10/10/26

 It's a double digit day today!  😁  Today's image is from Kansas City and the World War 1 Museum from the entrance side.  It began life as the Liberty Memorial to honor the 441 local Kansas Citians who lost their lives in the war in 1926.  The museum was closed in 1994 for renovations and in 2006, it opened as a modernized version.  It holds the most comprehensive collection of WWI artifacts and documents in the world and was designated the national museum in 2004 by congress.  The tower is 265 feet tall.

 

10/03/26

 Today's image is of the view from Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri looking south.  The World War I can be seen on the upper right. The clock in the foreground is partially original but the works are not, I don't believe.  The building on the left is a hotel I once stayed in and got a night shot of KC.

 

09/26/26

 It's a double digit day!  😁  This past week I went to the World War 1 Museum in Kansas City and also to Union Station which can be seen in this photo promoting the Chiefs.  I found it a bit surprising that they were promoting them as the Chiefs are moving to Kansas and this is Missouri.  It's all weird an I really don't care.  😆  Anyway, I took this image from on top of the museum which has a concrete courtyard and a great view.  There is a tower you can go up in for a higher view but I didn't find it necessary.  The Western Auto sign seen on the right, was recently restored to full operating condition and financed by the homeowners in the building it sits atop.  Very cool to keep the iconic sign going even though the company does not exist any longer.

 

07/07/24

 It's a double digit day today!  It's also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image goes back to my visit to Kansas City to see the Empress, CN 2816.  It was difficult to get a photo without people in it as it was only on display sitting and not moving.  It was still great to be able to see it though.  If you ever want to watch a beautifully filmed and interesting film about railroading in the Canadian Rockies, Rocky Mountain Express is worth your time.  This locomotive is the star of that movie and where I first became aware of it.

05/26/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! today's image is of the beautiful CPKC locomotive 2816 also known as the Empress.  It is on it's Final Spike railway tour that is taking it from Canada to Mexico.  It stopped in Kansas City for an event at Union Station there and many people came out to see the beautifully restored locomotive.  It was really great to be able to see it in person.  I knew of the locomotive due to it starring in the Imax type movie Rocky Mountain Express.

05/19/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Yesterday I got to do something special steam related.  I went to Union Station in Kansas City to see the Canadian Pacific 2816 "Empress" locomotive which now belongs to the new CPKansasCity merger.  It is on a very special trip that spans from Canada to Mexico, the longest trip a steam locomotive has ever made for a specific trip.  This locomotive is in a movie we have called Rocky Mountain Express, a beautifully filmed Imax type movie that I highly recommend to watch if you can get a chance.  I chose this photo, even though there were a lot of people in it but it showed a bit of action.  I was disappointed that I did not get to se the engine moving.  They had moved it early in the morning it turns out, probably due to the main line traffic on the rail it had to travel on to the station.  I was also a bit disappointed because it is traveling with some old F Unit diesels but had a new one with it, probably due to the main line travel.  It was still cool to see and I am glad I went.  I also chose this image because it was more easy to see the color of it which is a lovely paint scheme.

 

12/25/23

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, it's Christmas day!  Today's image is looking back towards the entrance to the Grand Plaza where the light show was.  It was all quite beautiful and magical looking with all the lights and decorations.  

12/24/23

 Happy Christmas Eve to those who celebrate!  It's also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Sharing something a bit different for the day.  High above your head in the KC Union Station near the model trains that were on display and over the vintage train ride that was available for children was a Christmas train.  It had Santa sitting in it and waiving and he was animatronic but looked incredibly lifelike which didn't really come through in the photo, I don't think.  Anyway, the train was a nice looking realistic steam train I thought.

12/22/23

 It's Friday, TGIF and the start of my winter break!  Because Friday's Are Bokehlicious, I am sharing this photo I took as I was going inside Union Station.  In a small garden area outside there were these flowers I was very surprised to see still blooming.  I believe they are a type of Aster but which type I am uncertain, possibly New England Aster.  Whatever they are they usually do not bloom in December!  Kansas City has had very cold weather as well, at least into the low 20s.  The area is a bit protected and has a lot of concrete around which may keep the temperature up.  Whatever the reason, they were lovely to see.

12/21/23

 Out in the main area at Union Station, it was quite decorated up for Christmas as well.  This was a group of trees that greeted you as you enter with Mickey Mouse dressed as a railroad engineer.

12/19/23

 When you are in the light show at Union Station there is a water fountain show.  They have quite a number of fountain spouts that shoot up jets of water in different amounts and directions in time to Christmas music.  It's pretty impressive and was quite lovely to watch.  I have a short video here where you can see a bit of the show.  Wish I had caught a bit more of the end.  Ah well.  It can be seen HERE.

12/18/23

 Happy Monday and new week!.  It's the week leading up to Christmas if you celebrate and hope you have your Christmas shopping done.  😅  I am going to celebrate the season by sharing some images I took on a visit to Union Station in Kansas City last week to view their light show and model railroads.  This first image is as you entered the light show.  It reminded of walking through a stargate if you were a fan of that show.  

 

12/23/15

Yuck, what a dreary day out.  It's currently raining and I am glad it's not snow but we have had so many dreary days lately.  My image for today will brighten things up a bit I think though.  I shot this last year at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City.  This was their tree in the main entrance hall which looked quite lovely with all the marble.  I got lucky that there was a low amount of people around but I did remove about 3 people from the background.  :-)  I processed it with an HDR effect because it was rather dark in the hall and wanted to bring out details.  We have been to this museum several times now.  They have a lovely presentation and it's a great building as well.  I highly recommend it if you are in to art. 

1/24/15

This is a view of  Kansas City that I got one morning a few weeks ago as we were headed in from the north to visit the art museum and do some shopping.  I liked the color the sky had that morning due to the cloud cover and I liked that I captured some birds in the sky as well.  I was not driving while this photo was taken, in fact, I was in the back seat.  :-)