Trip to Kansas City - Days Nine, Ten, and Eleven

I spent one final day in Kansas City to visit with Mom and just relax before hitting the road home.  Fortunately Peter and I were able to get out early in the morning to take some photos of Roxy Paine's Ferment, a 60 foot stainless steel construction installed on the grounds of the Nelson.  I was thrilled to see one of his pieces since we had first encountered him on the roof garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York a couple of years ago. Click here to see the photo album of that construction.  Click here to see more photos of Ferment.  I also took some exposure compensated images which I will process into High Dynamic Range photos as soon as I get time.

Just as I was about to finish my photo taking, a young man working on the grounds asked what I was doing.  I explained that I was taking pictures of the main building although I had come to take pictures of the..."The tree," he said.  "Yes."  "you know that is a $2 million tree," he said with evident pride.  On this particular day the temperature would get to 106 and he was working all day on the grounds.  I told him that I grew up in Kansas City and come back often and always came here to take pictures of the Museum and its grounds.  He said that he was a Kansas City native.  I told him how wonderful the grounds looked and thanked him for his work.  later I reflected on what he was doing.  He was pulling weeds in an elevated bank of ground cover.  The weeds to my eyes were indistinguishable from the ground cover and yet it was clearly important that the area be tended to with care.  It bespoke the amount of resources available to the Museum and also the fact that the grounds and outdoor spaces are considered part of the exhibition space and are tended too as carefully as the indoor spaces.

After visits with Anola and Peter and Mary and Bob, I left early the next morning for Aurora IL, a relatively easy 8 hour drive.  I was on the road as the sun came up as you can see from the photo I took with my phone as it sat in its hands free holder.  When I arrived at Brendan's, I got to see the new truck he had purchased when they returned from Kansas City earlier in the week.  They had some car trouble before and on the way home and decided that they needed a reliable vehicle since they were traveling to Cleveland for the weekend celebration of Eileen's Mom and Dad's 55 anniversary.

Very early the next morning we left for Cleveland with Brendan riding with me for the 7 1/2 hour trip.  It was great to have company and always great to share time and conversation with Brendan.  We stopped for breakfast and I took my last picture of this extended trip which you see below:  Brock and Brady ready for breakfast at a rest stop.  That's it for this trip.  See you all the next time.