Going Places
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
“Where have you been off to lately?” readers have asked me.
Nowhere, I’m sad to report. I’ve only left Emporia a few times this winter.
It’s been cold. And snowy. The winter world is gray and there’s not a whole lot of “pretty” out there to take pictures of right now.
Our normal January thaw didn’t happen; we had to wait until last week for a February meltdown. For over a month, several inches of ice stubbornly stuck to the street on the north side of the Emporia Post Office. That ice has finally dissolved, giving us back those four parallel parking spaces.
The times they are a’ changing. Flip the page to March.
After a long winter, maybe like me, you’re ready to hit the road for a season of your own sunflower journeys. Well, let’s go.
Kansas has been patiently waiting for us to heat the highways with our tires, longing for us to admire her quiet beauty, anxious for us to launch our boats into the lakes and reservoirs.
OK, if you could pick a theme for your travels (and you can, because you’re a grown-up), what theme would you choose?
What aspect of Kansas would you like to investigate? Political history? Hiking trails? Or (my personal favorite), pies?
You might be interested in exploring cemeteries (every town has one). Or, how about old Catholic churches? An interest in military history would send you to various forts and battlegrounds across the state.
Bleeding Kansas history is scattered about. Lecompton and Lawrence are good places to begin, or maybe the John Brown Museum in Osawatomie.
Perhaps you’d like to check out art galleries, antique shops, or tulip festivals. Kansas has them.
How about airplanes? Visit the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field in Topeka or the International Forest of Friendship in Atchison. The Forest of Friendship was founded by the Ninety Nines, an international organization of women pilots. Plaques are embedded in the sidewalks recognizing legends in aviation and space exploration.
Maybe you’re curious about dinosaurs. Live ones are hard to come by, but stop by the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays to learn about Kansas’ prehistoric creatures.
Check out Cheyenne Bottoms if you’re into bird watching. If you want to track down old stone bridges, start at Clements in Chase County.
Perhaps your interest lies in Victorian architecture, railroad history, or wildflowers.
We don’t have mountain ranges, but how about a tour of Kansas hills? Investigate the Smoky Hills, the Chautauqua Hills, the Red Hills. Heck, there’s even Boot Hill.
Rocks, anyone? You can visit Mushroom Rock, Castle Rock, and Pawnee Rock State Parks. Rock City is near Minneapolis in Ottawa County.
Thanks to our one-time ocean, Kansas has a bed of limestone. You might appreciate the Post Rock Museum in La Crosse (along with a barbed wire museum that you won’t want to miss).
A sandstone bluff can be found at Echo Cliff in Wabaunsee County, two miles west and one south of Dover. Echo Cliff is along Mission Creek. Give that place a shout.
Also on the rock theme is Pillsbury Crossing in Riley County. Deep Creek flows over a limestone ledge that is 40 feet wide and has a five-foot drop.
Coronado Heights, just north of Lindsborg is another hunk of Dakota formation. From it, there’s a 300-foot overlook to the Smoky Hill River Valley.
To find rocks without leaving town, visit the (Paul) Johnston Geology Museum in Cram Science Hall at Emporia State University.
Rocks, airplanes, dinosaurs. Kansas is calling; go check it out.
F “Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.
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OutofTowner (anonymous) says...
Can we be sure that John Peterson did not write this?
February 27, 2007 at 4:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )