A Saturday back home.

May 30th, 2006 | Filed under Family, Meal, Photos, Travel

Saturday was one those days that reminds me why I actually come back to Hutchinson in the first place. Hanging out with my family, and Teressa’s, is one of the best ways I can think of for relaxing and resetting myself.

Being that I am now physically unable to sleep-in past 7 o’clock (damn you adult-responsibility-stuff) I was wide awake when Teressa called me to see if I wanted to join her mother and her for a morning around town.

After checking out the Hutchinson farmers market and picking up some new potatoes and some cute treats for Hank (which he loved), we drove up town for some breakfast at Skaets Steak Shop. Now this is one of my favorite Hutch only places. Tradition has it that the restaurant got its name when the person painted the sign from the inside of the store, reversing the word “steaks” and creating the word “skaets.” While I cannot remember where I heard that story from, there is no doubt in mind that it probably happened…this place is the epitome of small town America. Also, this place has a lot of history for my high school buddies and I. We made going to Skaets a religious experience on any day that school was let out early. On any given trip we’d have 8-12 high school kids filling up half of what is normally a “good ol’ boys” restaurant, downing cup after cup of coffee and chatting each other up about the latest record or book we’d “discovered.” It made for some really great breakfasts.

After a couple cups of coffee, eggs and some hashbrowns the three of us headed back downtown to visit by another hutch fav, Smith’s Market. Smith’s Market and I also have a very rich history, both as a customer and as friends. Back when my Dad was the head of food service at the local community college we (I worked there a lot) would be visited by a delivery van from Smith’s Market almost everyday. Chris (one of the owners) watched my little brother and me grow up as we’d bum around helping Dad or going for a ride downtown to help him pick up some fresh produce from Smith’s. Once I reintroduced myself to Chris (I haven’t seen him in at least 6 or 7 years) he started asking questions about what my family was up to now and if I enjoyed KU. While my mom and dad have run into him since I last had, I was very flattered that he had remembered where and what I did for college as well as what I was up to in Lawrence now.

Every time I come into their great store downtown, complete with tons of fruits and vegetables, I always look at a small rack they have with t-shirts complete with their logo on it. Normally they don’t have either my size or a color I like, but Saturday was an exception. They had a ton of new t-shirts, so I picked up a great grey ringer that has the logo on the back and “eat your vegetables” on the front for under 10 bucks. You can’t beat a deal like that.

However, Teressa (and I agree with her) feels that the logo should be on the front with the slogan on the back. Her mother and her have given Chris (the owner) such a hard time about the logos that he had a special shirt made just for Teressa that has the logos, in what she feels is the appropriate location. This once again proves how cool hometown businesses can and should be.

All in all it was a great day of hanging out with my family and Teressa’s. I’ll leave you with a pic I snapped Saturday night of Hank the dog taking a bath in his new favorite pool. I must have taken over 60 photos and and only around a quarter of them turned out. I need to invest in a good digital camera that has a quicker response time. Every time I had what I thought would be a great shot Hank would move, and the photo would be ruined. Here is a link to all of the good photos from the weekend.

Last, but not least, I hope everyone had a great weekend and took at least a moment to remember what Memorial Day is all about. I promise my next post won’t be this long. :)