St.Louis to Denver, Days 5-6
There's something incredibly calming and wonderful about writing posts while looking out a window with a mountain outside it.
I left St. Louis a little later than I wanted. The drive to Kansas City was fairly uneventful, though, and in three or four hours I rolled into the BBQ capital of the world. Apparently most, if not all, of the art museums are free in KC, so I checked out a small but eclectic museum of contermporary art. I didn't have time to see the larger and more famous, Nelson-Atkins Museum before it closed, but the Kempler (?) that I visited was tres awesome. There were a couple Georgia O'Keefe's, a Jackson Pollack, and several artists I'd not heard of before. The exhibits ranged through paint, sculpture, and photography in several themes. I'm still wrestling with the tendency of some modern artists to forsake theme and substance in favor of experimental visual texture. (That last for you, Jamo) Yes, it is interesting to focus on the paint itself rather than what the paint can be used to represent, but maybe, as Brody put it, you shouldn't need a caption to appreciate art?
When and if I can figure out how to post pictures, I'll try to find shots of some of the ones I liked the best and post them. No photography in the exhibitions, unfortunately.
Getting around KC is easy since it's a big grid, so it wasn't difficult to find this little middle eastern place in a nice area of KC called Westport. Very authentic food, and they actually were playing the music of the culture. I've always found it a little off putting to go into, say, a Mexican restaurant and hear Justin Timberlake's new shizzle, no matter how much he tells me to 'go ahead get down with it.' (By the way Drew, you were right, and we owe you an apology).
HOWEVER, getting OUT of KC is murder. Literally, KC tried to kill me no less than three and maybe even four times trying to leave the city. I actually considered just staying there. First, a construction worker sprayed a massive cloud of dust around my car just as the light turned green, completely blinding me and filling the car with dust. Then everyone behind me started blaring horns, and I tried inching forward only to slam on the brakes as a car turned left in front of my nose. Then I couldn't find the I-70 on ramp, apparently the only way to get on is to go a dozen blocks farther north than you enter the city. Meanwhile, people will just walk right in front of you while you're looking confused. THEN, I was thrown into the worst merging situation ever (made further dangerous because I can't see behind me). In a three lane highway, in high speed traffic, they actually have merging lanes from both sides at the same time. I was almost given the deep freeze as an ice truck tried to squash me between himself and another car as he tried to merge and get to the middle lane. I thought I was clear, and then a large bird divebombed the car and barely missed crashing into my windshield. All truly frightening, but hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right?
I was going to camp in Kansas, but the rock formations I wanted to see would have taken me two hours out of the way, so I put the pedal down, kept the wheel pointed in the same westerly direction for six hours, and didn't stop till Colorado. I did start to get tired about an hour outside Denver, so I pulled over and took a nap. The next morning I kept going, and after some creative route taking and ingenius map usage, found myself up to this fantastic house in the mountains, with two beautiful and energetic dogs. Brody's house sitting up here, and we had a great time relaxing, hiking (if only briefly), and having people up for dinner. Sleeping in a full sized bed for the first time since Pittsburgh was fantastic, and only made better with the dogs sleeping with me. It's completely gorgeous up here, but after breakfast I'll be heading into Denver to check out a couple more art museums and the City Park.
Bad Joke(s) of the Day:
What do you call an ancient egyptian cow?
A MOOO-mmy!
(brought to you by eight hours of cows in Kansas)
I left St. Louis a little later than I wanted. The drive to Kansas City was fairly uneventful, though, and in three or four hours I rolled into the BBQ capital of the world. Apparently most, if not all, of the art museums are free in KC, so I checked out a small but eclectic museum of contermporary art. I didn't have time to see the larger and more famous, Nelson-Atkins Museum before it closed, but the Kempler (?) that I visited was tres awesome. There were a couple Georgia O'Keefe's, a Jackson Pollack, and several artists I'd not heard of before. The exhibits ranged through paint, sculpture, and photography in several themes. I'm still wrestling with the tendency of some modern artists to forsake theme and substance in favor of experimental visual texture. (That last for you, Jamo) Yes, it is interesting to focus on the paint itself rather than what the paint can be used to represent, but maybe, as Brody put it, you shouldn't need a caption to appreciate art?
When and if I can figure out how to post pictures, I'll try to find shots of some of the ones I liked the best and post them. No photography in the exhibitions, unfortunately.
Getting around KC is easy since it's a big grid, so it wasn't difficult to find this little middle eastern place in a nice area of KC called Westport. Very authentic food, and they actually were playing the music of the culture. I've always found it a little off putting to go into, say, a Mexican restaurant and hear Justin Timberlake's new shizzle, no matter how much he tells me to 'go ahead get down with it.' (By the way Drew, you were right, and we owe you an apology).
HOWEVER, getting OUT of KC is murder. Literally, KC tried to kill me no less than three and maybe even four times trying to leave the city. I actually considered just staying there. First, a construction worker sprayed a massive cloud of dust around my car just as the light turned green, completely blinding me and filling the car with dust. Then everyone behind me started blaring horns, and I tried inching forward only to slam on the brakes as a car turned left in front of my nose. Then I couldn't find the I-70 on ramp, apparently the only way to get on is to go a dozen blocks farther north than you enter the city. Meanwhile, people will just walk right in front of you while you're looking confused. THEN, I was thrown into the worst merging situation ever (made further dangerous because I can't see behind me). In a three lane highway, in high speed traffic, they actually have merging lanes from both sides at the same time. I was almost given the deep freeze as an ice truck tried to squash me between himself and another car as he tried to merge and get to the middle lane. I thought I was clear, and then a large bird divebombed the car and barely missed crashing into my windshield. All truly frightening, but hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right?
I was going to camp in Kansas, but the rock formations I wanted to see would have taken me two hours out of the way, so I put the pedal down, kept the wheel pointed in the same westerly direction for six hours, and didn't stop till Colorado. I did start to get tired about an hour outside Denver, so I pulled over and took a nap. The next morning I kept going, and after some creative route taking and ingenius map usage, found myself up to this fantastic house in the mountains, with two beautiful and energetic dogs. Brody's house sitting up here, and we had a great time relaxing, hiking (if only briefly), and having people up for dinner. Sleeping in a full sized bed for the first time since Pittsburgh was fantastic, and only made better with the dogs sleeping with me. It's completely gorgeous up here, but after breakfast I'll be heading into Denver to check out a couple more art museums and the City Park.
Bad Joke(s) of the Day:
What do you call an ancient egyptian cow?
A MOOO-mmy!
(brought to you by eight hours of cows in Kansas)
posted by Fraggle @ 12:01 PM
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