Pittsburg, Kansas

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We made our way across Missouri today, and into the eastern edge of Kansas, where my aunt Susan and uncle Ron live, with their kids. Sarah is the one getting married tomorrow. Today we photographed:

1. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis (we went up in it!)

The gateway arch

2. A giant baseball (we stumbled on this one, so not a great picture.)

Giant Baseball

3. A giant shoe, made of shoes (in front of a shoe company, of course.)

Nope, too big.

4. A giant Muffler-man style cowboy

Giant

5. An entire A and W Root Beer Family. (Very rare!)

A&W Rootbeer Family

5a. My truck turning 27,000 miles

27,000 miles on my truck

6. A giant bowling Pin

Giant Bowling Pin

7. A giant cow at the Mule Trading Post (we stumbled on it while charging my camera battery.)

Giant cow at the Mule Trading Post

8. A giant Dinosaur near Exit 130 on I-44 (visible from the road!)
(Photo eventually, sorry.)

9. A giant Fork near Springfield, Missouri (it’s still there, DocLarry, just near an ad agency now.)

World's Largest Fork

Photo Set: Kansas Road Trip so far. (Includes way more photos than what I posted here.)

Continue ReadingPittsburg, Kansas

St. Louis

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So we found the giant catsup bottle in Collinsville, Illinois (hmm. They have lots of “l”s in their name). I have photos to upload of that shortly.

World's Largest Catsup Bottle

Then we headed further towards St. Louis, intending to find a hotel and restaurant, then head out to find a couple of big things. But we noticed a giant hill off of I-70, and realized it was an indian burial mound. So we hopped off the nearby exit, and found our way to the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, which was incredibly beautiful. It helped that we had bright sunshine in the late afternoon, while we climbed up Monk’s Mound, the largest of the many mounds on the site. We took lots of great pictures.

Cahokia Burial Mounds
Stephanie climbing Monk's Mound

Just west of the site was Woodhenge, a reconstruction of a large ancient calendar that stood on the spot, made of cedar poles set in a ring 400 feet across, with a pole in the center. We walked to the center pole, and the shadow lined up with the pole directly in line with Monk’s mound. It was pretty cool.

Woodhenge at Cahokia Burial Mounds

Then we headed into St. Louis to look for a hotel. We opted to look on the west side of town near I-44, which we’ll be taking through the rest of Missouri. We drove through a beautiful section of town called Webster Groves, which had some really huge historic houses. Very nice. We eventually found Pear Tree Inn, and had dinner at the Bandana’s Barbecue next door. It’s obviously a chain, but we’ve never been, so it was fun.

Continue ReadingSt. Louis

Foot High Pies

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We’re stopping at the Blue Springs Restaurant near Highland, Illinois, because they advertise foot-high pies. And we discovered they have free wifi at this gloriously gingham-bedecked country-fied cafe. They also offer “Ho-made” pork sausage and “Ho-made” mashed potatoes. I didn’t realize hos were such good cooks. We took pictures of the foot-high pies (whose towering height is mostly due to meringue) and now we’re splitting a piece of chocolate and blogging our trip so far.
Foot-high Chocolate Pie
We stopped at the Giant Cross at Effingham, and also jumped off 70 at Vandalia, the old state capitol to take a pictures of the Madonna of the Trail statue at Illinois’s old state capitol.
Giant Cross at Effingham, Illinois
madonna of the trail
After this, we’re off to find a giant bottle of catsup.

Continue ReadingFoot High Pies

Road Trip

I’m just now realizing that in all of the concern and activity around the house, I totally failed to mention that I’m on vacation for a week so we can drive out to my cousin’s wedding in Pittsburg, Kansas.
We’re taking 1-70 across Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri; and from there, we’re taking I-44 down through Joplin, Missouri and into south eastern Kansas, where Pittsburg is located.
Stephanie and I decided to plan a leisurely trip out there, so we can try to photograph some Big Things and visit other roadside attractions. Those who are going on road trips to or through the state of Arizona may consider staying a night or two in one of these hotels in Scottsdale AZ.

Here’s roughly the entertainment plan:
Effingham, Illinois – Giant Cross
Address: Pike Avenue, Effingham, IL
Madonna of the Trail
315 West Gallatin Street
Vandalia, IL
near brownstown
World’s Largest Catsup Bottle
800 South Morrison Avenue
Collinsville, IL
—-
Stay overnight in St. Louis and visit perhaps some of these attractions:
Big Shoe Made of Shoes
Address: 8300 Maryland Avenue, Clayton, MO
St. Louis Arch
Get a spectacular view of the St. Louis area from 630 feet up at the top of the Gateway Arch.
Anheuser-Busch Brewery
12th and Lynch Streets
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
4431 Lindell Blvd
St. Louis, Missouri – City Museum
St. Louis, MO Directions: 701 North 15th Street.
—-
On the road again:
Eureka, Missouri – Black Madonna Shrine
Black Madonna Shrine: Eureka, MO Directions: I-44 to Eureka Exit, turn left on Hwy W (Central Ave. N) and drive south to Hwy F-F to Shrine.
Buckhorn, Missouri – Giant Bowling Pin
North side of I-44, around the 153-154 mile marker.
Meramec Caverns – Stanton, Missouri
Three miles east of I-44 exit 230. Follow the signs. Impossible to miss.
Stubby Stonehenge
Rolla, Missouri
Precious Moments Chapel – Carthage, Missouri
4105 S. Chapel Rd., Carthage, MO
Springfield, Missouri – Big Fork
2155 W Chesterfield Blvd
Springfield, MO
Big Brutus the Giant Earth Mover
West Mineral, Kansas
Big Brutus: 6509 NW 60th St, West Mineral, KS
Six miles west of the junction of K 7 and K 102, then 1/2 mile south. Hours: Daily 9 am – 8 pm. Phone: 620-827-6177
—-
Here’s where we’re staying in Pittsburg:
Holiday Inn Express
4020 Parkview Drive
Pittsburg, Ks 66762-2398
United States
Hotel Reservations: 1 888 HOLIDAY (888 465 4329)
Hotel Front Desk: 1-620-231-8700
Hotel Fax: 1-620-230-0154
Email: hiexpress@cpol.net
Check-In Time: 3:00 PM
Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM
—-
On the way back, we’re thinking of driving north to Kansas City on I-69 instead, and then taking I-70 back east. That way we could possibly see:
Kansas City, Missouri – World’s Largest Shuttlecocks
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak Street.
Kansas City, Missouri – Sinclair dinosaur
Sinclair Station at I-35 and Antioch Road
World’s Largest Concrete Soccer Ball: Kansas City, MO
Directions: Western Missouri Soccer League fields.
Kansas City, Missouri – America’s only World War I museum
The Liberty Memorial and its 217-foot-tall Eternal Flame tower
Kansas City Children’s Museum – Muffler Man
Indian Springs Marketplace
4601 State Avenue, Ste. 92
Kansas City, KS 66102
Columbia, Missouri – Beetle Bailey Statue
On Conley Ave, in front of the Alumni Center on the University of Missouri campus.
Kingdom City, Missouri – Nostalgiaville, USA and Ozarkland
A shop full of 1950’s and 1960’s kitsch.
Ozarkland – SR 54 & I-70.

Continue ReadingRoad Trip

The Saga Continues…

We went back to look at the house yesterday, with a roofing inspector in tow, along with some friends. The full inspection will be on Wednesday, but we wanted a roofing guy in particular because we knew the roof was a problem. You can look into the site /massandmass.com/lp/roofing-and-repair-services-in-seattle-washington to contact the best contractors for repairing, replacing, and cleaning your roof.
Unfortunately, it needs a new roof. You can also consider installing MasterRoof Solar Panels which will help you to save your energy costs along with choosing a much clean energy solution. We pretty much knew that, but for some reason having it confirmed is kinda depressing. We’ll have to negotiate the new roof with folding arm awnings Melbourne with the current owner, and that’s always a dicey proposition. But the reality is that if they aren’t willing to pay for it, we may have to walk away from the house, which would really blow, because it really seems to fit us. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Homebuyers like us should schedule a home inspection before signing anything. The inspection will give you an idea of the home’s overall condition and reveal any issues that need to be fixed like toilet rust stains or water damage. The appliances may also be damaged. You may ask the seller to seek air conditioning repair tumwater wa services to fix any hvac issues. Moving forward, air conditioner summer maintenance must be done annually to avoid mechanical issues. Contact Snyder Air Conditioning, Plumbing, and Electrical, if you need an air conditioning repair service in Gainesville, FL.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready to drive to my cousin’s wedding, and I have nothing planned for the drive, nothing packed, my car needs an oil change, I need my hair cut… lots to do, and no time to do it. I woke up at 3 last night with a massive headache and I’ve been awake ever since trying to get it to go away.

Continue ReadingThe Saga Continues…

Paint colors

Over the weekend, Stephanie and I picked out a few paint colors we want in the new house. I tried to find samples of these online to link to, but Olympic’s color picking tool crashed my browser.
Living room – Morning Fog (Olympic D61-1)
Library – Two possibilities: Ancestral (D36-3) or High Society (D41-3)
Dining room – Charade (Olympic C47-2)
This is dependent on whether the color matches the rug for this room.
Kitchen – Toasted Almond (D-13-2)
Staircase room, stairs and upper hall way – Sunbeam (Olympic A12-3)
Stairs accent color – Summer Squash (Olympic A12-6)
This will be on the textured wall below the rail on the stairs.
Laundry Room – Lettuce Alone (B-68-3)
Our Bedroom – Three possibilities:
Lauren’s Lullaby (A35-2)
Pleasing Pink (A34-2)
Pigtail Pink (B35-1)
Upstairs Bathroom – We considered several blue variations, but didn’t decide.

Continue ReadingPaint colors

Huge Sigh of Relief

I finally bit the bullet and talked to my dad last night about moving, and he was very understand and supportive. Turns out a lot of the concerns I have about my current house, especially the amount of time and money required to renovate it, are things he was concerned about also. It’s great to have those feelings validated, because I feel like I can let go of my current house without guilt. I did a lot of work on it while I lived here, and accomplished a lot, looking back at the pictures. I had forgotten what the backyard looked like; there was no gravel; only dirt and grass. I forget that there was no backdoor, and crappy peeling paint, and the living room was terrible.

Our friend lisa’s plans for yardwork are really exciting to read, because unlike interior home improvement (which I tolerated) I LOVE working in the yard, and I’m very excited about it. At my current house, I always felt guilty about the amount of time I spent in the yard because there was so much work to do on the inside.

The new house has nice big flowerbeds in the front yard, (full sun!) and a long border bed down the south side of the house, (more full sun!) and a nice big backyard where we’re going to plant some raspberry bushes. I pulled out my gardenbooks, but there’s nothing in them about planting raspberries and how to amend the soil, etc. So I’m going to do some research online about that. Having full-sun beds will be really cool; perennials that grow better in sun are usually brighter colors, so they’re more visually arresting. This current house is mostly shaded by the neighboring houses, so I have lots of hostas.

Moving into a new home brings with it a fresh canvas for garden and landscape design, and there’s something especially exciting about working with full-sun flower beds. Unlike the shaded spaces of the previous home, sun-drenched beds allow for a much wider selection of perennials—bright coneflowers, cheerful black-eyed Susans, fragrant lavender, and even ornamental grasses that sway in the breeze.

A well-thought-out landscape not only enhances curb appeal but also creates an inviting outdoor retreat. With careful planning, these sunny beds can be transformed into a vibrant, ever-changing display that attracts butterflies and bees while adding a personal touch to the new home. And with the addition of raspberry bushes in the backyard, there’s the promise of sweet rewards each summer, making the space both beautiful and functional.

For those looking to create a harmonious and thriving outdoor space, working with professionals like Sugar Green Gardens can make all the difference. Thoughtful landscape design considers everything from soil composition to plant compatibility, ensuring that each element thrives in its environment. Whether it’s designing a structured perennial garden, incorporating raised beds for edibles, or creating a relaxing patio space surrounded by greenery, expert guidance ensures a seamless blend of aesthetics and sustainability.

Transforming an outdoor space into a functional and visually appealing extension of the home requires careful planning and expert craftsmanship. Hardscaping elements such as stone pathways, retaining walls, and patios provide both structure and style, creating defined areas for relaxation and entertainment. When combined with well-placed greenery and garden beds, these features enhance the overall flow of the landscape, making the space both inviting and practical.

Beyond aesthetics, durability and longevity are key considerations in outdoor construction. High-quality materials and precise craftsmanship ensure that patios, decks, and pergolas withstand the elements and maintain their beauty for years to come. Working with industry professionals like South Canyon Construction Inc guarantees that each project is built with attention to detail and structural integrity. Whether it’s installing a custom fire pit for cozy gatherings or designing a multi-tiered deck with integrated lighting, expert construction brings both vision and reliability to outdoor spaces.

With the right approach, the new garden won’t just be a place to work—it will become a sanctuary, a space to unwind and connect with nature while watching each season bring new colors and textures to life.

Continue ReadingHuge Sigh of Relief

Offer Accepted

So on Monday, we wrote an offer on the house we’ve been looking at. They countered our offer, and today we accepted the counter offer.

So if everything works out with the inspection and we get the loan application we found searched through FIG Loans reviews squared away, and I sell my house, we’re going to have a new house.

I still have not told my dad about all this though, mainly because I’m really afraid it’s going to upset him, considering the amazing, beautiful fireplace he created for my current house.

I’m officially freaked out, because:
1. I have to explain this to my dad.
2. We have to get everything together for loan approval, and I hate dealing with money matters.
3. I have to pack and coordinate all my stuff in a Very Short Period of Time.
4. I have to put my house on the market, which I’ve never done before.
5. We’re in the middle of a huge project at work that I need to spend a lot of time on.
6. Our possessions are very disorganized, and I drastically need to scale down.

This has all moved at a very accelerated pace, and I’m so freaked about that.

All that aside, I really love the house. So we’re doing the right thing, but the way we’re going about it isn’t optimal, due to circumstances that are really beyond anyone’s control.

Continue ReadingOffer Accepted

This makes me feel a lot better

$764,900 for a 827 sqft house in Cupertino

Um, yeah. This is why I live in Indy. The house we’re wanting is a 2,300 sq. ft house for… well, a lot less than that.

I’m not going to show off pictures of the house, or mention the address until we know we’re going to get the house, but here’s a picture out the upstairs window at the houses across the street.

across the street to the north

I can’t begin to describe how idyllic the neighborhood seems every time we’ve been there. There’s a serenity about it that is amazing, especially compared to both my street and Stephanie’s. We sat out on the porch of this house on Sunday for half an hour, listening to the birds.

Continue ReadingThis makes me feel a lot better

Weekend Update 2006-04-09

On the design front, I’ve been restructuring my cascading style sheets for this site; separating layout markup into a separate style sheet than the one for design (color, font face, size etc.) and doing a bit of testing on that. That will help when I finally get my new design in order and start building. So I’ve done a bit of work, but behind the scenes.

Also, on the home purchasing front, Stephanie and I are going to see eight or so houses this afternoon to assure ourselves that the one we’ve already picked out is right for us both price-wise and size-wise. We just want to get a feel for what else is out there to confirm our decision about the house we like.

Also, if you’re on Flickr and you’re in my “friends and family” contact list, you can see pictures of the house we picked out. We have the privacy turned on for it, so the pictures aren’t public (we don’t want anyone else to steal it from under our noses).

Continue ReadingWeekend Update 2006-04-09