Denver Trip - Day 1 - Abilene, Kansas - Eisenhower Presidental Library

May 18, 2010 - We are on our way to Denver to attend my brother Dale's grandson's high school graduation. We are taking the scenic route through Kansas so we can visit a few places that we have talked about for years. The first stop is Abilene, Kansas and the Eisenhower Presidential Library. This is downtown Abilene at the visitors center.

The visitors center is in the old Union Pacific railroad station.

This is a small chapel on the Library grounds. Dwight, Mamie and their son Dowd Eisenhower, who died at 3 years old of Scarlet Fever, are buried here.

The Museum is one of the two main buildings on the campus. The Museum has all the interesting personal items while the Library has Eisenhower's papers and very little to see.

A nice bronze of Eisenhower keeps a watch over the campus.

The Library Building.

Murals in the Museum.

Murals depict Eisenhower's West Point Days.

Sigrid enjoying the displays.

West Point uniforms.

WWII military equipment.

Eisenhower's presidency was full of major historical events like the development of the Interstate Highway System, the first satellites and the beginning of space exploration, the early rise of computers, televisions, and transistor radios, Elvis Presley, and much more.

The old family home. Eisenhower and his parents, four brothers, and two nephews all lived in this very modest house.

Master bedroom.

Living room......for guests only.

Family room.

Kitchen.

Dwight, Mamie, and Dowd's final resting place in the Chapel.

Flowers on the grounds.

Historic Old Abilene Town. The buildings are originals.

There are a number of great "mansions" in the residential parts of the city.

Can you find the flowers in the above two photos in this overall shot? Sigrid took these photos with her little Canon pocket camera.

The next stop is Lindsborg, Kansas.

Kansas School House

May 18, 2010 - On our way to Denver, we stopped by an old school house that we first saw on our Wamego Adventure. We didn't take photos on the first trip because we were past the school before we knew it and then went back home a different way. Since we were very near to the school on I-70, we wanted to get a few shots. The school is a classic "one room" structure belonging to the Hinterville School District. It was built in 1898. FYI. Hinter as in "hinterland" is German for way out there in nowhere land.

It has been a while since this old rusty bicycle has been on the road.

More posts on our Denver trip will be coming soon.

Sigrid and Her Birdie

This morning we looked out the window onto the deck and noticed a small bird sitting on the deck. The bird's feathers were all fluffed out and he looked cold. I think that this is a Finch of some type. We have a bird book but I am too lazy to try and find it. What's in a name?


Sigrid went outside to see if the bird was okay. Sometimes they fly into our big windows and are stunned for a while. A few have died. When Sigrid bent over and put her hand out, the little bird climbed into her hand and seemed to like it there. I know her hand was warm. As you can see, her hand is open so the bird can fly away if it wants to escape.

Sigrid put the bird down after a couple of minutes and then it flew away into the trees. Maybe it got just enough warmth so it felt better. I hope the bird wasn't sick. We don't need the bird flu. Sigrid washed her hands after coming back inside. Hopefully, it was just a pretty little bird that need some love and warmth.

Travel Update

We mentioned in an earlier post that we were looking at a Mediterranean Cruise. As it turns out, we waited too long to make reservations so all the good cabins were booked. We could have gone, but not on our terms. The airfares were also pretty steep since the planes were getting full. After working on the trip pretty heavy for a couple of weeks, we gave up and decided to take the same trip next spring.


Well.........my how things change. We have to be some of the luckiest travelers in the world. We always have good weather on our trips and we have managed to avoid all the other calamities that could have gotten us. We did it again.


We would have had several ports in Greece on the itinerary. If you follow the news, you know that there are riots in the streets of Athens and Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy...........not the place a person would want to be vacationing. They were throwing Molotov Cocktails from the walls surrounding the Acropolis.............one of our stops on the trip. We might not go next spring either.


We are looking into alternative cruises like Australia/New Zealand until Greece cleans up its financial mess. A/NZ has always been one of our priorities so everything works fine for us.

We will be driving to Denver for Jarek's graduation (Dale's grandson). We hope to take a few photos while there so expect a new post before the end of May. If you haven't noticed, there are several new posts since Wamego............I just got them up today.

Scott's New 2005 Ford Escape

Scott's lease was up on his Pontiac G6, so we had to find something else for him to drive. He hated the G6, so buying it was out of the question. Scott has to be able to get to his KC Scout job no matter what the weather is doing. Last winter, we had to rescue him after one of the big snows because the G6 didn't have enough ground clearance and got bogged down in deep snow. His new Escape has much more ground clearance and 4-wheel drive.


Scott and I spent days driving from one car dealer to another trying to find an Escape or Mazda Tribute (same thing as an Escape) that was in his price range. We also watched Craig's List for weeks looking for individuals selling their cars. We finally found the right one with acceptable mileage and the right price. Scott is very happy and relieved..........no more lease and no car payments........life is good.