Amazing Adventures

12/08/2026

The Hollywood Candy Store in Omaha Nebraska was definitely an EXPERIENCE!!

The store is a maze of a variety of retro items to see and some are even for sale. Plus a ton of retro candies, pinball arcade, and even a retro diner!!

11/08/2026

We saw quite a few things in just a few hours in Minneapolis!

Minnehaha Falls is right near downtown and very easy to get to.

Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis were very interesting.
And so much more ..

10/08/2026

Prince loved his hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota so much that he built his favorite home there, Paisley Park.
At Paisley Park, he built FOUR recording studios IN HIS HOUSE!!
AND he built a concert room IN HIS HOUSE!
And because that's not over the top enough ... he built a cocktail lounge with a stage and movie screen IN HIS HOUSE!!!

Who does that???!! ...
Prince, PRINCE, that's who does that!

Also included are several locations in Minneapolis that are must sees if you love Prince!

PS Batgirl is a fan of Prince! After all, she really likes purple!

08/08/2026

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que is frequently referred to as the best in Kansas City. In fact, it is one of Travis Kelce's favorites! So we had to give it a try!

The ribs were really good. The rest wasn't bad ... but we prefer Texas BBQ to be honest. The sides were pretty great though. The dirty rice was spicy with nice chunks of sausage. The chicken gumbo was delicious. The Mac n cheese is made with white cheddar and smoked provolone, pretty yummy. The onion rings were nice and sweet and crispy.

Amazing loved her Z-man pulled chicken sandwich with provolone topped with onion rings. David's plate of meats didn't stand a chance! Though he said he'd like to try the Z-man beef or pork sandwich if we come back.

The line was long, but the staff is on top of things. We spent about an hour and a quarter in line despite it wrapping through, outside and around the building.

08/08/2026

The oldest continuously running restaurant west of the Mississippi is in Council Grove, Kansas. It is the Hays House 1857 restaurant.
Hays House Restaurant

Definitely in the middle of nowhere. The chicken fried steak was delicious!

Built in 1857 by Seth Hays—the great-grandson of Daniel Boone and Council Grove's first permanent white settler—the Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern is recognized as the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River, serving as a a multi use facility. It was a vital trading post, courthouse, and social hub along the historic Santa Fe Trail. They even held curch services in the limestone basement.

David was excited that this place shares the same name with his county of residence in Texas.

08/08/2026

Amazing Adventures found the Pony Express Home Station number 1 in Marysville Kansas. It is the last standing barn for the Pony Express route. We learned so much!

With the expansion of the US to California, there was a demand for mail service from the east to California. The Pony Express was started in 1860 to get letters that long distance in as little as 10 days!

The flyer requested riders "young, skinny and wiry fellows inder 18"! The riders had packs with mail. Three of the packs had locks that could only be opened in California and at the start of the station. There were stations along the way were riders changed horses. They were required to change the mail to the new horse within two minutes. And along the way riders and horses were changed out.

Unfortunately the Indians saw the riders as a threat. They were attacked. Indians burned down stations. But they perservered....

For 19 months. Once the telegraph lines were finished linking the east to California. Fast mail was no longer needed. I never knew that the Pony Express only operated less than two years!

Fun fact: Buffalo Bill was a pony express rider when he was around 11 years old.

On the road after leaving we saw the site of another home station.

07/08/2026

Today, David fulfilled another stamp in his presidential passport booklet! This is a major part of the reason for this trip & let me tell you, Abilene Kansas is NOT an easy place to get to! Having already read an Eisenhower bio, David was very familiar with much of Ike's history so you can peruse the pics for additional comments.

But a couple of facts worth mentioning:

DDE was the only one of SIX Eisenhower boys not born in Kansas. He was a "Native Texan," having been born in Denison while his father worked briefly for a railroad company. The family returned to Kansas where the other 3 boys were born and where Ike always claimed it as his childhood hometown.

Speaking of that, youll see pics of the "Eisenhower house." This is the actual house he grew up in from 1896 to 1912, on the same spot! His mother lived there for sixty or so years until she passed, and then it became part of the Presidential Museum and is preserved as it was when she passed.

DDE & his wife Mamie met in San Antonio when he was stationed at Fort Sam after graduating from West Point.

Their first child died at 3 of Scarlet Fever. He is buried with them in the Place of Meditation that is on the grounds.

David now has five stamps in his passport and shockingly, LBJ is NOT one of them yet!

Comments on some pics.

05/08/2026

Our favorite place in the world is Orient Bay in Saint Martin. The food, the gorgeous beach, the convenience ...

If you ever travel to St Martin, do yourself a favor and look for a place as close to the Orient Village as possible. There are very affordable Airbnb and Vrbo options as well as a few small hotels.

We loved walking to dinner. All the restaurants are open air and delicious. You can get French, Italian, Asian, Steakhouse and more!
There's a small wonderful grocery store and a delicious breakfast place called Good Morning.

05/08/2026

05/08/2026

Did you know there's a Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit in Sint Maarten??

One of the creators of Yoda, Nick Maley, relocated there and opened this fun museum.
In addition to working on Star Wars, Nick also worked on Highlander, Superman and Krull. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on The Hunchback of Notre Dame.