Keith

Dukey, A lot of the people living here in Johnson County think there is nothing in Kansas. All they have seen is the Interstate on the way to Colorado and they have no idea what lies just a few miles off I-70.

Keith

KSLADY

the giant prarie dog is a statue. on family vacations on our way to CO, we drove by it many times, along with the five legged cow. none of it is real. and i've lived in KS for almost my whole life.

kit

Old Leawood, Hickman Mills

Funny, when I lived in NY and DC, I used to report back to all my KC friends how clicquish it was -- to the extent that my friends in those cities would go to reunions and talk incessantly about the summer camps they attended year after year as children.

Geez...asking someone what part of town they're from is meant to start conversation...I hardly see how it should be a problem for anyone...

dmdevl

Hamilton Heights; North Kansas City SD

This thread is Hilarious...

Three points: First... For a Michigan transplant, Kansas really did seem like the REAL midwest and quite a different climate/topography than the east. Even Kansans are not impressed with the plains of the west but I think they have a strange and awesome beauty and really do resemble an unending sea of prairie (then you get to Denver).

Second: Everywhere you go people want to know where you lived and went to school, but in Smalltown USA (regardless of state) it might actually mean you know the same people and can talk about something in common. It way beats big city impersonal talk about bad weather, sports teams or outfits! Well, I take that back since I have been known to dog a team or two and laugh at a random speedo sighting. It's just a different way of finding a connection.

And last point: Having lived on the Missouri side, it is funny how much enmity still exists between the Jayhawkers of Johnson County and all the rebels in Missouri. But, since these are the friendliest and most polite people you will ever meet, it's pretty veiled and mostly comes out at college sporting events. I'm gone from that area now but I'd go back in a NY minute! Kansas City, MO ROCKS!

KE1TH

Traveled across Kansas a few years ago hauling a fifth-wheel camper. Entered from the east and visited Ft. Scott. Very interesting and worth a visit if you're in the area.

Continued west on US56, thru Wichita (saw a few linemen) to Greensburg where we stopped and entered the "Worlds Largest Hand Dug Well".

Continued on from there to Dodge City, which has the freshest smelling air of any city in the country

Actually, Dodge City was interesting in that I actually got to stand on the infamous Boot Hill.

Exited Kansas on US50 and entered Colorado, where Bent's Old Fort was the next stop on the journey.

I remember Kansas as being mostly flat but still interesting.

Keith

woodysagoodboy

For some unknown reason, my dad had a bumpersticker on his car that said Kansas, Land of Aahs. And he was the original owner of the car.

Dukey

I spent three years in Leavenworth (literally)...the only people who think there's nothing to do in Kansas have obviously never been there.

Keith

"Land of Aahs" was the state tourism slogan at one time. The people reponsible for promoting Kansas do a poor job.

Another year, they went with "Kansas As Big As You Think." Really gave people a reason to go there;-)

Keith

woodysagoodboy

Thanks, Keith.

karens

I don't think "Kansas As Big as You Think" is a great slogan, but I don't think it's as bad as one of Philadelphia's:

Philadelphia's not as bad as Philadelphians say it is.

(I can't believe how bad that one is!)

KE1TH

You know, I've always wondered why "Arkansas" and "Kansas" sound nothing alike when pronounced....

Keith (the other one)

Keith

The Arkansas River is pronounced Ar-Kansas in the state of Kansas. So is Arkansas City.

Keith
(The original

passion4paris

Thanks KSLADY for topping this thread. I'm heading to Kansas the first week of May to see what I can see. The geographical center of the U.S., Nicodemus, Ft Scott, Ft Larned, the ball of twine, Big Brutus, the giant Van Gogh, the Cosmosphere, Garden of Eden, Flint Hills, the old section of Rt 66 that cuts through the southeast corner, etc. I'm wondering how I'm going to fit it all in in one week! I'm going to have to be up and out early everyday but I love all that ecentric, off-the-beaten-path stuff. And, of course, all the historical stuff is very interesting to me as well.

Harland Schuster's web site is what originally sold me on Kansas. www.kansasphototour.com
That guy should work for the tourism board. Now he knows how to sell Kansas! I especially love all his pictures of old barns.

As you can tell from my screen name I love big metro cities but I can appreciate wide open spaces too. I'm up for traveling to just about anywhere which is why I'm on Fodor's before every trip. I can always find something useful for every destination.

Keith

Passion,

In my opinion, the geographical center of the U.S. and the giant Van Gogh are not worth adding to your drive.

Allow extra time when you visit the Garden of Eden. The little town of Lucas is full of equally interesting, quirky attractions.

Be sure to add either the Chalk Pyramids or Castle Rock to your list. And consider visiting some of Kansas's self taught artists http://www.kansastravel.org/kansasart.htm

Keith

karens

In USA today there is an article about THE EIGHT WONDERS OF KANSAS:

WICHITA (AP) — Forget the Pyramids of Egypt and the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Let's talk about the eight wonders of Kansas.

A non-profit group called the Kansas Sampler Foundation is asking the public to submit nominations using eight elements of rural culture: architecture, art, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history and people.

State officials hope the effort will boost tourism and draw attention to quirky attractions, such as Big Brutus in Cherokee County, a 16-story high coal-mining shovel; the giant ball of twine in Cawker City, or the Garden of Eden in Lucas, a folk art site that includes Biblical figures.

"The best places you can find are in those small towns, in some of those family-owned restaurants that fix fried chicken and fresh-baked pies," Caleb Asher, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce, told The Wichita Eagle.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Kansas | Lucas
The campaign is accepting nominations for the wonders until May 15 through its website, www.kansassampler.org. A committee will then pick 24 candidates, and the public will vote on a final eight from mid-May through Dec. 31. The winners will be announced Jan. 29, which is the anniversary of Kansas statehood.

The Kansas wonders contest was inspired by the New 7 Wonders of the World contest, in which 20 million votes have already been cast choosing from 21 sites around the globe. According to the New7Wonders.com website, the most recent ranking for the competition has Chichen Itza, Mexico; China's Great Wall; Peru's Machu Picchu; the Pyramids of Giza; the Colosseum in Rome; Petra in Jordan and India's Taj Mahal as the seven sites with the most votes. The middle seven are the Acropolis in Greece; the Alhambra in Spain; Angkor in Cambodia; Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; the Easter Island statues and Stonehenge in England. The bottom seven are Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, New York's Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House in Australia, and Timbuktu in Mali.

passion4paris

Thanks Keith and Karens!! More info!! Ya gotta love it.

Keith, the main reason I'm going to see the giant Van Gogh is because it is a virtual geocache and it's near another geocache I'm doing called Mingo, the oldest still active geocache. I always geocache when I travel because it invariably takes me to interesting out of the way places. I don't know if anyone on Fodor's knows about geocaching but it is great fun especially when you travel.
Check it out at www.geocaching.com
Kansas actually has a challenge to get a cache in every quadrant. It's one of the few states where every quadrant is accessible and a cache has been hidden in every one. I don't have time to do that on this trip but it sounds like a lot of fun.

Keith

Is there a geocache near Mount Sunflower? http://www.kansastravel.org/mountsunflower.htm

Another group of people collect visits to the highest points in each state. This is one of the few that you can drive to.

Keith

bbqboy

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/155600.html
COTTONWOOD FALLS - Being the person who's traveled the farthest for Cottonwood Falls' music night is seen as an honor.

It'll probably be a while before anyone tops the travel of three women at last Friday's performance.

"We traveled 30 hours by bus from New York City to get here," Charlotte Kaufman said between songs. "This is all so cool."

Sophomores at Columbia University, Kaufman, Kristen Edney and Grace Zhou planned the trip after Edney found a feature on the Flint Hills in National Geographic.

"The photographs were fantastic, but one of the things that got me is that they talked about the nothingness out here," Edney said. "In New York, there's never any nothing, you're always surrounded by buildings and people."

It was the first time the well-traveled students had been to America's heartland.

They took a taxi 20 miles from the Emporia bus station to Strong City, checked into a motel and walked three miles to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

Their plan to hike the preserve every day ended when they met Friday night's crowd outside the Emma Chase Cafe.

Deb Zeiner, Chase County Chamber of Commerce director, volunteered a trip to Sunday morning service at a one-room rural church, with a county tour afterward.

Bennie Holtsclaw offered a tour of his ranch. Knowing they had no car, Holtsclaw said, "What time can we pick you up?"

So it went for the trip that ended Wednesday afternoon.

"The hospitality has really blown me away," Edney said. "The incredible beauty of the prairie was a given, we expected that, but the people have been amazing. There's no way we could have experienced some of the best parts of our trip without them."

That included trips to about every eating place in the county.

For Kaufman and Edney, it was their first taste of homegrown tomatoes. They ate about eight peach-sized tomatoes Tuesday they'd picked from the garden of Susan Smith, owner of the Hitchin' Post in Matfield Green.

Kaufman and Edney, who are vegetarians, took a "When in Rome" attitude and ate steak.

"We never got meat like this in New York," Kaufman said. "Without all the fat and stuff this is just so much different. This is great stuff. It's really good."

Tuesday, the trio joined Zeiner in and along a gin-clear stream, skipping rocks and catching vibrant sunfish and bass with bobbers and worms.

It was the first time fishing for Kaufman. They also handled rifles and handguns for the first time.

Trepidation led to enjoyment, and eventually well-shot targets for dorm room display.

"This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us," Kaufman said. "It's so neat."

Their hosts referred to their time the same way.

"They gave us one of the best days we've had on our place," Holtsclaw said. "They took in all the little things a lot of us have grown to take for granted. They had me stop so they could look at the stars. They were amazed. We're glad we got to meet them."

Zeiner said the women broke New York stereotypes around the small towns with their politeness and positive attitude.

Zeiner was with them Tuesday evening, after they'd just seen a myriad of Flint Hills' wildlife and wildflowers from the bed of a slow-moving pickup.

A cool south wind on their faces, they stayed long enough that the Big Dipper and a bright half-moon replaced daylight.

"It's going to be so strange when we get back," Edney said. "New York's going to seem so different

Leburta

And what about food? Isn't Kansas famous for beef and barbeque? Who needs sights!

Travel247

Kansas is beautiful. Come try it out!