Our Getaway In Beautiful Downtown Newton

by Kevin Burton

   “There are no boring towns, just boring people,” said my first editor. Not all his nuggets were golden. That one was, and is.

   My wife Jeannette and I are not boring people Thus we were in no danger of being bored, though we made the curious choice of Newton, Kansas for our latest getaway.

   The occasion was our 14^th wedding anniversary, and the destination was chosen with that old real estate bromide in mind: “location, location, location.”

   This was the miniest of mini-getaways. We left mid-day Monday of last week and were back home Wednesday. What we wanted was just a little celebration, and a breather if we could get it, from the pressures of caring for our mothers, both in their 90s, and from the rest of our life stresses and responsibilities, puking cats, etc.

   Drive about 35 minutes southwest from Newton and we could be at Jeannette’s mother’s place if we needed to respond to an emergency. About 35 minutes southeast would take us to my mom.

    So with blessed peace of mind we signed up for a few hours of stupid tourist tricks. What we got was both weird and wonderful.

   Leaving for vacation on Monday was disorienting both during and after the trip. Monday is associated with the beginning of drudgery, not of fun times on the road.

   Also since our destination was so close, we ended up with time to kill before we could check into our hotel.

   To do so, we first went to and quickly abandoned the sleepiest strip mall on earth. There, only a barbecue joint raised any interest (on that, more later.)

   We had lunch at a quaint little place called Prairy Market and Dairy. We went there because it is owned by Gaeddert Farms, which is our go-to vendor for sweet corn by the dozen, every summer.  Food wasn’t bad, but based on what we read online we thought there would be more to see there.

   One of the other places we visited was a Christian bookstore called Faith & Life Bookstore.  Good thing we went there as things turned out.

   As we headed for the store I realized I had left the anniversary card so carefully and lovingly chosen for Jeannette, in the top right drawer of the desk in my office – at home.

   So as we stepped inside, I headed straight for the greeting cards. After finding a suitable card I went about shopping t-shits and devotionals and whatever, elsewhere in the store.

   But as I did my shopping, from the corner of my left eye I kept a vigil to see if Jeannette would also light in the greeting card section, to see if she had also forgotten a card at home. Before long, there she was in the anniversary section.

   Jeannette was first to fess up, but I followed suit soon after. Our new Newton-bought cards had something else in common. Both referenced the same verse, a bit from Song of Solomon 5:16 “this is my lover, this is my friend.”

   We devoured Food Network shows, including “Beat Bobby Flay” ‘cuz that’s how the Burtons roll.  Took the Yahtzee set, but didn’t play.

   We have found that our most enjoyable trips are planned loosely. We look around the net and find things that we can do, without necessarily committing to them.

   So we started our anniversary at the Harvey County Historical Museum. It was interesting if not spectacular. There we bought a book called “1001 Kansas Place Names.”  That’s How I know Severy, the town where my grandparents had a farm, is named after Luther Severy, an official with the Santa Fe Railroad.

   It’s also how I know McPherson, the town where I went to college, was named after James Birdseye McPherson, a general for the Union Army in the Civil War.

   No quotation marks around Birdseye, so I guess mommy and daddy actually gave the kid that name.

   Temps were in the 80s so we bailed on both hiking trails. We also bailed on the other museums.

   We did go to Layman’s Antique Mall and Flea Market. We got our steps there, and exactly one treasure.  For $2 and change  I bought a CD of instrumental versions of 14 of my favorite 60s and 70s tunes, including “Here Comes The Sun,” “You Make Loving Fun,” and “Happy Together.”

   I bought my bride an anniversary bouquet at Ruzen Flowers. The clerk there gave us 20 percent off because I told her it was our anniversary, possibly also because the flowers were unsold kind of late in the day. She also comped us a little box of chocolates.

  So remember kids, it’s Ruzen Flowers, for all your middle-of-nowhere floral needs!

  We went to “Le’ J’s BAR-B-Q” (the highlight of that strip mall) because the name had a J in it. There we had some really good food, and met the owner, the cousin of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, Jeffery Love.

   Jeffrey Love, in naming his restaurant, took the “Le’” from the name of his special needs daughter Le’ Toyia, and the “J” from Jeffrey.

   So cool to have that brush with the NFL, and may God richly bless all the Loves, but the best food we has was at Curtis C’s a diner we went to on our way out of town.

   Highlight of the trip and moral of the story? The fact that Jeannette and I were and are  “happy together” just like the song on our CD.