Visiting the Sunflower State

We had a wedding to attend in Colwich, Kansas over the weekend. Upon further planning for the trip, we realized that it would be too far to drive in one day considering that we were not getting out of St. Louis until 2:30 on Friday. We went as far as Kansas City and spent the night with Jim's sister and her fiancé. It was a quick visit, but it was nice to catch up with them both before continuing on our way at 10:00 Saturday morning.

We arrived at our hotel in Maize, Kansas (a northern suburb of Wichita) at 1:00, and fortunately they had our room ready so we were able to freshen up before heading over to Colwich at 1:30. That was a short drive of 4.5 miles, so we arrived in plenty of time for the 2:00 ceremony. Held at the Catholic church in town, the service lasted 1.5 hours and was the most traditional mass we have attended since the '70s.

The reception was held in the parish hall, so we just had to walk next door. It was a very nice event, and we got to see a totally different side of the priest. Still dressed in his black cassock, he sure could cut a rug on the dance floor! He knew all the dance steps as well as the words to the songs. It was fun to watch him. We might have spent a bit of time in the photo booth as well.

wedding fun

When I looked out our hotel room window the next morning, I was treated to the site of three hot air balloons floating across the golden sky! I looked for Dorothy and Toto, but they were nowhere to be found.

hot air balloons

Following breakfast, we drove to Derby, Kansas to see one of Jim's projects. Though it took us about 50 miles out of our way, it was nice to see as Jim had not been there since completion. From there we went to Baldwin City to have lunch with one of Jim's motorcycle riding buddies. Jimmy is a police officer in Lawrence, and while I have met him many times I had not yet met his wife. I'm glad we had the chance to change that.

Derby project

We then took a quick stop at JoEllen's house again as we had forgotten our cooler and ice packs there when we left Saturday. It wasn't too much out of the way, and we'll need those for our next trip. Then we finally got on the road for home. Unfortunately we had rain for 2/3 of that journey, but despite the ugly clouds nothing severe happened.

Kansas clouds

We put nearly 1,000 miles on the car over 3 days, and that is a bit much for my liking. But seeing family, friends and celebrating the next chapter in the lives of a great young couple made it worthwhile.