Note: I know I said the Truman Library would be next, but I’m finding that writing that post is more time consuming than my blogging availability currently allows for. I’ll definitely get back to it soon. In the meantime I hope you enjoy reading about the next part of our adventure.

September 2014

Though we’re still touring Missouri (Kansas City up next), we’ve popped on over to Olathe, Kansas for a couple nights as friends of Sriram’s have graciously opened up their home to us for our stay in the Kansas City area. Today we are spending the morning with their two daughters at the Moon Marble Company in nearby Bonner Springs.

In addition to selling all sorts of wonderful toys (lots of great items from my childhood lined their shelves), and lots of machine-made marbles, Moon Marble also makes specialty marbles right on the premises. We were lucky enough to visit on a day when marble making was happening and watched a demonstration by owner Bruce Breslow. It was fascinating seeing him melt down the various glass rods and swirl the colors together as he worked the marbles into shape. The presentation was both informative and entertaining. I’d really never given much thought to marble making, and it was a lot of fun to see it in action.

The company makes some beautiful marbles and also sells hand-blown marbles from other marble artisans. Here are a variety of gorgeous marbles available for purchase in their shop:

Before leaving, we purchased a couple marbles to commemorate our visit and also got a sticker for our roof box. Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve given a roof box update in a while. Here’s a section of it with some of the most recent stickers added on. You’ll notice the marbles on the lower right:

After dropping the kids back home, we headed into Kansas City, MO and visited the Hallmark Visitors Center. It didn’t come highly recommended, but it was free so we figured we’d give it a shot. I found it more interesting than I would have assumed. It was fun to see the various cards presented time-line style along with pop culture displays, World events and Hallmark mementos.

Another fun display was the collection of “Christmas trees” that the employees created and presented to Hallmark founder Joyce C. Hall each year. Each tree had a theme and was given as a sign of affection by the employees to their boss. Here are just some of the trees on display.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery at the museum was in learning that Winston Churchill was an artist and his paintings once appeared on Hallmark cards. Mr. Churchill was friends with Mr. Hall. At the time of our visit, an exhibit displaying Mr. Churchill’s paintings was open (it has since closed). No photographs were allowed inside the gallery, but I did take this photograph of the sign explaining the exhibit, which showcases two of the cards by Churchill and as well as featuring a letter he wrote to Mr. Hall.

It was very cool seeing the paintings and learning a bit about the history of the company. As a random side note, Sriram thought all the employees there looked really unhappy. Still, it was an interesting stop and if you’re ever in the area, I’d recommend popping in.

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From August 12 – October 15, 2014 my husband and I traveled the northern United States in my Honda Civic. Cross Country Civic was started (and will eventually be completed) to document our cross country adventure. All comments and questions welcome.