Powell Gardens

It has been so long since I've been to this part of the country, I forgot about the music that never stops here -- the cicadas, crickets and birds. And the smell! The air here is warm and green-sweet, as if you're always on the banks of a river or lake.

Happy to find that K.C. barbecue is everything people say it is. They make a mean mojito in K.C., too.

Got up this morning and crossed the Missouri River into Missouri, and stopped for a long walk through Powell Gardens, about 30 miles outside the city. As soon as I got out past the suburbs, the cicadas and crickets started up.

Powell Gardens is K.C.'s botanical garden, with perennials, native plants, an island garden, waterfalls and a nature trail. Gorgeous!

A large, purple butterfly followed me through the entrance, landing on my shirt whenever I'd stop.

The park is so well-loved and cared for. I wish I'd known about it beforehand, because I just missed Full Moon Friday, a fundraiser that this month featured lillies and moonlight walks through the grounds. I can imagine the park aglow with fireflies in the evenings.

It's so humid here, it felt like walking through water along the park trails, and by the time I got back to my car, I felt a little lightheaded and high. I wanted to lie down in the grass and look up at the trees until I fell asleep with butterflies all around me.

I wish mom and dad could have seen this garden. Dad would have loved all the different, colorful flowers, and mom would have loved the dogwoods and peonies.