Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Midwest Travel Report: Lawrence, Kansas

Finally finding the time to post about the great city of Lawrence. It's the "Boulder" or "Austin" of Kansas......a fun, liberal town...about 40 miles west of where we are.....lots of history and home to the University of Kansas.

We met an old friend of mine....Christine from my high school days....and her 3 kids. Started out mid-town with a visit to the playground.

Love Jack storming off here. Pouty face and arm swinging? That means business. Can't even recall what he was so upset about. (Probably because the train was fenced off).





Carter started an impromptu basketball game. We really need to work on his shy personality, don't you think?

We walked over to Massachusetts Street.....the heart of downtown. Lots of old buildings and good shopping. We ate lunch (always fun with 6 kids!) and enjoyed walking around.

Beautiful architecture.

Here is Carter with 2 of Christine's boys......Marcus and Jordan.

The boys loved this old park (just past the courthouse) with beautiful trees to climb.

We walked into this fabulous toy store and Lainey was in love. Babies galore.

Walked a bit further down the street and shopped some more. Took this pic for Ryan.....a very cool looking record store.

Found this kitty at a used book store......many of the stores have a cat sitting in the front window. Love that.

The Kansas River flows through town and so we took the kids down to see it.

If there is a snake in sight, Carter will naturally gravitate toward it. Since there were two, he walked even faster. Marcus and Jordan went with him. Such tough guys!

Christine and I stayed with the little ones and screamed the whole time, warning the big boys away from the water. They at least got a pretty close look.

Went next to the Union Pacific Train Depot. I'll give you one guess as to who was most excited.

Two Lawrence locals were inside, keeping the depot running and filling me with all sorts of Kansas information. Which cities held the most historical destinations, where to find the Westward trail markers and more. Heaven for me.

Walked back towards our original stop and saw some funky stores on the way. Can't wait to go back to this little gem. Looks like fun.

Finally......another playground to discover and then we were on the road back to KC. Jack with Christine...

Blake and I would love to live in Lawrence and we haven't completely ruled it out. Still lots to think about. But, a darling town over all and I am anxious to see more. I definitely recommend a trip out there!

6 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

it's so fun that you keep with a lot of old friends and actually make playdates with them! people think I'm goofy for reconnecting with people. Whatever??

SASS said...

Ah, mixed feelings about Lawrence now that my baby brother LIVES there! Spent many afternoons shopping in Lawrence in high school. Sam and I used to drive out there with our old clothes and sell them to Arizona Trading Company. We even went to a few emo shows at the Granada.
Great post!

Clare said...

Lawrence is Great! At first I was shocked to see all the things you did in one day, and then I remembered who's blog I was reading!

The Lenzers said...

I would have been screaming to stay away from the snakes!

donatelli98 said...

Looks cute - my MIL is from Lawrence and my FIL went to law school at KU ... I am not a KU fan but the town looks super cute!

Unknown said...

these are some great pics. You should get in touch with the bizymoms Lawrence community to feature these on their page. It’s free and the moms will love it.