Friday, September 11, 2009

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

After I first bought 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, I immediately started day dreaming about all of the different weekend getaways and day trips I could take. And then, I started thinking about who I could talk into taking those trips with me. My friends, Gerry and Julie, instantly popped into my head. Anytime I'm ready for a little adventure or wanting to test out a new restaurant, they always rise to the occasion.

I grew up with Julie. We met in middle school in our church youth group and became fast friends. She was my first friend to get a car. I have many memories of her attempting to teach me how to drive her stick shift car in the church parking lot. Or, picking me up every morning for school in her car you could hear from blocks away, but still thinking that was way more cool then arriving by bus, or worse, getting a ride from my parents! Between all the mission trips and church camps we've gone to together, I think I've traveled more with her than with any other friend. Gerry is her husband of 7 years. In 2005, the three of us traveled together to Africa for three weeks with a group from our church. I had hung out with Gerry before that trip, but it was after that experience when I started to truly consider Gerry as a friend too.

One night I took my book over to their house and asked them to take a look and pick a destination we could visit for the day. Gerry picked the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. I must confess, I did not even know this museum existed until Gerry pointed it out in the book.

Our day trip started in Emporia, KS. I met them there after my day of cheering on the Cats. As we were driving, we noticed a truck in front of us that appeared to be driving sideways. Take a look for yourself....

Notice the front tires are almost centered in the driving lane while the back tires are on the white line. Crazy!

We stopped on the Plaza to eat lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. We ordered three pizzas and did a little sharing.

Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza.

Under all of that lettuce, there is a pizza with carmelized pears and sweet onions, cheese, chopped hazlenuts, and goronzola ranch dressing.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Bacon, because bacon makes everything taste better!


Hawaiian Pizza with pepperoni

And for dessert, Chocolate Banana Royale cake with vanilla ice cream, please.

After lunch, it was time to head to the musuem. The Nelson Atkins Museum is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary. The museum contains more than 33,500 works of art. It has one of the finest Chinese art collections in the world. I found this interesting because I had never visited a musuem with Chinese art on display. I was very impressed with the diversity of all the different collections. The museum contains paintings, furniture, sculpure, photography, masks, and print. We viewed art by Andy Warhol, Geogia O'Keeffe, Claude Monet, and Ansel Adams just to name a few. Who knew so many famous works of art were located at a museum in KC?.....Not me!
One of my favorite areas of the museum was the outside sculpture park.


I tried to fit inside the bronze jacket, but I was too big! Gerry had to pose instead.

The museum is famous for the shuttlecock sculptures displayed across the lawn in front of the museum.




I love this picture of Julie and Gerry.

I'm so glad I took the time to visit this museum and would go back to visit in a heartbeat. If anyone is interested in visiting, you may be happy to hear it is free (they do take donations) and $5 to park. It was definitley worth the trip. Thanks for a great day Julie and Gerry!

Quote of the trip: "You've got to love the shuttlecock!"--Julie

2 comments:

  1. That chocolate cake looks very good!! Oh yeah, and glad you liked the museum too. :)

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  2. Awe...what did we name Julie's car?? Sherman or something? Good times!

    I'm so excited for you. Okay, bring that book over and lets find one we can go to also!

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