Hot Toddie Schoonover

This is a unique Italian dining experience. You start out by walking through the kitchen where you can interact with the chefs and servers. The menus are set up so that you order small or large servings, where the small serves 2-3 people and the large serves 4-5. They do have individual servings too, but that won’t give you the true experience of Italian family dining. Big plates are brought out of heaping pastas and other goodies which those at the table portion out amongst each other. The atmosphere is a little loud, but it reminded me a lot of the Italian family dinners at my grandfather’s house.

Everything I sampled was excellent, and freshly made there. I would definitely go there again if I were back in the area.

Make sure you stop inside while it’s open and sign the guest book. You can also place a stick-pin in a map on the wall showing exactly where you’re from. I did.

The Center shows a 27-minute docudrama called “Lawrence: Free State Fortress.” The 1998 Kan Film Festival “Best Film” chronicles the first 10 years of Lawrence’s history and culminates with Quantrill’s Raid of the city in 1863. The film is shown on weekends every hour, on the hour, and weekdays by request. There is no admission charge, and copies of the film are available for purchase. Also available for purchase is postcards, Kansas chalk, and other memorobilia at good prices. The chalk was $1 for a nice sized piece wrapped with blue and red ribbon.

The staff there is friendly, and the bathroom was clean. When the guy saw I was from Pennsylvania, he asked me to explain why it’s called the Keystone State, so I did.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see trains come through on the working tracks behind the depot. I was there maybe fifteen minutes and got to see two separate trains come through.

This place had been recommended as one of the places I had to eat if I came to Kansas, so I had to check it out. I love homemade ice cream, and the selection here was impressive. I uploaded a shot of the menu board and there was another whole column that isn’t in the shot.

The guy behind the counter was friendly and helpful. There were two mothers with their screaming and running brood that I could’ve dealt without, but that’s more a comment on their parenting skills (or lack thereof) than of the place itself.

I had a flavor that combined vanilla bean with English toffee. It was sinful, and I was so tempted to go back for more or to try other flavours. I was being good though and didn’t want to cheat too much on my diet. I would definitely go back here again and become a regular if it wasn’t 1000 miles away. Hmm, Yahoo Maps says that’s just a sixteen hour drive. I’m smelling road trip…

This should have been a fast in and out. I already had my box addressed and ready to send out. I arrived mid-afternoon and while there were spots for four counter workers, only two had people working them. There was a line of ten people in front of me, and in the half hour that I was there the line continued to grow out the door. An older gentleman behind me indicated that he had come the day before and that it was much the same. Finally they called for additional help at the windows, which they should have done originally. The workers at the counter were not friendly and did not seem to want to be dealing with any customers.

On the other hand, there was a special office there to deal with passport applications and that line was being run efficiently and the person working it seemed friendly and helpful.

I would not use this Post Office again.

I got into Fairplay about 12:30am and stopped here for the night. The office hours end at 10pm, but there’s a phone in the lobby for you to call for service. The owner came and rented me a room for the night and gave me a discount since I got there so late.

The room was very nice. It was big with two beds, a refrigerator and microwave, a table and of course the tv and dressers. The bathroom had the sanitary seal on the toilet and it was a very comfortable room to stay in. They offered continental breakfast in the morning, but I passed on the selections because I wanted to get on the road and had my own fruit and breakfast bars for the trip.

I would definitely stay there again as the owner was very friendly and helpful.

After spending the night in Fairplay, I wanted to send out some postcards to other 43 Thingers and asked where I could find the Post Office. I was given directions, but the Post Office is actually down a side street so it took a bit to find it. I actually had to stop in front of the senior center and ask a woman who was getting out of her car.

The lobby area was clean and well organized. I had to ask for delivery confirmation and priority mail boxes, and it took a while before the guy noticed I was at the counter since there was no bell. Still he graciously hand-cancelled all 17 postcards that I was sending out. He also was able to provide me with the new 90 cent stamps which I need for PostCrossing.

This was a fun place though depending on where you sit it can be louder than others. My tip for this place though is to make sure you monitor the parking spots out front if you park there. I got a $65 ticket for being there more than an hour.

I got a $95 parking ticket. It definitely wasn’t worth it that time.

I visited my friend Nata in January and we went here so I could get some sand for ScrpbkShannon from here on 43Places.

Mickey’s health took a turn for the worst so she and the family closed this restaurant. It has now been sold and a new restaurant.