There are lots of great things about being raised in Prairie Village, Kansas. When I left Kansas to attend college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, for example, as soon as I established that I was in fact from Prairie Village, Kansas (which sometimes required confirmation from my driver’s license), people were willing to believe just about any childhood story I could dream up. You rode a horse to school? Whoa! You had to slop the pigs at 4:30am every morning? Sounds rough! Your school consisted of a single room that combined all grades from kindergarten to high school? Incredible!
One of my best friends in college was from the same part of Kansas – although I didn’t know him before we met in Michigan – and whenever someone asked us about our hometown we’d make up a new story on the spot, building off whatever the other person said. At one point we convinced a group of people that we couldn’t let our parents know we were friends because of an ongoing feud between our two families. My family, you see, owned the second largest farm in the state of Kansas, but my friend’s family insisted their farm was bigger, and years of bad blood had built up as the two families argued the point. (Part of the beauty of the lie was that we both acknowledged that a third family had by far the largest farm, so we were just battling for second place.) That set the foundation for increasingly ridiculous Hatfield/McCoy feuding stories that were limited only by our imagination. Nobody ever doubted us, because after hearing ‘Prairie Village, Kansas’ they were ready to believe anything.
In reality Prairie Village is just a normal suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. It’s actually closer to Pleasantville than Little House on the Prairie. It was a great place to grow up, and now it’s a great place to visit. Most of my family still lives there, including my parents, one of my sisters, my sister’s husband and their two daughters. A bunch of my friends live in the area as well.
Dad, Mom, my sister Ann, my nieces Kate and Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s friend Lizzie, and the four-legged family members Jack, Bridget, and Sam
Mom and Jack
After spending a couple of days in Glacier National Park in Montana I was able to drive to Prairie Village in time for my dad’s 71st birthday party, and it was great to be there to help celebrate. The next day I made my usual pilgrimage to Winstead’s, a local burger chain that opened its first restaurant in 1940. And the day after that I met David, one of my oldest and best friends, to have BBQ for lunch. Ever since high school my stand-by for Kansas City BBQ has been Gates, but – after a string of health inspector citations and a wicked case of food poisoning from my last Gates visit – we decided to hit Oklahoma Joe’s this time. Oklahoma Joe’s is located inside a gas station, but it’s arguably Kansas City’s best BBQ.
David, his wife Sarah, and their daughters Ellen and Charlotte (taken with a very wide angle lens, sorry David about your deformed head)
Like the Bighorn Sheep, Charlotte Shows Me What She Thinks of Me
That night my niece Kate and I went out for sushi. Kate usually isn’t able to rally much support for a sushi night, but with me in town she had a rare opportunity to enlist a wingman. Clearly there’s demand for sushi in KC – the place we went to was packed.
The next morning I was on the road again, driving back west to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Really a fun visit in KC and great to have a chance to see everyone before I head overseas. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!
Nice pics! Also good job on the stories at college- did you tell the ones including Kathleen's and my mom's horses? Or the intangible monkeys? Or the sheep Grandmom brought home and let in the kitchen? Or the chickens that Katie ate? BEST EVER! Lol! I like the pic of the fam– Bridget was so happy with me for dragging her in the pic and making her sit down in front of me… I love the pic of Grandmom and Jack! That's sooo cute!!! Also Fiok's (sp?) daughter posing like the sheep! SO cutee!! 🙂 Have fun in Denver then Vietnam! Tell Kathleen, Antony, Susan, Max, and the hamster “hi” for me! Love, E
Do you have 5-10 minutes over the next couple of days to talk business re: your photos?
I work at a company called The Rundown (www.rundown.com) — we're a lifestyle magazine opening soon in SF. We found your shots on Flickr beautiful and uniquely compelling, and would to talk to you about including them in our SF content in return for cash or photo credit.
P.S. I'm afraid I'm guilty of the gullible syndrome you're talking about: in college, we believed everything our buddy from Topeka told us, including that he'd never heard of seafood, and that the highest-paying summer job was the guy running with the yard marker at high school football games. (Yeah, summer football, I shoulda caught that)
endlessloopphotography.com 
Nice pics! Also good job on the stories at college- did you tell the ones including Kathleen's and my mom's horses? Or the intangible monkeys? Or the sheep Grandmom brought home and let in the kitchen? Or the chickens that Katie ate? BEST EVER! Lol!
I like the pic of the fam– Bridget was so happy with me for dragging her in the pic and making her sit down in front of me…
I love the pic of Grandmom and Jack! That's sooo cute!!! Also Fiok's (sp?) daughter posing like the sheep! SO cutee!! 🙂
Have fun in Denver then Vietnam! Tell Kathleen, Antony, Susan, Max, and the hamster “hi” for me!
Love,
E
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Hi Rob,
Do you have 5-10 minutes over the next couple of days to talk business re: your photos?
I work at a company called The Rundown (www.rundown.com) — we're a lifestyle magazine opening soon in SF. We found your shots on Flickr beautiful and uniquely compelling, and would to talk to you about including them in our SF content in return for cash or photo credit.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Congrats on your trip!
-Rich
rich@rundown.com
310-393-2892
P.S. I'm afraid I'm guilty of the gullible syndrome you're talking about: in college, we believed everything our buddy from Topeka told us, including that he'd never heard of seafood, and that the highest-paying summer job was the guy running with the yard marker at high school football games. (Yeah, summer football, I shoulda caught that)
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