Hiking: Cave Spring Park

 

On the trail.

This weekend we once again hit the trail with a hike we found in our new Hiking Kansas City book, that at Cave Spring Park. The park is a small tract of forest along the former Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. Pioneers and traders would stop at the small spring on their first day on the trail, after departing from Independence, Missouri. The park history included a marker for the pioneer trail camps, a few old chimneys that are the mid-twentieth century remnants of a Free Mason Country Club, and a marker for Harry Truman's grandfather, who owned the land in the late nineteenth century.

 

 

Cave Springs in the cave state.

This small cave, for which the park is named, had a tiny spring flowing from it's interior. There was also a small spring-fed pond on the other side of the park.

 

 

Little dude, big trees.

  

The park is only 40 acres nestled in the city, but there were many paths winding through the forest, making it feel much larger. There were also a few small streams and bridges, and we even saw a deer at the start of our hike. There was a small waterfall near what seemed to be an old dam, but a tree had recently fallen over the tiny falls, making them hard to see. All of the remnants of human history combined with some cool natural features made this a really sweet afternoon adventure.

 

Hiking crew. 

Kansas City: Heart of America Shakespeare Festival

 

King Lear program and button.

Each summer, one of our favorite June activities is attending the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Southmoreland Park. This year's production, King Lear, was dramatic and dark, but a great performance and a lovely time as usual.

 

 

Festival entrance.

The festival has a pre-show talk and many booths with concessions of wine, sandwiches, and popcorn, but we usually just bring our picnic basket and hang out on the lawn for a few minutes before the show. A fresh baguette, some cheese, dips, fruit, small chocolates, and wine are the perfect accompaniment to the drama.

 

 

We met The Bard himself!

 

 

Clouds in the distance.

The weather is often hot and humid during the festival, but this year it was a bit cooler and more comfortable than usual. There were beautiful clouds off to the north and east, which provided a bit of extra intrigue for the show- at the point when King Lear is leaving the castle the play includes a storm, which on the night we attended was supplemented with real lightning off in the distance. The performance starts at 8 pm, and the sun goes down throughout the first half of the play. It's quite magical to grow increasingly interested in the story and characters as the sun retreats, and the sunset truly heightens the drama of the performance. 

 

 

The view of the stage from our blanket.

The festival is free, but there are options for reserved seats or reserved blanket space. We just opt for the free grassy area and give a small donation.

 

 

Picnic basket.

  

Hiking: Jerry Smith Park

 

Storm clouds behind us on the trail. We narrowly avoided the rain.

 Recently, I purchased a book titled Hiking Kansas City. While there are many resources on the internet for finding natural areas, sometimes the wealth of information makes it hard to find spots nearby. Books like this one are oftentimes more helpful that the web, as they are concise and to the point. Plus, after spending hours in front of a screen for work, it is much more pleasant to page through paper than to spend time on my phone or computer. This past weekend, we took our first hike from the book, at Jerry Smith Park in south KC. We may have never learned about this great spot without the book.

The park was a little tough to find, but was really lovely once we arrived. We completed the 2.5 mile hiking loop through restored prairie, and walked around the small fishing lake. The park was full of wildflowers, and had many areas of stone where little dude could seek out fossils.  We also spied the seventeen-year cicada, and a variety of birds. I'm very much looking forward to hiking here again, and to seeing how the landscape changes with the seasons.

 

 

Wildflowers.

 

 

One of the forested parts of the trail.

 

 

More wildflowers.

 

 

Fossil hunting. We found a variety of coral fossils, and some worm-like fossils.

 

 

Cicada. 

Hydrangeas アジサイ

Tsuyu, or rainy season, is approaching its end (I hope!). The humidity can be unbearable, and the consecutive days of heavy rain are arduous, especially when we walk everywhere, and depend on sunny days to dry our laundry. Hydrangeas are a symbol of tsuyu, and one of the things that helps to keep spirits up in the face of difficult weather. There are seemingly endless varieties of the flowers here, and in amazingly vibrant colors. A few weeks ago we walked through the hydrangeas at Asukayama Park, taking in their beauty while a light rain fell.

Asukayama Park Sakura 飛鳥山公園の桜

 Sakura at Asukayama Park.

 My love of sakura is becoming an obsession this week. I have now done hanami (flower viewing picnics) four times in the last three days. I know that the blooms won't last, and that it will be rainy for the next two days, so I'm trying to get in as much time under the pink fluff as possible. Yesterday and today (and actually the day before too, but that was after dark), I went to Asukayama Park to view the blossoms there. The park is actually quite close to my apartment, so it's really convenient. It's also one of the more famous sites in Tokyo to view sakura; the first cherry trees were planted there in the 18th century, and it was one of the first public parks in Japan, opening in 1873. Even Emperor Meiji did hanami there back in the 1880s.

 Emperor Meiji at Asukayama Park, late 19th c., by Chikanobu.

A Hiroshige print of Asukayama Park sakura, 1832-4.

 All the happy drinking people.

 All the fluffy puffy blossoms.

 Sakura flavored chuhai (rice liqour and soda). Yummy.

Hanami at night.

Ume 梅

 

This past weekend little dude and I attended an ume viewing picnic with a big group of friends. The weather was perfect- sunny and cool- and the company fantastic. The ume were in full blossom, complete with their lovely scent, and Umegaoka Park was the perfect location to pass the time.

鶯谷ー上野 Uguisudani-Ueno

Everybody loves a steam train.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon between Uguisudani Station and Ueno Park. Our first stop was the station, where we waited for a steam train to pass through, a special event in commemoration of this week's 3/11 disaster. The crowds were thick at all the stations along the route, as well as on the streets along the tracks.

Waiting for the steam train, cameras in hand, security trying to keep everyone behind the yellow line.

 

Steamie!

 

It was pretty neat to see the old engine running through the very modern city, and I was surprised at how quiet the train itself was, yet how loud the steam whistle sounded.

Chug.

 

After the train passed through we walked around Ueno Park, enjoying the sunny weather. We stopped by a food stall outside of the Benzaiten Temple and snacked on kasutera, a street snack similar to doughnut holes, shaped like Doraimon and Hello Kitty.

Benzaiten Temple.

 

Kasutera stall. This guy was quite the performer when it came to cooking up the little snacks.

 

Nomz.

 

Kitty kasutera.

 

 Along our route we saw an early blooming sakura tree, and watched a man place two cats in the tree. Then came the cameras... too much cute.

Our ultimate destination was the Shitamachi Museum at the far end of the park. There we were able to explore what the merchant houses of old Tokyo were like in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Little dude exploring history.

 

Shitamachi of 100 years ago recreated. Or, as little dude put it, we explored ooooooold Tokyo.

 

The recreated narrow streets of Shitamachi.

 

The museum had many interactives, including a big table of old fashioned games such as the pinball that we spent a good deal of time with.

Recreated Shitamachi from the postwar period.

 

After a long day we stopped at the Hard Rock in Ueno Station for dinner. It was fun for me to eat a veggie burger, my mom to have a burger, and little dude to have mac and cheese, foods that are not so easy to come by in our part of the city.