After a long day beginning with the feed yard at Tiffany Cattle Co., lunch at the Blythe home, the pasture tour of the property and the delicious dinner, by 9:30 we were all ready for bed.  We stayed at the Carriage House in Counsil Grove, Kansas.  How cute is this B&B?!

And if I wasn’t so tired, I would have definitely hung out in this gazebo.

Each room was decorated differently.  We all had our own bathrooms, which is nice.  Tony never wanted to stay in a Bed and Breakfast.  Turns out his first wife was a huge fan, and every place she wanted to stay at, had a communal bathroom down the hall, and that was not how Tony wanted to travel and after they divorced, he said “bed and breakfasts are dead to me” and he never stayed in one every again. 😀

Each bathroom had a claw foot tub, but only a couple had a shower – luckily mine did because I was so sweaty and had a baseball cap on most of the day.

We woke up bright and early because we were about two hours from the airport.  We all had staggering flights out that day, but we were invited to breakfast if we wanted to go.  The Hays House is the longest continuously running restaurant west of the Mississippi.  Seth Hays, a grandson of Daniel Boone, settled in Counsil Grove in 1847 and in 1857 opened the Hays House Tavern and Restaurant.  Ownership changed hands obviously over the years, but in 2011, there was a kitchen fire that destroyed both the kitchen and the restaurant.

In 2012, 25 locals pooled their money together and started an investment group, and renovated the restaurant.  

I love diners like this.  Our server was a young woman, who was probably 7 months pregnant, and one of her co-workers didn’t show up, so she was handling a breakfast for 30 people in the basement as well as the whole dining room!  She served us with a smile though – she was so sweet.

Check out this old photo – it’s said that Jesse James ate here at one point!

I got a simple breakfast – one egg, bacon and fruit and once I saw country biscuit on the menu, that was happening.  I love me some biscuits!

After we drove the two hours to the airport after breakfast, we dropped Bobbi, Dave and Clint off because their flights were around noon.  That left myself, Marye and Margaret with time to eat more BBQ!  Jack Stack BBQ has several locations around Kansas City and has been around since 1974.

For a hot second I thought “maybe you should just get a salad Biz!”  But no – that didn’t last too long after I saw they had burnt ends on the menu.

That my friends, is the burnt end sampler.  I chose sausage and beef burnt ends, and it came with crusty bread and two sides.  Those amazing baked beans in the back were so good – slightly sweet, with a bit of heat.  I need to make some baked beans at home soon – I love them so much.

And I got cheesy potatoes on the side – super thin sliced red potatoes in a rich creamy cheese sauce.  I am writing this on my train ride to work this morning, and my mouth is already watering thinking about this.

That is the money shot right there.  Probably the best burnt end I’ve ever had.  I am doing a blog post for Certified Angus Beef Â® brand over the weekend, and I may try to recreate this dish.  I’ve never made burnt ends before, so it could be interesting!  This meat was tender, flavorful and the fatty goodness just melted in your mouth.  I think I’ll make that a new hashtag #fattygoodness 😀

We got to the airport in plenty of time.  I am someone who would rather sit at the gate for an hour than to feel rushed.  When I opened my United app, there wasn’t a gate assigned yet, so I looked on the board, saw one entry for Chicago, and headed to gate 79.  I was happy I had so much time because Debbie Blythe gave us a mason jar of her signature BBQ rub, and that got flagged and they had to check my bag.

All was well, I settled into my phone catching up on social media, when all of a sudden I thought, “shouldn’t I be boarding now?”  I reopened my app, and saw that I was at the wrong gate!  Note only at the wrong gate but I was also in the wrong airline section – what the what?!”

I quickly left that gate, only to have to reenter through the United gate and get rechecked through security all over again.  I had 25 minutes before my flight left, but I though “do they close the doors 20 minutes before take off?”  

Again, my bag was flagged for the BBQ rub and at one point I was like “if I have to lose that so I don’t miss my flight I am fine with that” but they made me wait my turn.  

It all worked out though – I was probably the next to last person to enter the plane of about 250 people.  #doh

And while I am a much better traveler than I used to be (I used to hate to fly) it’s always nice to be home again.  I am sure Hannah and Jacob missed me so much.  Ha!  I think they are wondering “so when is your next trip?!” so they can have the house to themselves.

Thank you again Certified Angus Beef Â® brand for sponsoring this event and allowing me to eat my body weight in beef. 😀  

Happy Friday friends – make it a great day!