Worlds of Fun & Oceans of Fun, Kansas City, Missouri

After leaving St. Joseph, Missouri and Marlon's family behind, we headed to Kansas City, Missouri and Worlds of Fun. They have been open since 1973 but were recently purchased by Cedar Fair, the owners of Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio which has more roller coasters than any other amusement park in the world.

Three years ago, they built an RV Park at Worlds of Fun called Worlds of Fun Village. Here was our rv site. The rollercoaster in the background is The Mamba.

For those who don't bring a recreational vehicle, they have cabins and cottages which sleep up to 6 people. They seem to be an economical alternative to 2 or more hotel rooms.

Here's Sammy after the short drive from St. Joe which took a little over an hour. Riding just wears her out.

But she seemed to be doing better now than when this picture was taken 2 weeks earlier at our Goodland, Kansas Walmart stay.

She stayed like that for quite awhile after that first 4 hour ride.

Here was the sunset our first night at Worlds of Fun.

Videomeister Marlon put together this short video of our stay at Worlds of Fun Village.

The next day, Friday, we headed for the Worlds of Fun admission gate. It had rained quite hard for a bit on Thursday night and it was threatening rain Friday morning so, as you can see, there were no lines at The Mamba (the rollercoaster we could see really well from the RV).

So we rode it 3 times in a row...once in the front, once in the middle and once in the back. At that point, Doug realized he wasn't a teenager anymore and that once would have probably been enough.

We rode both old rides and new. Here's Marlon standing in front of a new ride, Spinning Dragons. On this medium thrill rollercoaster, the cars spin around as they move down the track.

This ride has always been a popular one in the heat of summer. Today the only wait we had was the time it took us to walk to the boat. Often called "The Log Ride", its true name is "The Viking Voyager". This was an Opening Day 1973 ride.

Doug takes some time out to say a little prayer, "Please let me get through this ride without getting sick."

Marlon begged Doug to let him stop by Camp Snoopy. Doug relented and Marlon got to meet the old beagle.

Then Marlon made Doug drive him around in the taxis of "Le Taxitour".

And Doug remembered that day 34 years earlier when Worlds of Fun had just opened and his mom was his first passenger.

We enjoyed our day at Worlds of Fun until this ape surprised us.

Saturday, we went to Oceans of Fun. For fear of wet camera, we have no pictures. We were joined by Alan, Susan, Jennifer, Shannon, Dillon and Mason. They came over to the RV for some junk food afterwards.

For more pictures of our stay here and visit to Worlds of Fun, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/worlds-of-fun-and-o/ .

To be continued...

Open House at St. Joe Police Department & Bye Bye St. Joe

Our last day in St. Joseph, Missouri started off in the morning at the Law Enforcement Center (LEC). A new expansion of the building, which houses both the St. Joseph Police Department and the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office, had just been completed and today was an open house for the public.

Training Sergeant Marla Wilson (the lady in red) greeted us on the steps of the LEC and was our tour guide.

Several local politicians gave speeches in the training room of the Police Department explaining how the expansion had all come about. By the time everyone finished speaking, we decided it was kind of neat that our group of 4 was about the only "public" who came to the shindig. Most of the rest were somehow involved in the expansion project.

This is Marla's office where she thinks about ways to recruit new officers and train old ones.

Here Marla is explaining to our group (including both television and newspaper reporters) how the reception area of the St. Joseph Police Department now appears a lot friendlier and less scary than it did in the past.

This is the roll call room...straight out of Hill Street Blues.

Marla proudly showed us the gym housed in the building. She is an avid user of the facility.

Pause for a family snap. Notice Carol (the OTHER lady in red)...like mother like daughter...and it WASN'T planned.

Proof Doug, Marla, Sean and Carol were there appeared in the St. Joseph News-Press the next day. Marlon's black shoe DOES appear in the lower left hand corner, but wasn't mentioned in the photograph caption.

After the open house, we met Marlon's dad for one last big meal.

Trina showed up for a final goodbye as we left Sharp RV Park about 3pm. Thanks to Sharp for letting us stay past the noon checkout.

Trina had come to show off her new hair color. Not bad!

For more pictures of today's events, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/sgt-marla-wilson-gi/ .

To be continued...

Fuji's with Trina & Delbert

Our final night in St. Joseph, Trina and Delbert took us out to experience Fuji's Japanese Steakhouse & Sake Bar.

Delbert and Trina look over the menu. They decide to start us off with some veggie sushi. This was everyone's first time trying sushi.

We look like we survived the sushi.

Now on with the show. Click on the play button to see our chef in action.

Thanks to Trina and Delbert for a fun meal!

For a few other pictures, see http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/august/trina-and-delbert-t/ .

To be continued...