How far can they go?
16/07/12 04:42
In the musical, “Oklahoma,” Will Parker goes to Kansas City and is amazed at the place. He sings,
I went to Kansas City on a Friday
By Saturday I learned a thing or two
But up 'till then I didn't have an idea
Of what the mod'rn world was comin' to.
I counted twenty gas buggies goin' by theirselves
Almost every time I took a walk
An' then I put my ear to a bell telephone
An' a strange woman started into talk.
What next! What next?
Everything's up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin' orta grow.
Everything's like a dream in Kansas City
It's better than a magic lantern show.
You can turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat
With every kind of comfort every house is all complete.
You could walk the privees in the rain and never wet your feet!
They've gone about as fer as they can go.
They've gone about as fer as they can go!
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is a classic and the songs are easy to remember. But the setting is from decades ago and Kansas City has changed. It continues to be enough to amaze a yokel from the country like me.
I remember being impressed with Macy’s Department Store when our family visited New York City in the late 1960’s. To have so much merchandise available in a single building was something that I had never before experienced. We spent a day walking around the store looking at all of the various departments. I don’t remember that we bought much – the visit was more impressive for just seeing the store. We did eat lunch in a restaurant that was located inside of the store.
Later, when we moved to Chicago, we would go to Marshall Fields in the Chicago Loop. It was a similarly impressive store to me. I remember doing all, or at least most, of our Christmas shopping in that store one year. It seemed as if they sold almost everything that you might want to buy.
These days things have changed. There are Wal-Mart stores in lots of places each trying to become a one-stop shopping center for the region. There are online retailers like Amazon.com where it seems that you could order anything you might need. Gone are the Montgomery Wards and Sears Catalogues that we used to pour over. They’ve been replaced by one-click shopping.
But I was impressed yesterday afternoon when we stopped by the Kansas City Bass Pro Shop’s Outdoor World. That store doesn’t sell everything. Their specialty is sporting goods and they have a definite hunting and fishing theme. But “they’ve gone about as far as they can go” with the development of that gigantic retail space.
The store is situated on a hillside above a large pond. You enter from the upper level parking lot through a massive antler archway. Before you even get into the store, there are more boats and atvs on display in the parking lot than any place I had before visited.
Inside the store, there are gigantic displays of mounted deer, elk, wolves, bear, antelope, boars, and fish –yes they’ve got a lot of fish. There is a huge waterfall and tanks that made the word “aquarium” seem inadequate. I could have stayed and watched the fish in the huge tank for a long time. There is display space for a half dozen large pontoon boats and thirty or more fishing boats as well as a fleet of 4 x 4 and side by side atvs. The store has an entire section devoted to raingear and another to outdoor cooking. They have more smokers and grills and outdoor fireplaces than I’ve ever seen in one place.
I think I wandered around the store with my jaw dropping. One ought to remember to close one’s mouth so that you don’t look like a tourist. But that’s what I was – a tourist. We did end up buying a present for our daughter, a cookbook for me, and a small piece of bunker carpet for our trailer. But the visit wasn’t about shopping, really – or at least it wasn’t about buying. We were simply visiting a store that was so amazing that it was worth seeing. Now I can say I’ve been there.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to find a large restaurant inside of the store. Cooking and eating are closely related to hunting and fishing. The “Fish & Company” restaurant features a large menu with lots of fresh-water fish and lots of “battered and fried” recipes. We didn’t visit at mealtime, so we didn’t eat there. But we did get a treat at the fudge shop. There is more camouflage clothing in that store than at an army base. Everything seems to be bigger and more abundant than I expected.
I’m with Will Parker:
But up 'till then I didn't have an idea
Of what the mod'rn world was comin' to.
It hasn’t been that long since the Cabella’s store in Mitchell, South Dakota amazed me. I think that I might be pretty easy to amaze. I keep thinking,
They've gone about as fer as they can go.
They've gone about as fer as they can go!
But of course, they haven’t gone as far as they can go. Some other retailer will make a store that is bigger and features more inventory. Some other architect will propose a larger and more complex building. If you can put a 50-foot artificial waterfall in a building, what is to stop you from building a 150-foot waterfall? The vertical height will make the indoor rock-climbing wall even more exciting.
I wonder if here are hunting and fishing enthusiasts in the Kansas City area who never actually go outdoors except to walk across the parking lot. You can practice your casting in the indoor ponds and take aim at the indoor shooting gallery. You can sit in the latest luxury boats without the rocking of water and the challenge of weather. It was really hot outdoors yesterday, but comfortable inside the gigantic air-conditioned building.
Chances are, however, that they really haven’t gone as far as they can go. I expect to be amazed by something even bigger one day. For now, I can just say I’m glad I got to see the place.
I went to Kansas City on a Friday
By Saturday I learned a thing or two
But up 'till then I didn't have an idea
Of what the mod'rn world was comin' to.
I counted twenty gas buggies goin' by theirselves
Almost every time I took a walk
An' then I put my ear to a bell telephone
An' a strange woman started into talk.
What next! What next?
Everything's up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin' orta grow.
Everything's like a dream in Kansas City
It's better than a magic lantern show.
You can turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat
With every kind of comfort every house is all complete.
You could walk the privees in the rain and never wet your feet!
They've gone about as fer as they can go.
They've gone about as fer as they can go!
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is a classic and the songs are easy to remember. But the setting is from decades ago and Kansas City has changed. It continues to be enough to amaze a yokel from the country like me.
I remember being impressed with Macy’s Department Store when our family visited New York City in the late 1960’s. To have so much merchandise available in a single building was something that I had never before experienced. We spent a day walking around the store looking at all of the various departments. I don’t remember that we bought much – the visit was more impressive for just seeing the store. We did eat lunch in a restaurant that was located inside of the store.
These days things have changed. There are Wal-Mart stores in lots of places each trying to become a one-stop shopping center for the region. There are online retailers like Amazon.com where it seems that you could order anything you might need. Gone are the Montgomery Wards and Sears Catalogues that we used to pour over. They’ve been replaced by one-click shopping.
But I was impressed yesterday afternoon when we stopped by the Kansas City Bass Pro Shop’s Outdoor World. That store doesn’t sell everything. Their specialty is sporting goods and they have a definite hunting and fishing theme. But “they’ve gone about as far as they can go” with the development of that gigantic retail space.
The store is situated on a hillside above a large pond. You enter from the upper level parking lot through a massive antler archway. Before you even get into the store, there are more boats and atvs on display in the parking lot than any place I had before visited.
Inside the store, there are gigantic displays of mounted deer, elk, wolves, bear, antelope, boars, and fish –yes they’ve got a lot of fish. There is a huge waterfall and tanks that made the word “aquarium” seem inadequate. I could have stayed and watched the fish in the huge tank for a long time. There is display space for a half dozen large pontoon boats and thirty or more fishing boats as well as a fleet of 4 x 4 and side by side atvs. The store has an entire section devoted to raingear and another to outdoor cooking. They have more smokers and grills and outdoor fireplaces than I’ve ever seen in one place.
I think I wandered around the store with my jaw dropping. One ought to remember to close one’s mouth so that you don’t look like a tourist. But that’s what I was – a tourist. We did end up buying a present for our daughter, a cookbook for me, and a small piece of bunker carpet for our trailer. But the visit wasn’t about shopping, really – or at least it wasn’t about buying. We were simply visiting a store that was so amazing that it was worth seeing. Now I can say I’ve been there.
I’m with Will Parker:
But up 'till then I didn't have an idea
Of what the mod'rn world was comin' to.
It hasn’t been that long since the Cabella’s store in Mitchell, South Dakota amazed me. I think that I might be pretty easy to amaze. I keep thinking,
They've gone about as fer as they can go.
They've gone about as fer as they can go!
I wonder if here are hunting and fishing enthusiasts in the Kansas City area who never actually go outdoors except to walk across the parking lot. You can practice your casting in the indoor ponds and take aim at the indoor shooting gallery. You can sit in the latest luxury boats without the rocking of water and the challenge of weather. It was really hot outdoors yesterday, but comfortable inside the gigantic air-conditioned building.
Chances are, however, that they really haven’t gone as far as they can go. I expect to be amazed by something even bigger one day. For now, I can just say I’m glad I got to see the place.