It began auspiciously. We walked into Stuffology this morning, and there he was. A gregarious, stocky gentleman, struggling to put on this massive fur coat. He simultaneously chatted up the ladies, while posing for photos. The coat was disgusting. Smelly and massive, but like staring at a real life Yeti, a two legged Snuffleupagus. We couldn't look away.
With Joe's baby brother visiting from Chicago, we had to step up our Kansas City tourist game and leave an impression on Jon. The West Bottoms monthly flea market extravaganza fit the bill. Old warehouse buildings crammed with floors and floors of old furniture, some junk, some gems, old jewelry, your grandma's chiffarobe painted turquoise, signage, bar stools, desks, china, and scores of shoppers looking for their next perfect deal.
We bought a few things, but mostly just reveled in the dirty, the strange, the slightly broken, the historical, the quirky, the beautiful rusty, scratched, loved and saved stuff. We hiked up and down creaky, wooden stairs, we fondled old rugs and ran our hand over amplifiers from the 1970's, and stacks of LP's, bags of discarded lonely beads and brooches. We perused for a few happy hours.
After a few blocks of vintage wandering, we headed around the corner to a small letterpress studio and found some handmade beautiful art, stuffed monsters, copper jewelry, printing presses run on bicycle power. Jon chatted up the adorable ginger haired pixie artists, we made some purchases and decided to head out for some provisions after all of our strenuous browsing. We'd earned it. Or so we claimed.
No Kansas City flea market meandering is complete without lunch at the Westport Flea Market. The best burgers in a 300 mile radius, give or take a few miles. Just a fine burger. Basic perfect beef. Sesame seed bun, curly fries, pitchers of beer, scuzzy tables, tattooed waitresses who could easily refill your Pepsi or kick your ass, the Flea is a winner. Jon seemed to be enjoying himself. But after all the curly fries, we needed some good healthy exercise.
The weather was shockingly lovely today. Chilly but sunny, so we took a long walk on the recently opened stretch of walking trail behind our neighborhood. It was muddy, it was gravely, the dog was coated in detritus and clumps of dirt and little rocks, but it was a good way to walk off a few bites of burger. The men headed back to the house to clean off the dog and I went on for a little run. I kept my eyes open for any wild yetis, but I think I was pressing my luck. Yeti sightings are rare. But there's always next month. I'll be on the look out.
Most photos by me and Instagram, but a couple, the really good ones, thrown in are from the Joe.
Beautiful photos, all!
ReplyDelete