Events

Before departing Denver, My Lovely Bride indicated that a nice dinner out would be appreciated. The local Taco Bell was fully booked, but I found some good recommendations for an alternative restaurant on a local haute cuisine web site. It sounded decent, if a bit pricey, but it was in an eclectic neighborhood alongside tattoo parlors and across the street from Goodwill. I am not kidding… when we drove down the street, the establishment didn’t even have a sign out front. It was like walking up to a speak easy in 1931, except the bouncer/doorman with the Tommy gun was off for the night. MLB was a bit apprehensive about even leaving the car on the street… forget about valet parking… this neighborhood had drunks lying in doorways and mostly punk rockers with green hair and millennials with full-body tattoos and black nail polish. But once inside Beatrice and Woodsley, the atmosphere changed dramatically.



B&W had faux aspen trees around the booths and chainsaws holding up the bar shelves, reflecting the Oregon and Colorado history of the family that founded the restaurant. As you can see, MLB was happy to find that I could pick a good restaurant (occasionally).
















The food here was fabulous; we particularly liked the crawfish beignets, Australian sea bass and lamb rotolo… and the wine was very nice, as well.

Before we left, a trip to the head was called for. Someone has a sense of humor – this is a photo of the ceiling in the men’s room.





















One last photo from Beatrice and Woodlsley’s – this is one of the sinks outside the heads. The hot and cold water is activated by pulling down on the wooden handles on the chains on the right and left sides of the sink, which is a galvanized bucket. There is no faucet … the water runs down the chains in the middle.  Very cool! 


















Shifting gears a bit… Words can be fun. They can also be abused, misused and misconstrued. Imagine this scene: we are driving down I-70 in The Coach, and a Tesla Model S is in front of us, doing 5 mph under the 70 mph speed limit. It’s been a long day, and I would have preferred that this hot sports car (top speed about 130 mph) would at least be doing the speed limit so we can get to our campground before Happy Hour fades into total darkness. I mention to Suzanne my concerns about the parentage of the Tesla driver and the fact that he is driving a car that can outperform a Corvette, which My Lovely Bride drove until just last year. As I accelerated (yes, all 49,000 lbs and 60 feet of Coach and Honda CR-V) past the middle-aged Democrat in his Tesla, MLB said saucily, with a big grin on her face, “Well, look at that S car go…! You know, as in “snail”? I moaned,  “Oh, nooooo…. you didn’t really say that, did you???  ( Yes, Shelby, I was thinking of you as we zoomed past that guy!)

Another funny “word incident” took place at an undisclosed location… I was talking to a security guard about dogs. He mentioned that his Chihuahua/Dachshund mix (called a Chiweenie) had a serious medical problem. “Yep, little Fritz has an enlarged heart. It’s a genital defect.” I felt very sorry for Fritz, but was perplexed about the connection between his heart and, well, you know…    













After departing Denver headed east on I-70, we stopped in Wakeeney, Kansas, for the night. I love Kansas, and even had some relatives here way back when, so I am not criticizing this great state… but I can honestly say that Wakeeney is a pretty quiet place. This was the scene on the main drag at sunset… I could also show the other three directions, but they would be the same – not a car in sight. And you thought The Villages was a quiet place… 









My Lovely Bride decided to liven things up in Wakeeney by climbing the 150 foot high water tower (you can just make her out at lower right in the photo); fortunately, she heeded my sage advice about not meeting the local sheriff or spending the night in a city facility with no toilet seat and decided not to go all the way up…

There were a couple of houses in the town that took my breath away – this “fixer-upper” in particular seemed to have been designed as a bunker, probably because of the frequent tornadoes that occur here. I thought it was very cool, but MLB was less impressed…

We continued east for a brief stop in Kansas City, where we visited Unity Village, one of Suzanne’s favorite places. Here she is with our Faithful Canine Kids, Rudy and Gretchen, again at sunset, enjoying the tranquility of UV’s beautiful Mediterranean-style campus. R&G were looking for squirrels, but fortunately, they were all in hiding.













We are now in St. Louis, Missouri, for the final events of our 2016 summer tour. Our dear friends Brenda and Lynette came in to continue their summer stalking of Suzanne and attend her Serving Spirit mediumship class and a Sanaya session. These two gals are a hoot, and keep us in stitches whenever we get together. Brenda is also our book table queen – a volunteer position that Yours Truly greatly appreciates. 








Our host for Suzanne’s classes here in St. Louis is Meg Berry, owner of Silver Lining, a beautiful “inspired space” boutique in Town and Country, Missouri. Meg and her husband Mark also hosted us for a fabulous Fall harvest dinner at their home, much of which was prepared by their son, Keenan.
















The Sanaya session was held at the Center of Spiritual Living in St. Louis, where Rev. Marigene DeRusha is Senior Minister. That’s Marigene on Suzanne’s left – her congregation/community is probably the most enthusiastic and friendly group we’ve met on tour, and we love returning to CSL St. Louis every year!