What else is in Kansas

 

Kansas has never been on my bucket list of places to visit, but as I am discovering about all the states I am running in, every state has something to see.  In Kansas, there was lots of grass!  One area of grass is designated as a national preserve.  It is called the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  And it is featured on the National Park Kansas Quarter.  It is set aside as a remnant of the vanishing prairie.  One part of the trail had grasshoppers jumping in front of me as I walked and it reminded me of the grasshoppers in the Little House on the Prairie books.  And there was some grass that was as tall a me.  But it was brown this time of year and looked dry.    

The visitor center was closed due to the government shutdown

The one room schoolhouse on the prairie

I visited the tallgrass on Thursday, the day I arrived in Kansas.  I landed in Wichita and was able to get a great hamburger and even better fries at a local (at least it looked local) hamburger joint named Spangles.  

The Wichita Airport is called the air capital of the world because of how many airplanes have been built in Kansas.

I got to drive a red Kia in Kansas

I had been to Braum's before in Oklahoma and their milkshakes are great!

The race was in Salina and their downtown was super cute!  They had artwork throughout the town in the form of sculptures and murals.  And they had a really good pizza place for a pre-run dinner and a good Mexican restaurant for a post-race dinner.

I found another giraffe

A hummingbird

After the race on Saturday, I had the option of driving an an hour to see the largest ball of twine or an hour to see the Oz Museum.  Oz won out!  It was a small museum in downtown Wamego.  There was not much there other than that, but it was an interesting museum.  And they had lots of Toto's in town!  

The yellow brick road was not a yellow as the one in Boone at the land of Oz.

One of the Totos

 

I stopped at the Eisenhower Presidential Library on the way back to Salina, but it was closed due to the shutdown too.

One last stop on the way out of Salina on Sunday morning was a donut shop.  I was able to buy the last lemon filled donut!  I also bought a blueberry cake donut that was good to have on the plane ride home since I didn't have time to stop for food at one connection!  

That is my trip to Kansas.  Not a lot of overwhelming sights, but some good food and a good race and one more state crossed off my list.  I am officially done with all states that start with the letter K!