I arrived in Manhattan on Saturday the 15th of March at around 3pm. Karen came to the airport in Kansas City to pick me up. I hadn´t realised until Karen told me, but the Kansas City Airport is actually in Missouri (and KC is in fact the capital of Missouri), and Manhattan is about a 2 and a half hour drive away. Poor Karen had just come off a week of Emergency (she´s a Small Animal Intern at KSU) which meant that after a week of surviving on little sleep, she worked from 5pm on Friday night, straight through until 8am Saturday, meaning that she would have only got a maximum of 4 hours sleep before heading to the airport to pick me up at around midday. Sleep deprivation and driving alone are not really a good combination... Luckily, another intern Ben, and his girlfriend, Hannah, had heard of Karen´s predicament and so picked her up from work on Saturday morning and drove Karen to the airport, allowing her to sleep on the backseat on the way down. So, I was greeted by three friendly faces at the airport that afternoon! Hannah and Ben are Kiwis, but we won´t hold that against them...
On the way to Manhattan, we stopped off at the capital city of Kansas, Topeka, for dinner. When we drove down the main street, we could have been forgiven for thinking that it was a ghost town, there was nobody about. We had a bit of trouble locating the Indian Restaurant that we were wanting to eat at, so we called into the local Police Station to ask for directions. We sent Karen in to do the honours, and after looking it up in the Yellow Pages, the Sheriff pointed us in the right direction.
You may ask why we would eat dinner so early, as it was only 4:30pm when we arrived in Topeka, but according to Karen, it can be difficult to find good food in Manhattan. Besides, we weren´t the first in the restaurant. Apparently people eat early in Kansas. We had a lovely meal, and after not being able to finish it all, we packed up our leftovers in individual containers and headed back on the road. Everywhere you go in America offers take-out containers if you can´t finish your meal (which is often).
We arrived at Karen and Brad´s apartment in Manhattan a little after 7pm, and it wasn´t long after that that Brad arrived home from attending a wedding. Apparently weddings finish early in Kansas as well (I feel that this would be a good point to mention to those who don´t know Karen and Brad, that they are two friends that I went to Uni with. It is also important for me to mention that Karen and Brad are not going out, otherwise there may be some confusion later in this blog).
The five of us, and Kit, an anaesthetic resident at KSU, went tenpin bowling. Karen decided that it would be an Aussie vs Kiwi tournament (Kit, an American, was made an honorary Kiwi). Of course, the Aussies won both games, and Karen won both games overall by miles, despite the sleep deprivation (she´s not at all competitive though, so I´m sure she wouldn´t have minded if we´d lost!). Karen also was quite amused by my ¨patonque¨ style of bowling, although I didn´t come last in any of the games, and even got a strike and a couple of spares, so I was quite happy with my unusual technique. It was the first bowling place that I´d been to that served beer and allowed smoking! We partook in the first, but not in the later.
The next day, after eating breakfast out with Brad, Karen, Hannah and Ben, Karen took me on a sight-seeing drive around Manhattan. The first stop was KSU, where Karen took me on a short tour of where she worked. Quite swishy-do really, they even have a digital X-ray machine which you can change the settings on after you´ve taken the radiograph (vets, and radiographers will appreciate how much nicer this would make the job of taking an x-ray).
Next stop was a drive around Tuttle Creek, which appeared to be more of a very large Dam to me, and also around the Flint Hills. Karen kept assuring me: ¨It´s really very pretty in the summer, when everything´s green¨. Unfortunately, I came at the end of winter when everything was grey. I can appreciate, though, that it must be a lot more attractive when it´s green.
That night, Karen, Brad a few of their friends, and I went to The Brookville Hotel for a traditional ¨Kansas Style¨ dinner. The menu consisted of a starter of Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, Cottage Cheese, spiced apple, and pickled cucumber. The main was one-half skillet Fried Chicken (each!), mashed potatoes and cream gravy, cream-style corn, and baking powder biscuits (which are basically scones). This was all followed by icecream for dessert. So yes, it was pretty much KFC! But what made the whole experience was the surrounding decor. We dined in the ¨Spirit of Kansas¨ room, which had deer antlers as the chandeliers, and cows painted all over the walls. There was also a room called ¨Brandy´s Opera House¨, and a Bank room and Vault room.
The next morning, Karen went into Uni to show her face and make sure that she didn´t actually have to be there that day (she´d chosen to do a week of dermatology that week, despite hating skin, because she knew that it would give her more time to spend with me). When she came home, we first had to run a few errands then we headed to Wamego (a nearby town) to visit the Oz Museum. This Museum features lots of memorabilia about not only the film version of The Wizard of Oz, but also the books by L. Frank Baum, which started it all. It sounds pretty daggy, I know, but I actually found it all quite interesting and entertaining- maybe I´d already been in Kansas too long?
We were going to try and have Tacos at a little restaurant just down the street called Toto´s Tacos, unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays, so we went home and cooked dinner for Brad and his girlfriend, Emily instead. Well, I made the salad, Karen actually cooked - salmon grilled with a beautiful seasoning on it- who knew Karen was such a good chef? After dinner, the four of us went to the movies and saw Horton Hears a Who. Brad, Emily and I all really enjoyed it. Karen thinks that she enjoyed it, but as she spent half of it with her eyes closed (and at one point she even started snoring), she may have to see it again before she´s 100% sure.
Oh, and from now on, please just call me Mrs Dr McDreamy!
On Tuesday, as Brad and Karen both had to go to work, Emily and I went sightseeing. Emily is from Laurence, which is about an hour and a half drive away from Manhattan, and had never really been to Manhattan before meeting Brad, so much of what we were seeing was new to her as well. First, we went to the Insect Zoo, where we had the opportunity to pat a tarantula if we wanted. We didn´t want. It was quite interesting, and a little bit creepy, and it made me want to throw out any flour or rice that may have been sitting in the pantry for a while.
After some lunch, we headed to The Beach Museum, which is an Art Gallery, named after one of the professors of KSU. Afterwards we headed to a historical museum, which displayed artefacts such as old washing machines and ice-boxes. There was also an old farmhouse on the premises, but unfortunately it was closed due to lack of staff, so we couldn´t have a look inside. In the afternoon, I baked a caramel slice which I had promised Brad that I would do when I came to visit.
That night we went to a steakhouse in Manhattan for dinner. They had large sheets of paper on the table as tablecloths, and crayons, so while we waited for our meals to arrive, we drew on the table. Of course, I had the steak- Kansas is the home of steak (and it was good steak).
On Wednesday, Emily and I went to The Sunset Zoo, in Manhattan. It is a pretty small zoo, but it was still quite entertaining and interesting. I also saw a couple of animals that I´d never seen in life before- such as an anteater- and it is home to the oldest Grizzly Bear in captivity, who is 60+ years old.
Emily had to work that night back in Laurence, so left that afternoon. When they got home from work, Brad, Karen and I went for a drive to a reserve area. Unfortunately, the water level of the river was too high and we couldn´t drive across to the area where there is the most walking paths and wildlife. On the way home, we drove to the Manhattan Water Tower where there is a lookout. I´m sure the view is great in the summertime, or after it has been snowing, but unfortunately it was a little grey when we were there. Brad cooked us dinner that night- Beef Bourguignon made in the crock pot. It was great.
The next day, I relaxed at Brad and Karen´s apartment while they were at work. We were going to go to The Prairie when they got home, but Karen was a little late, so we went to Wamego for Toto´s Tacos. We all had a wet Burrito, which was very tasty.
That night, Karen and I packed our bags ready to leave the next morning, and the three of us played a few games of Yahtzee.
The next morning, on Good Friday, Karen and I got up early to catch our plane from Kansas City to Seattle. So my opinion of Manhattan, Kansas? Well, I don´t think it would actually be fair to judge the town on my 6 day trip. I was there at the end of winter, when there were no leaves on the trees, but wasn´t cold enough to snow and when all the students had gone home for spring break, so there wasn´t a lot of life in the town. As Karen keeps telling me: I need to go there in the summer time (but I think that she´s just trying out for a job as Manhattan´s PR Rep - sheś going to be there for another 3 years and so wants as many visitors as she can get). Anyway, I still had a good time because I was catching up with a couple of great friends, which is only reason I went there anyway.
Love,
Lis x.
No comments:
Post a Comment