Lawrence, Kansas

Last weekend, a high school friend, Becky, had a book signing in Lawrence, Kansas. We decided to make a weekend of it. I had never been to Lawrence before and must say it's a great town and we had a good time.

We started out on Massachusetts Street because that is where the book signing was going to be. We walked from one end to the other - the weather was beautiful! When looking up "things to do in Lawrence" I discovered that Massachusetts Street - or as the native Lawrence-inians ( I made that word up) call it Mass Street is a historic street which gives you an authentic downtown! From 6th St to 11th St there are art galleries, boutiques, kitchen stores, toy stores, bars, many sidewalk cafes and I think we counted 3 old fashioned barber shops - with the poles out front and everything. Not leaving the ladies out we also saw a couple of spas. I loved the kitchen stores but my VERY VERY favorite places were the book stores!!! Surprised? : )

The Dusty Bookshelf

I've blogged about this store  H.E.R.E.

The other bookstore, where Becky had her signing was "Signs of Life Gallery." This was a great store, too, and I really enjoyed it. There was also an art gallery upstairs.

We asked the young man that worked there where he would suggest we eat - since there were so many places on this street. He said "the BEST hamburgers in the world can be found just down the street on the corner of 8th street. Called "The Burger Stand."  So we gave it a try. Now you have to understand, Randy's favorite place to get a hamburger is "Five Guys Burgers." So he wasn't sure about "The Burger Stand."

The Burger Stand @ the Casbah

OMGosh.... Far exceeded our expectations. You can find their website H.E.R.E.
Best burgers EVER...

 One of the nicest, friendliest waitresses I've ever met.

We shopped some, exploring this wonderful street and just had a great time.

From Massachusetts Street we went to Watkins Community Museum.

Randy loves history and we both love museums and this was a great museum. The exhibits were very interesting and the building was an old bank building and it was gorgeous. 

At the museum we picked up a brochure featuring a self guided tour of the old houses in Lawrence. Several blocks of houses showcasing "House Styles of Old West Lawrence."

We saw Folk, Prairie, Queen Anne, Craftsman, FolK Victorian, Colonial Revival, Victorian Revival, Gothic Revival, Tudor, Richardson Romanesque and many more. You could experience this tour by driving or walking, it was starting to get pretty warm so we drove.

We enjoyed drinks at Paddy O'Quigleys. 

And that evening we dined at Longhorn.

Between all of our fun, sight seeing, eating, etc we spent much of our time:

 READING!!!

 We had such a good time! 

We have such a good time together!

We both highly recommend a visit to Lawrence, Kansas!

(if you make the trip, be sure and take some quarters because on Mass St they have parking meters)