Road Trip!!!

Sometimes you just want to “get out of Dodge!” (American idiom for leave town). And that’s what I have done. Thanks to several long road trips as a kid (California, Washington, D.C., Orlando), I grew up learning to enjoy a good old-fashioned road trip. Oh, the memories (and the stories)! But I won’t digress, even though I have some good ones. My husband, on the other hand, flew many places while growing up because his dad worked for an airline. Consequently, he despises most road trips unless there’s pretty scenery almost the whole way. Considering he does a lot of the driving when we go on family vacations, I guess I can understand. Anyway, since I mostly have flown places recently, I am feeling the call of the open road, so I have set out on a trip.

My first little jaunt yesterday led me to downtown St. Joseph, Missouri. I should add I was only looking for the Wendy’s shown on the exit sign in order to grab a quick lunch I could eat in the car. Well, I missed the Wendy’s, as it was on a side street behind buildings and the sign said it was a mile away. Not being a great estimator of distances, I just kept driving. I saw some interesting historic buildings and a museum complex. Before I knew it, I was in downtown St. Jo! There were some pretty cool historic storefronts. Technically I was lost, but I made a mental note to go back to St. Jo sometime soon and check it out. I haven’t explored the town for a long time. And by the way, I consulted my phone and eventually did find the Wendy’s.

I continued driving through Liberty and Kansas City, arriving at my first “official” destination of the day - Powell Gardens, about 20 miles east of Lee’s Summit, Missouri on Highway 50. Google Maps kept trying to direct me to Highway 50 and I stubbornly thought I knew better and took I-70 instead. Little did I know Powell Gardens is 11 miles down a twisty, narrow country road. While it was a pretty drive, I had to really focus on my driving in order to not careen off the the road a couple of times. Yeah, I hate to admit it, but Highway 50 would have been an easier way to get there. Live and learn… 🤷‍♀️

Powell Gardens is a beautiful place, but since I took the little detour in St. Jo, I only had about 75 minutes to explore before they closed for the day. When I arrived they were preparing for a wedding and the main lobby of the visitor center was all decked out. It was lovely. Feeling way underdressed in my shorts, casual shirt, tennies, and sun hat that had been recently vacuum-sealed in a package and brought to me by Amazon (think wrinkles), I set out to explore an indoor area by the visitor’s center and the island garden. It was all gorgeous and I must go back and explore more of the gardens some other time. I did get lots of photos taken, so I’ll share some with you later. Unfortunately I can’t do that from my phone or iPad right now. The only little wrinkle I encountered at the gardens was around closing, when many more well-dressed wedding attendees started exploring the paths closer to the building. I decided it was probably a good time to head back to my car, but I couldn’t find a path that led me back to the parking lot. After walking up a road that said “Staff Only”, was I able to find the main parking lot. So just be aware that not all paths near the building will connect to the parking lot. Or at least that was my experience anyway. The nice part about my visit was it was completely free, as I am a member of Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha. There is a reciprocal membership program with more than 345 gardens in the U.S. alone (More information here). So I got a two-mile walk in a lovely setting on a beautiful day for free! It was the perfect place to stretch my legs.