Virtual Vacation On The Prairie

(This post is for my Virtual Vacation Swap pal, Chan. It's designed to be interactive with her gift box, to read as she opens her box of souvenirs.)

Hi Chan! Welcome to Kansas City! I actually don't live in Kansas City - I live in a bedroom community a few miles to the west. Since you're only visiting for a short time, we'll skip the usual tourist stuff and just hit the places I think you'll like.

1. I threw in some postcards to give you a taste of how pretty it is around here. The first one shows the Plaza - a huge outdoor shopping mall, designed to evoke Seville, Spain, KC's sister city. If you come back at Christmas, you can see how magical it is when it's all lit up. It's full of upscale shops, some pretty good restaurants and beautiful fountains everywhere you look This one is the best of all:


The next card shows an aerial view of my part of town. It's quite boring, unless you're into the Stepford Wives type of ambience and really like the color beige. The last postcard shows a view of the prairie. I love the prairie, especially in the fall. But unless you're seriously into grasses, it is not an exciting tourist destination. So let's head back into town.


2. Our first stop is my favorite grocery store. I told you we are boring here. But I have my reasons. You see, this is one of the only places in town you can find some hand-crafted, fair trade tea from the Trade Winds Tea Company which is located here in KC. These are not boring, even though they're from Kansas.

3. Since you like chocolate, and chocolate goes with everything, we'll pop into the Russell Stover candy store. These should be really fresh, since it's made here in KC.



We'll also pick up some Sunny Treats (chocolate-candy covered sunflower seeds) since Kansas is the "Sunflower State".


4. Chloe and Abbie will never forgive me if I don't take you to their favorite KC experience to buy a little something for Fred and Mugsy. Three Dog Bakery is another home-grown business. There's so much to choose from, but I'd recommend what my girls usually go bonkers for - the variety pack of Bark & Fetch bones. You might be tempted to try one yourself - go ahead! They're made from human-quality ingredients. I know one of the chefs, who swears they have a loyal human clientele who are on restricted diets and rely on 3 Dog treats to satisfy their sweet tooth.


5. We'll make a quick stop at the farmer's market to pick up some locally made soap. Their soaps smell fresh and light and leave your skin so soft! And I knitted up a cute little soap scrubber to go with it.


6. Now for my favorite part of the vacation: a visit to my favorite lys, The Studio. They have an incredible selection of the most tempting and decadent yarns and are such a friendly bunch of knitters. Some of my favorite yarn here is locally handspun and hand-dyed sockweight merino from Crafty In a Good Way. The colors I am sending remind of Kansas in the summertime - lush green grass and deep blue skies. Ooops! Looks like one fell into my basket, too! BTW, she also has an Etsy shop where she sells more of this goodness.


7. Finally, what would a visit to Kansas be if we didn't have a bit of Oz? There's a fun little card with a picture of the usual suspects so you don't forget us when you've gone back east.




Toto's already gone - see the note he left?



Not to worry - you know what to do....click your heels 3 times and say "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home..."