Kansas Travel – cultural events and atractions
Ok, so you are now entering the state of Kansas and you are dreading the long, flat boring drive where there is nothing to see or do. Well, wake up and look around! Kansas travel has an extremely interesting history, beautiful prairielands, fantastic museums, cultural events and atrractions and the most wonderful people in the midwest! Going from the large cities like Kansas City to the litty bitty towns of Garnett you will find great people and interesting things to do and see.
Kansas has a number of very small towns such as Selden with a population of 177 as of July 2007. What this means is that there is a lot of open space for people that want to visit someplace they can actually breath without running into someone else in exactly the same spot! Here people appreciate the land and the hunting available. The pheasants are plentiful as well as the hunting farms and ranches that play host to the visitors.
Ghosts, goblins and scary homes, that’s what you can expect when you visit the “Most Haunted Town in Kansas.” Atchison not only takes pride in this title but they have the Haunted Atchison Trolley Tour in September and October to take visitors around to the different homes that are acclaimed to be haunted. You will ride on the 1880 AT&SF trolley while seeing houses such as the McIntreer Villa where lights in the tower go on and off and there is not electricity there, ghosts appear in the windows and in family photos. Hear the footsteps that are in rooms where there is no one and doors closing in rooms that are empty. Scary! The one hour tour will show you a number of homes in the community that are claimed to be haunted…come and find out all about them.
If you enjoy the unique you will enjoy Henry’s Sculpture Hill near Augusta. Here are an array of sculptures created from steel and/or found objects which will enchant you and entertain you. Since this is a private hill, the creator has stopped giving tours for now because of “maintenance, insurance, old age, and attitude, [but] serious buyers who are looking for original steel sculptures are welcome by appointment.” So, if you see something you want to buy, make sure you go and talk to him, otherwise, just look and leave him alone for now. How refreshing to have someone of his artistic talent be so brutally honest.
Want to visit the Garden of Eden? Just think of your Kansas vacation as an opportunity to do just that in Lucas at the “log house” built by a retired school teacher following the Civil War. Dinsmoor took “logs” made of limestone, laid them in the same pattern as timber logs would be placed and created his home. None of the windows or doors are the same size, he wanted the house to have character and attract attention. The construction took 31 years before he was completely done with the house and the gardens where he used 113 lbs of concrete and limestone to create his vision. The 11 room house was shown in tours to those that wanted to see it in his time and still today. To visit the house has a fee of $6 for adults and $1 for kids.
Manhattan and Junction City are the home of Fort Riley. Here you can experience the history of the past and see the current military strategies. You can tour the last cavalry training stables with its original cobblestone flooring which used to house 76 horses. Today it still houses horses for the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard where 20 head are ready for parade all the time. This facility was built in 1889. When you are through with this tour there are a number of others that will be just as interesting for you to see and enjoy.
Take the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway to see the true color of Kansas. Here the hills are filled with canyons, rolling hills, mesas and buttes in stunning color, right in central Kansas. The red cedar tress add a beautiful touch to the terrain. The land is red because it is full of iron oxide which is actually rust. Get off the paved roads to see the real beauty but keep in mind that this is open range so keep your eyes open for animals.
No one can say that those from Kansas don’t have a sense of humor. In the town of Canton there are two water towers, one Hot and one Cold. Now how many towns do you know that would do that? It’s great to know there is such a place in Kansas!
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