Snow in Kansas and a Pancake Machine

Hello, Snow!

On a recent trip through Kansas, this snowy view greeted us when we opened the curtain in our hotel room one morning! But it all turned out okay, and we even got breakfast from a modern marvel pancake machine.

Laura’s spring break was the week before Jaylin’s spring break. So when we went to pick Jaylin up from school to bring him home for the week, we took our time to see some sights. We stopped to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home in Mansfield, Missouri, and then we drove on to Parsons, Kansas, to spend the night.

Fortunately, we had been keeping up with the weather forecast all along. Otherwise, we would have been really surprised to see all of that snow outside our window. But we were ready for it, and our schedule was flexible enough that the snow would not affect us all that much.

Another View

In this view, which is just to the right of the previous photo, you can see all the snow in the hotel parking lot. Our car is the second from the right, by the way. And no, the hotel services did not include getting the snow off of guests’ cars. I had made sure that we had an ice scraper in the car before we left home. But then I saw someone brushing the snow off his car with a brush, which was better than a scraper. But we did not have a brush. I did, however, have a glove, and I used that as a brush to the best of my ability.

Side note from the future: we did see a combination snow brush/ice scraper at the store a few days later, but we decided that we would not use it enough to justify the purchase. But I can see the advantage to having one if you do live where you get more snow.

In this photo, you can also see that the truck stop/gas station next door had scraped a lot of the snow off of their lot. They have their own snow scraper vehicle, as it turns out. We could also see the main highway from our window, and we could see that cars were moving along pretty well, so we figured that the main roads had already been taken care of.

Just to be safe, we decided to take our time and enjoy breakfast before heading out, just to give the snow a little more time to melt. And at breakfast, we found something interesting…

The Pancake Machine

While checking out the hotel’s continental breakfast options, we saw this interesting machine. You just push the “OK” button and place your plate at the right end, as you can see that I already have, and within a minute you have two hot pancakes on your plate!

Seriously! How have we made it without this technology all of these years? And why is this machine not available for home use? The LCD display even shows the progress of the pancakes, although you can also see them through the glass. Yes, someone does have to come along and add more batter when the reservoir gets low, but that is a minor thing.

Once it is done, you just pour on some syrup, and you are good to go. That sure beats pouring your cup of batter onto the waffle maker, flipping it over, and hoping your waffle does not stick to the maker. And all of that is after you wait your turn for the waffle maker, too.

And the pancakes were delicious, too. Which is like icing on the cake. Or maybe like syrup on the pancake. We were so impressed that we texted photos to our friends and family back home. And no, that does not make us seem like Tennessee Hillbillies at all. We are a sophisticated folk. We just don’t have a pancake machine. And it was cool!

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. - Hebrews 13:16

About the Photos

The snowy photos were taken with my camera and processed with Luminar Neo. On trips like this, I always take my camera with me, because you never know what you might see. And I always bring it into the hotel room instead of leaving it in the car overnight, because I want to make sure that I have it to use the next day. Be safe with your stuff!

However, I took the pancake machine photos with my phone, because I left my camera bag in the hotel room with the rest of our stuff during breakfast. And besides, for the main purpose of these photos, which was to text to friends and family as mentioned above, phone photos worked just fine. And they worked just fine here, too.

Photo: Each photo is a single Raw exposure, processed in Luminar Neo. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Rokinon 35mm f/1.8
Date: March 11, 2022
Location: Parsons, Kansas