Fall Day Trip

Fall is my favorite time of year with crisp, cool mornings and warm sunshine in the afternoons. I love apples, pumpkins, cider, football and bon fires! In celebration of the season we decided to take a little road trip down memory lane. Our first destination was Warrensburg, Missouri where we toured the University of Central Missouri and reminisced over places I knew well and spent time many years ago. First stop was the Sigma Kappa sorority house.

My favorite memory of the soroity house was the night we called 7-11 and talked the clerk into delivering ice cream sandwiches to us after he got off work. I can’t imagine what we said to make him do that, I am sure he was disappointed when the house mother would not let him near our door!

Another stop was Dockery Hall where I learned all the dark secrets and rituals of the accounting world. I actually can not think of anything fun about this place.

And finally there was Old Barney’s……I might have hung out here a time or two….

We ended our Warrensburg tour with lunch served by a cute waitress that looked really familiar.

From Warrensburg we headed north to Lexington, Missouri where we attended the Apples, Arts and Antiques festival.

Lexington has several gift and antique shops that also happened to be opened on Sunday. I found several treasures that I just could not live without. As we walked down Main Street we noticed the Courthouse that still contains a Civil War cannonball embedded into one of the columns.

After the festival we drove through town and I stopped for pictures at a few familiar places. The first stop was the Maid-Rite drive in.

If you have never had a Maid-Rite sandwich you need to make them for dinner tonight. It is VERY simple, but VERY good and VERY close to the real thing. Brown and drain 1 ½ pounds of ground beef. Pour in a can of Campbell’s French Onion soup and ½ can water. Bring to a boil, and then sprinkle the top with 1 Tablespoon of flour. Stir to make a gravy then pile on to a soft hamburger bun, topping with mustard and pickles. Eat and enjoy!

Across from the Maid-Rite is the old high school football stadium called the Goose Pond. I was surprised that the high school that sat high on a hill above the goose pond was no longer there. It must have been torn down.

We next drove by a house my family lived in for a short while as we were making the transition from California to Kansas City. I would have loved to knock on the door and asked for a tour but I was not brave enough. I remember this house having a large claw foot bathtub and a bay window in what was my brother’s bedroom. I also remember my sister and I playing house in her room. She made me eat oatmeal which is something I hate to this day.

The next stop was my Grandmother’s house that looks totally different than it did when I use to visit. The original four room house was stucco, but now has siding and room additions. I remember the front porch being much, much bigger. We use to sit out there and snap beans that came from the large garden next to the house. One thing that was still there was the small square of concrete in the side yard that use to sit under the apple tree. This platform covered an old well that use to have a hand pump on it. I would pour buckets of water down that hole and pump for hours thinking for sure I would bring it back to life and water would come gushing out. That never happened.

Our last stop was at Fahrmeier Farms, a multi-generational family run farm that grows vegetables, fruits, flowers and wine grapes. We picked up some apples and pumpkins at the farm stand while looking at all the gorgeous mums.

In 2008 one of the old barns on the farm was converted into a winery and event space. We enjoyed sampling a few wines and listening to the winemaker talk about how he got into the business.