TallGrass Prairie & the Flint Hills

A few hours southwest of Kansas City is a remnant of the TallGrass Prairies that covered so much of the US.  Most prairie has been tamed -- the buffalos are now featured in "wing shops" and the open sky is filled with the clutter of high rises and factories.  But here in the Flint Hills you can hike a mile or so and see Prairie in all directions.

We did not really experience true TallGrass--grass over 6 feet or so grows only in a few places within the Preserve--but we did see SKY and GREEN (controlled burns to promote the grasses) and BROWN and ROLLING HILLS and TREES.  In a different way it was rugged but seemed tame and natural.

The highlight of our trip -- easily the small buffalo herd that lives within the Preserve.  We were treated to a bit of "aggressive behavior" by the herd.  As we walked along the gravel road that divided green grasses from brown grasses, the bulls decided to let us know:  STOP.  They all lined up and looked at us and walked straight at us.  Now, we were easily a football length field away.  So we backed up and waited. And then the bulls looked at us and walked towards us again.  So we backed up.  Finally we decided to skip the hike -- walk backwards and get on the other side of the electric fence.  It was exciting!!

Rolling hills and sky.  Creases of trees.  Thousands of flowers and grasses.

Pincushion Cactus in bloom!

That would be the HIKER BACK UP  signal from the Bulls!  They walked at us & we walked backwards away.
A couple of times. 

YOU -- MOVE IT

Lovely shape and flash of color

Post on the hill

Old restored 1 room school house

Purple!

Green in the far distance 

New growth

Trees line the creek 

Pink....

Barrel by Rock Wall

Quick Trip to Rockville, MD

Alan settled into Kansas City as the handyman at Jim's house while I made a quick & delightful trip back to Rockville, Maryland to see my parents.  A bonus for these trips is an opportunity to visit my sister Rachel and her family.  

Smiling after our daily walk around The Village at Rockville

Smiling MORE with a nip of early birthday "medicine" -- Scapa single malt scotch
I wonder if any will remain by November for the real celebration??

The refrigerator is an example of installation art...every item reflects a joyous memory

Rachel

Kansas City

We wandered a few days in southwest Missouri.  No need to go back there!

Landed in Kansas City -- ready for a real town after a few long weeks of seeing rural America.  Kansas City hosts several interesting museums:  American Jazz Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  All 3 are different, engaging, and allowed us to explore something unique to Kansas City.  

Art uplifts society by celebrating beauty.  

Alan and Jimmy find Kansas City on the piece entitled:  Silver Missouri

Exquisite Zuni necklace with 600 fetish animals & birds

The Sonata.

Guanyin of the Southern Sea -- a Bodhisatta
This is one of the museum's masterpieces from China, 11th-12th century

Several shuttlecocks dot the museum grounds -- as if to make the museum the net in a game.

NorthWest Arkansas

All along our first spring destination has been Northwest Arkansas.   This corner of Arkansas is an unusual slice of the south -- corporate headquarters to Walmart, JB Hunt Trucking, and Tyson.  The University of Arkansas & those Razorbacks are in Fayetteville.  And the Army Corps of Engineers created Beaver Lake -- with one of several dams along the White River before it flows into the Missouri.

Blustery, cold, and gray days marked our first few days.  So we hiked Pea Ridge (key Civil War Battle that kept Missouri in the Union) and wandered Rodgers.

And when the weather cleared -- we explored Eureka Springs (the artsy center of the area) and visited Crystal Bridges Museum.  AND we played on the Lake.....and wow what a joy!

Crystal Bridges Museum is fabulous -- both the architecture (Moshe Safdie shines) and the American Art Collection were exquisite.  Worth the trip.

Pea Ridge evoked a somber mood as we walked the 7 mile loop.

Thorncrest Chapel near Eureka Springs.
Glass walls create a sanctuary in the woods.

Glass gazebo covers one of several mineral springs in Eureka Springs.
The town's heyday was in the 1880s -- until fires burned it down!

Tired details

Entry Sculpture at Crystal Bridges.
What does it remind you of???

One view of the building -- so unique and unusual.  Art by itself

One of my favorites -- all sorts of energy and the urge to create

View from the window--extensive trail system showcases sculpture

Lovely lady

Detail from a supine lady

Honoring fiber and fabric arts 

One of our favorites

Detail from the painting

Out on Beaver Lake!

Snippet of the Lake -- 70 miles long with 450 miles of shoreline.

About the Weather

Rain.  The forecasts for a week were for rain all day Sunday.  That was fine -- we would find a campground and hunker down for a day of rain.

So when we arrived at our forest service campground the host reminded us -- "we are due for some pretty bad weather."

 "Yes, rain all day."

Um.... rain and high winds and maybe a tornado.

TORNADO?  This was on Friday morning.

The host talked to us about using the 1920s stone bathrooms as a "shelter in place" site; but yes we could park Bessie down in the parking lot to minimize our concern about falling tree branches.

Saturday morning the forecast seemed about the same.  The challenge with being from "someplace else" is you just don't know what it really means and where do you go for anything better/safer.  We hiked and then got on line to look for ourselves at the local forecast.

YIKES!!!!  When I went to check weather for the little dot of a town 10 miles away a Severe Weather Warning popped up:  Rain, 2 inch hail, 60 mph winds, tornado threat.  I wasn't exactly sure what all the words meant but I knew enough to get going!

We figured since the most severe weather was in south and east Arkansas we would go north and west towards Beaver Lake (our ultimate Arkansas destination all along.)   But we had to laugh as we pulled into Horseshoe Bend Campground on the Beaver Lake.  Yes they had plenty of open spots -- everyone else was LEAVING -- due to the weather.  Most of those campers were local so I guess being home was better than being in an RV.

Again the camp host talked us through the emergency precautions and we found a spot.  And then nothing happened.  We had breezy conditions all day Sunday, but until the evening no rain.  Then lightening and thunder and a bit of rain.  We were so grateful.

And even more thankful when we heard on Monday morning about the devastation near Little Rock -- and all across the south.  Now we are visiting friends and the temps are really cold and it is windy.  But all is well.