The Neat Thing . . .
. . . about weekends
is that
they keep coming back
about every seven days or so.
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Elegance Frames
Rockies Train Trip
By Pat Neisser
Mature Life Features
CALGARY, Alberta —- Smiling staff members greeted us with “Would you like some champagne or a lemonade, madam?” as we boarded what was to be our home-on-wheels for the next three days. Given the aura of elegance, I could have been on the Orient Express, but the atmosphere of this train was a bit more casual and friendlier.
We were aboard the Royal Canadian Rockies Experience round-trip out of Calgary, one of the several itineraries offered by Royal Canadian Pacific. The 32 passengers on the five refurbished
1930s executive cars relaxed quickly amid wood inlaid paneling in true luxury on rails.
My compartment had two beds and a desk, a complete bathroom with shower, and plenty of storage space. The large windows looked out onto the passing scenery of deep rivers, soaring glaciers, forests, small towns, and, of course, the majestic Rockies.
Squeezed in between excursions tailored for this train’s passengers were three gourmet meals and afternoon tea daily.
Our first stop was Banff and a visit to the historic Banff Springs Hotel. Then we were off to lovely Lake Louise, where a naturalist guide led us around the mirrored waters. Fond memories of skiing this site came rushing back. We reboarded and slid through the Spiral Tunnels along the Kicking Horse River to our overnight stop at Golden, British Columbia.
The next morning, we took a short motor coach ride up to Kicking Horse Resort, where a gondola carried us up to Eagle’s Eye Mountain for a view from the 7,700-foot level along breakfast in the Eagle’s Eye Restaurant.
Back on the train, we headed south in the Columbia River Valley to Cranbrook, British Columbia, where we stopped directly behind a museum and stepped down for a tour.
Lunch was served after reboarding, lunch was served. Our menus matched those of a four-star restaurant. Our dinner one night included sautéed shrimp with jalapeno chutney, orange and ginger glace, baby spinach salad, and crusted rack of lamb. Chocolate pate with spun-sugar crowned the banquet.
Next day, we visited Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump, a World Heritage site and explored the museum before peering over the cliffs where natives drove bison herds to their deaths for 10,000 years to provide food and clothing for a whole year.
The next morning, we visited Homeplace Ranch where we had lunch after riding horses and before boarding our rolling home for our ride back to Calgary.
Good OL’ . . .
. . . Thirsty Thursday again,
BUT this time
it ties in with a marketing event —
Cheeseburger In Paradise.
So enjoy the food, booze and entertainment.
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There’s an inmate here
who obviously is
the sap in the family tree.
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Kansas City Links
Memories of Two States
By Sandy Katz
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —- Famous mice, presidents, cartoonists, jazz artists, and shopping-mall entrepreneurs mix and mingle through the history of this border-straddling metropolis that sprouted out of a trading post just east of the Kansas border on a bend of the Missouri River.
The first bridge to span the mighty Missouri was built here shortly after the Civic War, boosting business in the cattle industry as the railroad spread west.
Then, J. C. Nichols imported millions of dollars worth of century-old statuary to Kansas City and created the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza in 1922 amidst pig farms on the city’s outskirts. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. The 1914 Union Station, the nation’s second-largest train station, retrieved its elegance with a $250 million restoration begun a couple of dozen years ago.
Kansas City’s allure is best described by Rogers and Hammerstein in their song from the musical “Oklahoma:” “Everything is up to date in Kansas City.”
Getting up to date with Kansas City can be an enlightening tour.
For example, Walt Disney, who graduated from Kansas City Art Institute, fed a small mouse while at work in his Laugh-O-Gram studio. The little critter was the inspiration for the renowned Mickey Mouse.
A couple of museums in the 18th and Vine Historic District house memorials to and memorabilia from jazz and baseball “Who’s Who” who gathered there, including Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Lester Young, Satchel Paige, James “Cool Papa” Bell, and Josh Gibson.
From the Roaring ’20s to early ’40s, it was an entertainment center with no equal as more than 100 nightclubs, dance halls and vaudeville houses featured jazz.
A trip to neighboring Independence, M0, is a must to visit The Truman Presidential Museum and Library, which follows the history of the 33rd U.S. President, Harry S. Truman, who grew up and retired here.
Among the exhibits in a scale model of the Oval Office is his famous sign, “The Buck Stops Here.” Written on the other side is “I’m From Missouri.”
Just up the road a piece on the Kansas side of the border in Leavenworth, more widely known for its “Big House,” the first U.S. federal penitentiary
Ladies’ Tea Time . . .
. . . today at 3 p.m. in the Sun Room.
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Have you ever stopped
to think about this:
the average person is really mean.
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Big Meetings Today
If you want to know what’s going on,
get to the 2nd floor theater at 3 p.m. for
the first-Tuesday-of-the-every-month
Food Service Meeting
followed by the first-Tuesday-of-every-month
Town Hall gathering at 4 o’clock.
Welcome To June . . .
. . . and your new monthly calendar. Read it and then check it every morning. Then check the mailroom fliers for any changes, additions or deletions. More people and more activities add up to more things that can go wrong, so keep checking.
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And, I just was awakened by the sniffling-scratchy-throat-dry-cough that everyone else has been battling around here so I’ll be in and out of service for the next little while.
A Busy Day . . .
. . . that includes an “Events of May” presentation
by Ken Sorensen at 10:30 a.m.
after getting your blood pressure checked at 10 a.m.
but before lunch,
after which you can catch up on
the latest news from the kitchen
during the food-service meeting at 2:30.
Dry or Wet
You select.
There’s Functional Fitness with Lyn
in the dining room at 2:30 p.m.
or you can wait for
water aerobics at 4:30 —
in the pool, of course.
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IT’S THE WEEKEND ! ! !
The Verena Voices tribute to the fallen
is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. tomorrow
before a BBQ starting at noon that
closes with live entertainment
from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Have fun.
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If . . .
. . . you’re planning on grilling Sunday,
you’ll have to do it yourself because
the Grillin ‘n’ Chillin’ session on the monthly calendar
has been cancelled,
as was yesterday’s Super Supper Shuttle
because of family emergency – – more later.
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It Occurred To Me . . .
. . .recently, that we’ve always known
babies are delivered by a stork,
but it seems probable
that the heavier ones
were dropped off by a crane.
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Mature Life Features 