Monday, July 01, 2013

I'm planning a day trip

My birthday is coming up soon.  I recently tried to talk Cliff into taking me on a bus trip out of Kansas City that makes a tour of the Flint Hills area of Kansas, but he was having none of that, impending birthday or not.  The only bus trip he intends to take is one that is taking us to a tractor museum next fall.
So I figured he can just take me to the Flint Hills in the car.  That'll be about half the price of the bus tour, but I still get to celebrate my birthday in a suitable manner.  Today I'm mapping out our route.


Cliff has never been a big fan of the state of Kansas, but we both like museums.  There seem to be plenty of museums in those small towns in the Flint Hills.  Maybe that will win him over.  We may not go north into Manhattan as shown on the map.  Smaller towns sound like more fun to me.  
There is a sort of museum in Alta Vista, the Ag Heritage Park, that is a personal collection of old farm-related items.  Sounds like something we would both enjoy.  You call the owners if they aren't on the premises, and they show you around.  We saw a collection like that in Iowa a couple of years ago that was well worth the time spent.
I thought about taking a picnic along, but I think it would be more fun to eat at the Hays House in Council Grove.  It was built in 1857 by the town's first settler, Seth Hays, and is regarded as the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River.  
I hope we'll learn something about a state that we are prone to think of as nothing more than an ordeal we have to suffer through to get to Colorado.  Friend Meesha blogged about visiting the Flint Hills, if you want to see what he has to say about it.    
    

7 comments:

  1. Let me guess, you're birthday is July 7th and you are going to be --years old.

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  2. Hate to say it, but I've never had a desire to visit Kansas. But then I never wanted to go to Wisconsin or Missouri and we ended up there for gymnastics. I enjoyed something about each place we went!! (except CA freeways-OH,MY GOSH) CO is pretty hard to beat. Hope your birthday trip is interesting and special!

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  3. I've wanted to see more of the Flint Hills since first passing through the edge of them on the way to Texas in 1979.
    Then I read PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon and I REALLY wanted to spend time in Chase County, Kansas.
    One of my all-time favorite books is set in the Flint Hills - Firebird by Janice Graham. I hope you have a nice trip and a great birthday.

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  4. Looks like you have a fun filled trip lined up there.

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  5. I'm glad that you are going to do what you want for your birthday. And yes, you should eat out. It's your special day after all.

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  6. I've never been a fan of Kansas... the state or the Jayhawk.

    Enjoy your trip, though.

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  7. Do you know about Windowontheprairie blog. If not I think it will be interesting to you.

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