Abilene

Recently, John planned a day trip for us and it was just what I needed. We left Saturday morning and headed west to Abilene. It was a beautiful morning for a drive. An hour and a half later, we stopped at the Visitor's Center and picked up brochures and ate a sugar cookie made from Mamie Eisenhower's recipe. We'd heard good things about the Seelye Mansion but we missed their first tour of the day and the next one wasn't till 1pm, so we decided we'd tour the mansion another time. We headed to the Heritage Center and the Independent Museum of Telephony. Very interesting little place.




We had lunch at The Kirby House and my chilled strawberry soup was delightful.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Eisenhower Library & Museum. We started off with a fantastic lecture given by William Allen White as portrayed by Professor Frederick Krebs. We weren't sure what we were about to listen to but it was really fascinating and left me wanting to know more Kansas history. We visited Eishenower's childhood home and the Place of Meditation; a small chapel that is his final resting place. We saw an exhibit in the Library and spent a great deal of time in the Museum. Honestly, we could've spent another hour or two there. Leaving this place, we decided we'd like to visit all of the Presidential Libraries.





Dinner was at the famed Brookville Hotel. We feasted on fried chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, biscuits and strawberry preserves. Leaving this place, we decided we needed to eat here more often!

Just a great day. We love exploring Kansas and need to make an effort to do more day trips like this.