Kansas Travel Blog

Chronicling changes to KansasTravel.org and Keith's exploration & photographing Kansas restaurants, attractions, museums, festivals and art. Contact him.
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Valeda: The Transparent Talking Woman
Saturday - June 8, 2013: We left at 10AM Saturday morning and the first stop was about 90 minutes later in Alma, Kansas. The town is best known for Alma Cheese, but I wanted to revisit Alma Bakery and Sweet Shoppe, which had moved since the first time we first shopped there.

The old location was cooler (in an old bank, with storage in the vault), but this location is more spacious and (I assume) more efficient. I had a bierock, which is a German pastry baked with a savory beef, onion, and cabbage filling. It sounds a lot like a pastie, but the flavor and texture are quite different. This one was black peppery and good, though I am not as big a bierock fan as many Kansans. Linda got some cookies. I confess to having a couple of them over the weekend, but most of them made it home.

We drove on to Junction City for lunch at Korean Garden, my favorite Korean restaurant in town (I've been to three others). Junction City is on the edge of Fort Riley (home of the Big Red One) and has a large Korean population. Linda had Jogi-Gui (grilled whole yellow corbina fish) & soybean stew. I had nakji bokim (stir fried octopus). With both enjoyed our meals.

We stayed in town, touring the Geary County Historical Museum. The displays and organization were far better than most local historical museums and I particularly liked the room devoted to cameras and photos of the community.

Linda collects postcards and purchased several at the museum gift shop. One had a photo of a Buffalo Soldier Memorial on the other side of town and we visited that memorial on the way to Milford Lake and the Milford Nature Center.

The nature center is located below the Milford Lake Dam and next to a fish hatchery. The hatchery was less interesting than most. The nutrient rich water coming out of the lake is so cloudy that we couldn't see the fish in any of the giant tanks except for one tank which had gold fish which are maintained as forage species for use throughout Wildlife and Parks’ hatchery system.

The nature center is large with many live animal, fish & reptile displays, as well as an area devoted to taxidermy specimens of fish, birds and mammals.

It was time to head back east. We drove to Wamego and checked into Victory Inn Bed and Breakfast. We had a much larger suite than we needed, but the single rooms have a bathroom down the hall and both of the suites were the same price. We had a large rooms with two sitting areas, a separate sun room as long as the suite, and a large bathroom with double Jacuzzi.

We changed for dinner and then drove to the main event of the trip, Feast of the Fields at a farm near Wabaunsee. It was a four course meal prepared by Chef Ken Baker of Pachamama's in Lawrence, paired with wines from France, Spain and Kansas. The dinner was limited to 70 people and was intended to be in the middle of a corn field, but rain was forecast and it was moved into a 140 year old stone barn. That was a good thing - there was heavy rain by the end of the meal.

The food was good, but not as special as I expected. The best tasting dish was lamb which had slow roasted for 20 hours, but it had been cooked in Lawrence and was barely warm when served. I might do the event again someday, with a different chef who might better adapt to the conditions. I did enjoy the table conversation. Although I think one couple I slightly know was there, we sat with and got to know two couples we had never met before. I hope I didn't bore them too much with my talking about Kansas travel. 

 

Alma Bakery and Sweet Shoppe - Alma, Kansas Alma Bakery and Sweet Shoppe
 

Korean Garden - Junction City, Kansas
Jogi-Gui & nakji bokim 
 

Geary County Historical Museum - Junction City, Kansas Geary County Historical Museum
 

Milford Nature Center - Milford Lake, Kansas Milford Nature Center
 

Victory Inn Bed and Breakfast - Wamego, Kansas Victory Inn Bed and Breakfast
 

Feast of the Fields - Wabaubsee, Kansas Feast of the Fields

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