For the past several years, Russ and I have a tradition of taking a "Post Tax-Day Getaway" each spring. That is, until last year when Covid got in the way. This year, it tried to get in the way again when tax day was postponed, but my sweet husband said he could make it work, even in the midst of the busiest time of the year. Since we've started this tradition, we've visited Cottonwood Falls, Lindsborg, Council Grove, Wamego, and Fort Scott (and we'll count Winfield, where we visited for our anniversary last year, which also happened to be just after tax day). Since we are still in his busiest time of his busiest season, we decided to stay a little closer to home and explore Paola. We've been to Paola countless times for ball games and such, but we've never seen much of anything except the school and Walmart. We made the quick drive on Friday morning and made our first stop at our all-time favorite destination with a Paola address:
We've driven by Trinity Lutheran, where we got married, a few times, but we've never stopped. This church was hit by a tornado almost exactly 2 years ago (April 29, 2019), and I was worried that they may not rebuild. This is the picture from the paper that day:
But I'd say that today it looks better than ever.
I was especially excited to discover that it was unlocked.
It's crazy, but the last time we were in this church building was August 5, 2000. . .
We explored the grounds around the church, as it looked like there had been some changed in the past 21 years, including this fun "Block-toberfest" area and a fancy new outdoor pavilion.
Most of the playground looked older than 21 years, but we didn't remember any of that area being there. We found that the Shelter House was built after the school house burned down in 2013. It was super nice!
We finished up at the church and continued our trip down memory lane by visiting the fancy site of our reception that night. Might not have been the country club, but we had a great time!
Next my sweet husband indulged me by taking me to a couple of the garage sales in Paola, since it was their city-wide weekend. We got some treasures for sure!
Next we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Paola Eatery. . .
. . . and read about the history of the adorable "Park Square."
It was such a beautiful day we decided to head to Lake Miola and put our toes in the water. There were a couple people kayaking and paddle boarding. We weren't sure it was quite warm enough for that.
We had a 2:00 reservation at Somerset winery, so that was our next stop for the afternoon.
It was a picture-perfect afternoon, and the owner was spot on when she said, "You guys must be doing something right if you both have a gorgeous day like today off work!" It was a truly relaxing afternoon spent with my husband on their beautiful property. Just down the road from the winery was our B&B for the night: Canaan Oaks. It was a long, curvy drive to get to the house.
The sweet owner, Barbara, greeted us when we arrived and got us set up in our room with a rustic barn theme. Russ checked out the cute loft area as I got our things put away.
We had our own kitchen area and balcony. It was so cute!
The B&B sits on almost 70 acres, so we went on a walk around the property. It was so secluded and peaceful. And we could certainly see why it was called Canaan Oaks. There were oak trees everywhere!
We got ready for dinner and took a couple pictures outside our room. (As a bonus, I was wearing some of my "new" pants I'd bought that morning at a garage sale!)
We also checked out some of the wildlife on the property before we left.
We had some delicious fajitas at the Casa Grande restaurant and then headed back to Lake Miola to walk off some of the extra chips and salsa.
They have all sorts of trails as part of a "Paola Pathways" program, and we enjoyed the leisurely stroll we were able to take around the lake. We stayed long enough to enjoy the beautiful sunset God blessed us with.
When we got back to our room, we looked through the movies available at the B&B and found "RV", a Robin Williams movie that had been recently recommended to me when I was booking a campground for our RV vacation this summer. It was really funny. We'll probably have to watch it again with the kids before our trip. We got a great night's sleep and Barbara cooked us a delicious breakfast in the cute dining room the next morning. I love that she had marriage books in our room and Christian music playing throughout the house. It was obvious that her B&B was more than just a place to stay, it was her ministry.
We had a relaxing night and a filling breakfast. Canaan Oaks was a great place to unwind and reconnect.
I'm so thankful for these getaways with just Russ and me. We had a fabulous time! And thank you to wonderful grandparents who are always so gracious to watch the kids so we can do them!
No comments:
Post a Comment