Saturday in Missouri

One week ago today, a drive across Missouri. Many decent photo opportunities were missed because I didn't know of them in time to get my camera ready (whereas I'm at least aware of what I keep meaning to shoot in time between Chicago and St. Louis). A few never-making-it-Flickr shots, I guess. Also, as tiny a deal as this may sound to others, I'm pretty thrilled I actually posted some of the photos onto Flickr--night shots from a Saturday night in sleepy Independence, MO--in less than a week. And even before my traveling companion, Flickr's plasticfootball, had posted from there, though he's posted Boonville already. Now, the next frontier: a night where I post photos of an event that happened that day, such as the DIY Trunk Show or Chicago Book Expo I went to, and only photographed.

titling these is the hardest part

Not really, some days, writing is. And this was a strange, challenging day I don't want to discuss right now, so: I'll randomly link to my Flickr set of Phoenix. Just photos in it from 2009, which reminds me I still have two other cities from that trip to post! And much more Phoenix. My habit of taking thousands of photos a month is catching up with me, and there are specific people I don't want to disappoint. As long as I'm glancing through Flickr photosets (and cringing at all the private ones of stored photos, which make organizing my public ones a challenge), a personal favorite that also got a little overlooked: through green windows.

more than halfway

I'm going to admit daily blogging has been a bit of a challenge, but I'm keeping it up. Here's a scene from my aforementioned bike ride to Central Park Ave.--I'm not sure I ever noticed this in ten years living nearby.

cold-weather bicycling

Just a simple city shot today, taken recently after I left my first Tweed Ride in Chicago early (it was fun, but didn't have enough actual riding) and went to Cafe Mustache in Logan Square. Today I had my first bike ride in days, though the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees from Tuesday (a day I mostly spent on a Greyhound bus) and it wasn't bad--sunny and 40 degrees. It helped that the trip was to buy nice cold-weather food like borscht at Tony's grocery (Fullerton & Central Park) and a bowl of chili at The Brown Sack nearby, an overdue visit to both. I'd post a shot of The Brown Sack but haven't uploaded much from my trip yet (or the photos since)!

the return (and post 200)

I have returned from the Missouri-Kansas trip; now to get the 1000-some photos onto my computer. And enjoy the other things I've brought back: half a variety 12-pack of Boulevard beer, winter hats from both home sports teams I saw play on the trip, books retired from the Boonslick Public Library collection, cheap postcards from gas stations (many still showing the old Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis), locally made candies, an out-of-print 1970s book on hobos and trains, etc. Here's a quick photo from, I believe, Higginsville, MO, where I got pumpkin-flavored coffee at the gas station. (After pumpkin beer in Boonville and before pumpkin pancakes in Independence.)

Blogger is telling me this is my 200th post on City of Destiny, and since I've spent National Blog Writing Month talking about discovering Blogger stats, and hitting 200,000 photostream views and 1,500,000 overall views on Flickr, I suppose I need to point this out too. ("All I have are my pageviews!" I told my traveling companion, half-kidding, before leaving St. Louis.) I'll assume that means posts that are actually posted (there may be some drafts floating around). As with the Blogger stats, that seems quite low for having been on here in one form since 2005 and another form since 2007. But this trip was an escape from the negativity about my creative output I've been bogged down in recently, so I'd better not dwell on that, and think about how it might be possible for me to hit 500 by the end of 2012...As before, thank you for anyone who's read and supported this blog!

K of C in KC day 3

One more excellent day on the road (then a partial day returning to Chicago on a bus from St. Louis): Independence, a bit of Kansas (but not Kansas City, Kansas, apparently), Kansas City, MO (but neighborhoods and not really time for downtown), and my first (I think) stop in Columbia, MO, on the way back. I thought of #kofcinkc for my @kofchicago Twitter a little too late and was too busy having fun and trying not to check my phone to tweet/post during the day anyway...

a note from Kansas City

Still on a wonderful Kansas City (and other Missouri) trip with good company (whose laptop I'm using, but I don't want to go through the hassle it'd take to post photos using it right now). I now have a Kansas City Flickr set starting with photos from my 2010 trip, after posting a few as the latest round of "Guess the City" on my Flickr. This trip is as good as my Quad Cities trip around my birthday this year (and I've found pizza I like even more). Both sets are in the around the Midwest collection on Flickr, still missing a few cities I've visited (that are left for "Guess the City").

hello from Independence, MO

Having a lovely time! Been up since 6:30 am arrival in St. Louis. Then a drive across Missouri with a surprisingly nice stop in Boonville, instead of finally seeing Columbia nearby. We attended an entertaining hockey game in Independence, saw the downtown, and had a late dinner at Denny's. Then got the motel wi-fi to work, and I showed off a bunch of vintage postcards I'd bought at an antique mall in Ames, IA, and we tried to decipher the writing on back of them, and now I CAN'T STOP THINKING IN A POSTCARD-WRITING VOICE.

Kansas City tomorrow. Photos to follow!
Katherine

wandering

A quick shot from the trip I just returned from, posted just before leaving on another. We'll see what posting from a borrowed laptop or from my phone is like...Oh, this is Toledo--I didn't know about this bridge. Can't wait to go back...

Sheffield & Addison, November

Just another night shot (with the new camera that takes them fairly well).