A Retro Drive-In

On Saturday, the whole family went to dinner at a Topeka landmark, Bobo Drive In. It's a tiny, cozy, super-retro drive-in that has been in Topeka for almost 60 years. It is no longer in the Bobo family, but the current owners inherited the original recipes and have stayed true to tradition. With someplace this entrenched in local culture, you have to. My grandparents are full of stories about friends who had their first dates at Bobo 50 years ago, and hell, looking around the joint confirms that a good percentage of the staff have been there for longer than I've been alive.

Recently, it was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. You can actually catch the episode several times this month, if you're curious. I don't know if it was the publicity or if it was typical, but the place was slammin' when we were there. We luckily got tables, but right after we sat, the other booths and the counter filled, and people were standing in the small dining room. I tried getting some interior shots, but it was just too crowded. I did get one of the menu, though. Kyle and I both got regular cheeseburgers, and shared an order of onion rings. The two house specialities are the Spanish Burger (a hamburger with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce) and their homemade apple pie. Kyle and I were too stuffed to even think about pie (I feel like all I did this week was eat!), but Grampa was kind enough to let me photograph his pie before he tucked in.

Like I've said, I'm not really much of a meat-eater, especially red meat, but Bobo has good burgers. They're thin patties (of course fresh, not frozen- this is beef country!) that are cooked on a flat griddle and are liberally salted while cooking, resulting in a crispy, salty crust that's pretty darn tasty. Though generally I prefer a veggie burger, if I'm going to eat the real deal, these rank up there.

If you ever find yourself in the Topeka area, and are craving a burger, you can find Bobo at 2300 SW 10th Ave.

Get the Hell Out of Dodge

It's been difficult to find a few spare moments to use the computer this week. We leave Kansas this evening, and for the most part, the morning is unplanned, so I was able to sneak online. (However, I can't get my father's overly complicated uber-computer to upload my pictures to my blog, so I'll put up pictures once I'm back home on my computer.)

We left Florida on Wednesday super-ridiculously early (once at the airport, I had to wait for the coffee shop to open- that's early.) My mom picked us up at the airport, then we picked up my dad (he had a doctor's appointment) and we left for Dodge City at about one. From Topeka to Dodge City is about a four hour drive, so we really spent the whole day traveling.

First, a brief history of Dodge City-
Dodge City was once considered "The Queen of the Cowtowns" and was at one point in time or another home to Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and Bat Masterson, amongst other well-known Western icons. The cattle industry was vital to Dodge. Cowboys would drive cattle east to Dodge, where they would sell them and ship them east via railroad. Dodge City had a reputation of rowdiness and debachery. Drunk cowboys, buffalo hunters, gamblers and other ner'do-wells would fight, creating the need for the Boot Hill Cemetary. The townspeople with families and friends would have formal funerals and were buried at Fort Dodge, but the drifters rarely had mourners, so when they were shot in a barfight, they were buried, boots and all (hence the name Boot Hill) in poorly marked graves. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Dodge City was romanticized in the radio-drama and TV series Gunsmoke.

We had reservations at the Boot Hill Bed and Breakfast in Dodge City, which was in a prime location for sightseeing, as it was just across the street from the Boot Hill Museum, just a few blocks from the restored Santa Fe Railroad Depot, Downtown, &c. Kyle and I were in the Matt Dillon Suite (as in the character from Gunsmoke) which had a balcony that overlooked what remains of the Boot Hill Cemetary. Oooooh... Creepy!
Our first night, we got tickets to the chuckwagon dinner and saloon show at the museum. Dinner was very midwestern- Beef brisket, roasted potatoes, coleslaw, creamed corn and biscuits. I'm not really much of a carnivore, so I only had a bite or two of the beef, and mostly filled up on carbs. The food was good, but nothing fancy. Afterwards, there was a staged gunfight in the street, and then we filed into the saloon for the variety show. It was corny, and the performers were certainly not Broadway-bound, but it was fun, and a good way to end our first day. (As you can see, Kyle was excited to get his picture with the saloon girls!)

Day two (really our last day, as it was just an overnight trip) was spent at the Boot Hill Museum. We were suprised, because from the street, it just looks like a re-creation of a Western street front, but inside, there is a large variety of historical artifacts and information on the history of Dodge City. Up by the cemetary is another museum building (only a couple years old) that focuses more on the history of the Americn West. They're very well done and infromative- I could have spent several more hours there, but we were on a bit of a schedule.
After the museum, we drove another 10miles west of Dodge to see the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail and then headed back eastward towards Topeka.

I'll have a more food-centric post in the next couple days!

Snack Smarter

Tonight Kyle and I are heading into Orlando. We booked a room at a hotel near the airport to make tomorrow morning a little less heinous. Our flight leaves at 6:30a, which means even staying close to the airport, I'm going to have to wake up at a quarter til way too freaking early. One of the (many) things I hate about waking up early is that it throws off my eating for most of the day. I have to eat breakfast early, which then means I'm ready for lunch at about 8:00a, which then makes me sad because I know lunch is still four hours away... And when traveling that means I probably eat fast food for breakfast, and then I'll eat whatever the stewardesses toss at me on the plane (gross peanuts, pretzels, weird cookie-biscuit things, SkyMall magazine...) and I'll probably still buy a snack at our destination. All before lunch. Not really a good plan.

I decided this time to think ahead and get some healthy snacks to bring in my carry-on. I got enough for the plane, but also for our sightseeing day in Dodge City (so excited! Eeep!) so I won't have to rely on the stewardesses, gas stations and vending machines for nourishment.
I bought:

• Maple brown sugar organic instant oatmeal. (about all that's open at the airport as early as we're going is McDonald's and Starbucks. I figure I can get a soy latte and a cup of hot water at Starbucks and make the oatmeal for breakfast. That and an apple should be a good start.)
• 1oz bags of almonds (Kyle hates it when we get pretzels instead of peanuts on the plane, but the peanuts are always greasy and icky, I think. This will be a much better on-plane snack option if he gets hungry. It's also easy to carry in my purse for sightseeing.)
• Dried cherries
• Apples (The easiest and sturdiest fresh fruit option I could think of.)
• Kashi granola bars (These I actually had in the pantry already- look! Pumkin Spice ones!)
• Cheddar Mini Rice Cakes (in case we get in the mood for something a little more junk-food-esque.)
• True lime packets (I love these- it's dehydrated lime juice in a little packet. I like to add these to bottled water. I find it encourages me to consume more water, and everyone knows how dehydrating airplane air can be.)
• Tea bags
  

I'll be portioning out the dried cherries and rice cakes into smaller baggies for ease and convienience. I really think this "emergency food kit" will help me avoid my regular travel downfalls. It gives me a healthy breakfast, as well as filling, nutritious snacks to hold me over until lunch or dinner.

On a non-food note, I also am bringing my ipod, to which I downloaded some cardio workout videos from www.exercisetv.com, in case I have time/feel inclined to exercise on vacation. We'll see if that happens.

My next post will be from Kansas!