Budget Field Trip to the Twenties and Kiev in Half an Hour
One of our secrets to taking our children to 48 states was that we ate most of our meals out of our cooler. Even a meal of fast food was a rare treat. I remember one particular special meal in New England. I took one child with me into a grocery store. She picked out a can of chicken and a container of pineapple yogurt. We stopped at a roadside picnic table, mixed the two ingredients together, and enjoyed chicken salad along with some other foods. It was a yummy moist meal which was a nice contrast to the more common meals based on cheese or peanut butter. Don’t get me wrong. Cheese and peanut butter were just fine with us if eating them meant we could climb on rocks in Maine or gaze down into a volcano crater in Idaho, but a moist meal is nice now and then.
Even when it’s just Ray and me on a “field trip” these days, we still enjoy atypical food experiences. Last week on our way to Duluth, we stopped at Strawberry Fields natural food store in Urbana, Illinois, to pick up some things and to eat supper. Dessert is a rare treat for us, but when we saw Ukrainian baked goods with ingredients you can pronounce in the glass case in the bakery, we decided it was a good night for a rare treat. Our choice was this slice of Kiev cake, which we shared. An employee told us that a woman trained as a baker in Ukraine makes these scrumptious delights. All I know is that she certainly knows how to make egg whites, corn starch, sugar, butter, almond extract, cashew nuts, cocoa powder, and dark and white chocolate taste delicious.
We had nine and a half hours to drive that day, but we took time to enjoy a mini-field trip all within about fifty yards of Strawberry Fields. Lest your think I’m flaunting my architectural knowledge, let me start out by saying that I know very little about that. I just noticed pretty places last Tuesday, but yesterday I looked them up to find out a little of their history.
Across the parking lot from Strawberry Fields, I saw a building I liked because of its striking lines. I admire the attention to detail that once characterized buildings built for pretty mundane purposes. In my reading, I learned that it was built in 1925 in a style called Spanish Revival. Notice the beautiful red clay tiles on the roof. The building’s first purpose was to house a tire company, and though it has had several owners through the years, it is again a tire company today. I’m so thankful no one has torn down this piece of history from the 20’s.
After taking pictures of the pretty brick tire company, I noticed this unusual church close by. Today it is home to Canaan Missionary Baptist Church. I have learned that it was constructed as a Christian Church in 1909. Its style is a combination of the craftsman and prairie styles promoted by Frank Lloyd Wright.
One of things I loved about our living in Urbana for eight years was the really astounding number of parks. It has wonderful big parks, but it also has tiny parks tucked into surprising places. Across the street was one of these little parks. It was basically just a landscaped rectangle with bulbs and about a half dozen redbud trees like this one.
What began as a quick shopping trip and supper ended with peaceful twilight blessings.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens.
Psalm 113:2-4