Nick and Ryan's Summer Adventure!: Joetown Adventures, Part Two

The next day, Wednesday, we went to Kansas City to see my friend Gabs and her fiancé Scott. Gabs has been my friend since we lived in the same dorm our freshman year at Mizzou, and I love, LOVE seeing her. I always make a point to meet up with her whenever she’s in town. Gabs filled Ryan and I in on her wedding plans. Her wedding is going to be in March, which I am so excited to go to!

Then we went to Hallmark’s (the greeting card people) headquarters in Kansas City. This has been Ryan’s dream place to be since birth as he is obsessed with everything Hallmark. I had lived near KC my entire life and had never been. But, we decided to finally visit. Ryan was like a kid in a candy store, excited by everything and I was pleasantly surprised. They do a decent job of interpreting and displaying the material they have. It’s not extensive, but it’s fun and gets the general ideas they promote across. Ryan and I got to take goofy pictures like this one here and we got souvenir bows that we watched being made by a machine. Here's pics of that adventure here!

Then we went and visited my sister Kylie and her husband Jason and their new house. They bought a nice new place in Kansas City (finally getting out of St. Joe, yay!) and it was exciting to hear about their plans for the future. I realized then that my sister’s house was yet another way in which I look up to her. I can’t wait until I can buy a house and have a stable career like her, and I felt very proud of her.

Thursday, we woke up with plans to venture into the Missouri countryside. My aunt Linda is currently building her dream restaurant in tiny Stewartsville, Missouri, about 15 miles east of St. Joe. Her place is going to be called “Goldie’s” (Check her out on Facebook under “Goldie’s Restaurant”, a homestyle restaurant named after my great-grandma who lived her whole life on the farm and taught my mom and her sisters how to cook farm-style meals. My aunt even painted the restaurant a mint-green like my great-grandma’s house used to be. Construction seems to be coming along well and I’m excited to eat there the next time I am in town!

Afterward, we drove down to my Aunt’s house in Plattsburg, Mo, which is even more remote than Stewartsville. It was fun taking Ryan to the Midwest countryside. I forgot how quiet the outdoors can be, and being on my aunt’s farm was peaceful. It was also fun because my cousin Beth (Linda’s daughter) met us there with her three adorable children Grace, Landry, and Beau. Ryan and I got to blow bubbles, push them higher on the swing, and play with toy cars the whole afternoon. It had been a while since I played with kids and they were so cute and adorable! Ryan and I had a blast. When we were done, Ryan enjoyed speeding back to town on the back country roads and was especially excited to go 100mph on some of the more remote roads. Here's some pics from that time as well!