Well, OK, LIBERTY, Missouri, actually (although we did go into Kansas City during our visit), which is located about 15 miles just northeast of Kansas City, MO. The home of our friends, Mark and Kristine Bridgeman is located in Liberty.
A short history of this enduring friendship: Mark and Lorraine met first, only ONLINE, introduced by Rhonda (and Rick), and quickly became AOL instant messenger friends, who somehow found time to “chat” on a regular basis. This chatting continued for a few years (!!). Lorraine finally decided that it was high time for an in-person Bridgeman/DeMan summit, and planned one of her first Big Road Trips, where the final destination was Liberty, MO. In August of 2001, I took the kids (at the time, Mary was 14, and John was 9), and we traveled to Missouri, stopping in Hershey, PA, West Virginia, Indianapolis, IN, Columbus, OH, and Six Flags Over St. Louis before finally landing in Liberty. This trip was followed, over the next several years, by the Bridgemans visiting us in NJ (and NYC) with a few different exchange students they’d hosted, and a few visits by Lorraine to Missouri.
But … it’s been (literally) a dog’s age since the last face-t0-face, so that was how we came to plan this trip to begin and end in Kansas City. Could we have flown directly to Colorado, booked a one way car rental, and flown home from Nebraska? Sure, sure …. but then we would have missed the laughter and camaraderie of being reunited with our friends. And we had a great time!
The drive from Omaha to Liberty was a mere three hours, and we arrived first at St. James church, where we decided to attend 5 PM Saturday mass. A beautiful and clearly newly landscaped property, our Sunday obligation was fulfilled in high fashion.
As you can see, we got to 5:00 Mass just a _TAD_ early. LOL The place DID fill up before Mass actually began.
From church we went directly to the Bridgman home, only a few minutes away. Yay!!!! Hi, everybody! Our friends treated us to some take out from one of Gerry’s favorite places:
We spent the evening catching up, telling stories of the previous 5 days, and enjoying their new past time … watching live streams of safaris on the Wildearth TV channel. Certainly mesmerizing, if not downright fascinating!
As we were relaxing that evening, Mr. Baseball (aka Gerry), always looking for the next possible game and/or visit to a ballpark, found a great deal on tickets to the Kansas City Royals, the next afternoon. And, even though the idea of a baseball game wasn’t in our original plan, it worked out well.
We began our Sunday morning at:
… where we had an abundant BRUNCH, that held us all day. Mark & Kristine finally agreed and got to pose with Lulu …
Well … more accurately, Kristine agreed; Mark feigned complete disdain for Lulu.
But eventually he came around. Lulu has that effect on everyone. 🙂
A little while later, we hopped into the car, and made our way down to Kansas City and Royals Stadium.
What a beautiful park!
As you can see, our seats were in the very first row of the upper deck. Sweet!
Except that, Kristine and I are just about the Whitest Gals in America.
Sunscreen is an absolutely necessity … but SHADE is even more preferred! We spent the entire game, moving back, and moving back, and moving back — probably about 10 times — to chase the shade. I think we all wound up with a touch of color before the afternoon was over, but we did manage to avoid sitting in direct sunlight for any length of time. The only one who never needs to worry about the sun, of course, is:
Hey, Lulu!! Watch that CODE OF CONDUCT, Toots!! Naturally, she made some new friends at the ballpark … and did maintain decorum at all times. LOL
The Royals mascot is a lion called “Sluggerrr” and made several appearances during the game:
There was also a RACE in the middle of the game — between the Hot Dog, the Mustard, and the Ketchup. Whatever poor soul was in the Ketchup suit tripped over his feet or the costume, and fell flat on his squirt nozzle in the first 10 feet of the race (from the right field bullpen to the first base side dugout), and needed assistance returning …
And the WINNER (by a mile, FYI) was …
THE MUSTARD!!!! An entertaining moment, for sure.
The game went on & on, as we white folks chased the shade in the upper deck. I snapped a photo of the scoreboard, when the Royals were ahead by 5 runs, and score was actually the same as my birthday — 6-11 — hoping that might be the final score.
In the end — of an over 4 hour long game (!) — the score was KC Royals – 15, and San Diego Padres – 7. A victory for the home team:
All in all, a fun afternoon … not too hot … and great company. Thanks again for the tickets, Gerry!
It was then back to Liberty for a relaxing evening of packing, more laughing, a little more:
… and then we watched a movie I’d not yet seen, that we enjoyed:
It was soon after off to sleep, as both Mark and Kristine were off to work in the morning. Hugs & promises to see each other soon on Monday morning, and Gerry and I were then off to the airport to drop off our cute little Nissan Versa that carried us over 2,260 miles in 7 days. As we finished loading up the car, we turned back to snap one final photo of the Bridgeman’s home:
Thanks again, Mark & Kristine! Until next time!
And … until my next post in a few weeks, which will happen after my trip to New Mexico– my 50th State! — I bid you, my dear reader, adieu! Thanks for joining Lulu, Gerry & I on our journey!