Kansas- Day 5 to Topeka and back August 5, 2016

My husband had to get up once again for a conference call this morning. I got up at 7:30, because he had wanted to be at KU at 8:45. However, the call took longer and pushed back our departure.

I had Cheerios and also yogurt for breakfast, because my stomach had started feeling bad last night and was still not better. I also ran out to the car for the umbrella, because the Weather Channel app was calling for a thunderstorm at 8:45. We didn't get one, although it was sprinkling when we finally left at 9:12. It stayed grey all day and sprinkled at times, but there was never the predicted rain.

I got him to the university at 9:23 (odometer 10287). The trip back to the hotel took only 9 minutes to go the 2 miles.

At 10:08, I got back in the car and drove 8 minutes to Stitch On on Massachusetts Street (10290), because it is tough to get to stuff on that street from the hotel. I put a quarter in the meter, thinking that 30 minutes was way more time than I needed. When I got back out there, there were only 2 minutes left! They had so many charts and beautiful fabrics! Plus, they were friendly and easy to talk to. 

On the way to KU, I made sure I knew where the church was for Sunday. At 11:02, I was parked in the garage across from Murphy Hall (10293). I had some trouble figuring out how to get out of the thing though. I finally did figure it out and made the short climb up the hill to the auditorium.

I found the restroom, which was rather old-fashioned, with short stools in front of a large mirror in the outer room. By the time I got out, there was a break between performers and I went in with the others who were waiting. I recognized the next performer, who teaches in Puerto Rico. She did two pieces, the second of which told the Pinnochio story. The next performer did a premier of a work about Thomas Merton, I believe. It was then my husband's turn. He did a two-movement piece inspired by the poem about Flanders' Fields. It was lovely, of course.

Afterwards, we met and walked across the street to the cafeteria by the garage at 12:25. We both had a Pioneer pulled pork sandwich, but he got apple  mash barbecue sauce and I got peach. His tasted more of the fruit than mine. They came with spicy cole slaw,which is not something cole slaw should be. He also got creamed corn and I got baked potato chips. A fountain drink of Coke Zero rounded out the meal.

 It would have been a nice meal together, if I had not noticed how bloody his right eye looked. It had been the left the other day, but that is clearing. This one looked even worse. Unfortunately, his eye surgeon's office is closed on Friday afternoons.

He went back to the conference and at 1:08 I left the garage. Just 4 minutes later (10297), I got my toll ticket and it was 81 degrees. At 1:35 (10311), I pulled into the Topeka Service Area. I did some more shopping at the Kansas shop and found a lovely metal circle with wheat and a sunflower, that will make a great Christmas ornament. I had a nice chat with the clerk again, before leaving. When I walked out of the building, which housed food places and the restrooms, I was shocked to see a semi hauling a cattle truck parked right at the end of the short sidewalk and blocking the cars parked up against the building, including mine. The cattle looked at me through the holes and mooed.

As I got closer, the stench hit me. It was like none I'd ever encountered before. The trucker saw me and said he'd be out of my way soon. I just hurried into the car so that I didn't breathe too much. To make it even weirder, when he did move, he backed up all the way to where we had to exit the service area.

Leaving finally at 2:05, it took only 6 minutes to reach the toll booth (10316), which marked my completion of the Kansas Turnpike. This section cost $1.20.

I found downtown Topeka with many torn up streets. My GPS did not account for this, so I just had to figure it out myself. Luckily, I had a brochure that gave me the location of the garage under the Capitol. I parked there (10322) at 2:28, noting that I was only allowed 2 hours there. That sounded like plenty.

I did have to go through security before entering the building. Once through, I was warmly greeted by the lady at the info desk. She gave me the self-guiding brochure and told me about the elevators. On that level,one can clearly see the stone pillars holding up the building. There were exhibits on 12 important events in Kansas history, famous Kansans, the Indians of Kansas, etc.

I visited floors 1, 2, 3, not feeling it necessary to go higher. I got to ride in the metal cage elevator, that does have a lady attendant in it.

 I marveled at the beautiful dome with its copper and beautiful lights.

The building has incredible woodwork throughout.

I was able to visit the Governor's Ceremonial Office, the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the Library.

I was unable to take a lot of pictures of the art due to glare.

The rotunda had 4 statues of famous Kansans. I didn't think they looked as good as the paintings and busts in Oklahoma and Missouri. Heck, they didn't even look as good as the photos in the basement!
Eisenhower:                                                          William Allen White:

 Arthur Capper:                                                           Amelia Earhart:

I did get into a discussion with an employee about the state of Kansas' politics and economy. Found she has the same liberal leanings I have. She was quite proud that the teachers rallied and helped replace 11 conservatives in the recent primaries. 

I visited the gift shop, of course, and found some pins, an unusual basket and some other items. Before going back to the car, I ducked outside to take photos of the exterior and post one as my third state Capitol in 3 days. The exterior was not as great as the interior, although part of the may be due to the cruddy sky.

That's Ad Astra on top of the dome.

When I got to the garage, I found I'd been there almost 2 hours! In for a penny, in for a pound, so I sat in the car figuring my next move. I finally left at 4:34 and headed for the Kansas Museum of History, which would be closed when I arrived, but the trails would still be open. (I did pull over to take this picture, to get a different view of the capitol:)

Getting there took longer than it should have, due to construction that sent me off on a detour. It was 4:55 (10330), when I arrived. I took my umbrella and water and headed for what I supposed to be the East Trail. It was humid, which did to make walking through the tall grass prairie any more pleasant. I did see two bunnies and some historical fencing. My right knee also kept telling me that this was more than enough.

In the car at 5:34, I checked my options and decided to head back. I left at 5:42. Six minutes later (10342), I picked up my toll ticket. My husband had sent me a text requesting Visine, so I exited at the middle Lawrence exit to get to Rte. 59. The toll at 6:17 (10360) was still $1.20. My GPS was unhappy that I was ignoring it, so I unplugged it. However, I did not turn it off, so it continued to complain all the way to CVS, which I reached at 6:22 (10364). I couldn't decide which Visine to get; there are so many! So, I called him and read them off to him. He finally chose regular. At 6:37, I was back on the road. 

I was beginning to feel lousy and thought it could be hunger. So, instead of going to the hotel, I headed down Massachusetts. There were no parking spaces to be had, so I drove down to Vermont. I spied two places we'd noticed the first day and a spot to park not far down from them at 6:49 (10368). The first, the Great Harvest Bread Company, was just that-breads and lots of them. They also had some desserts. The girl offered me a choice of two kinds of bread and cut off a generous chunk of my choice, Potato Fennel, on which I spread some of the butter there. I started to feel better almost immediately. I bought a dessert that I thought my husband might like, before going to the incredibly narrow Terrebonne Cafe. They specialize in po' boys and desserts. There's limited seating inside at old 50's-style tables and more outside. While in line to order, I decided I'd take mine to the hotel to eat. I ordered the po-boy of the day, crab cake, a chocolate shake that came with the seemingly de rigueur whipped cream, and a chocolate gooey bar, which I suspected I'd be too full for, but would regret not getting.

It wasn't until 7:20, that I was back in the car. Four minutes and no change on the odometer later, I was at the hotel. I started going through email while eating. The po' boy had a nice crab cake flavor, if not a ton of meat. The shake stayed thick all the way through dinner and until I finally finished it. As I'd suspected, the bar is still sitting here. It will get eaten eventually.

 Since it was still early, I talked myself into going down to the pool about 8:45. I had it to myself, which was great. It was pleasantly warm and I thought that would be good for my knees. I did a lot of walking in the water and worked on pulling the knees high. I did some breast stroke, but the knees hated the frog kick. They hurt some in the water, but not the way they could out of it. I stayed in for about 20 minutes or so and felt pretty good afterwards. Now, the knees are all locked up again. Sigh.