There are some states like California, Colorado, and Florida that are amazing and get millions of visitors each year. But there is definitely something cool and unique about getting to visit some places that are “off the beaten path” and experiencing a piece of the US that is way less traveled. Kansas was one of those experiences for us. It seems that Kansas is best known for being a very flat state that is home to Dorothy and Superman. And although those things are true, we found that there is a whole lot more to this state in the heart of the US.
Wichita
Our first stop was straight to the center of the state and the state’s biggest city, Wichita. (Kansas City is a bigger city, but the majority of the city is in Missouri so I guess it doesn’t count. =)
In Wichita, we visited the Old Cowtown Museum. Well, it’s more of an entire village that has been preserved from what the city of Wichita would have looked like during the late 1800s. Em and I aren’t usually the biggest history buffs, but it was cool to see and appreciate what pioneers would have had to endure in order to explore and develop our country to what it is today.
We are also glad that we went to the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita instead of driving all the way out to Dodge City. (I always thought that Dodge City would be cool to visit because of its reputation during the Wild West Era, but it was pretty far out of the way and, from reviews, we read online it sounds like it isn’t as well preserved as old towns like Old Cowtown, KS or Tombstone, AZ. Em and I laughed at one review online that said “the only reason to visit Dodge City is so you can really mean it when you say ‘let’s get the heck out of Dodge!” =) It probably is a cool place to visit, but just too far out of our route.
Strataca Salt Mines
Before visiting Kansas, I had no idea that there was one of the largest salt mines in the world underneath the state. We got to visit these mines in Hutchinson, KS. The salt mine museum is called Strataca and the tour took us 650 feet below the Kansas ground to explore part of the 27,000 square miles of salt. It is so big down there that we actually took two different train/tram tours. The mine is still active today, but in a different area from the tours. The other cool thing we learned was that the Salt Mines have been used as a vault for all types of important items. There are over 100 miles of tunnels in the mines and many of them are no longer used. Because the mines are secure, have little to no moisture, and stay a consistent cool temperature, they became the perfect place to preserve important things. In the vaults are important documents, old film reels, and even movie stars’ costumes (like Superman)! They said that in the earlier days of Hollywood, producers would say “send it to the salt mines” after finishing a film.
Wilson State Park
We knew, with the reputation of driving through Kansas, that it would be flat and full of farm fields. However, we found that there are some very interesting and amazing sights while driving through the Sunflower State.
For example, I never thought about the thousands of windmills we would see. After seeing so many windmills off the highway, we took to Google and found out that 24% of Kansas’ electricity is produced by the wind! (or at least according to Wikipedia =) It is a pretty impressive sight to see windmills stretching for as far as we could see on both sides of the road. Later on in our trip, I actually met a guy who said that he did maintenance for the windmills and had to climb up the inside to fix any issues. (He said it can get pretty windy at the top. =)
We also came across this really pretty area of really green rolling hills (I know, I know, hills in Kansas?) that overlooked a huge lake. The cool thing about being in an RV is that, while we were driving past the lake, we saw that it was a state park called Wilson Lake and that there were some campsites with full hookups. So we ended up turning around and camping overlooking the lake that night. It was actually one of the prettiest views (and ended up being one of the windiest nights) of our trip so far!
World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things
On the road, we have seen a lot of amazing things. But we have also seen some pretty bizarre and interesting things as well. Something that is definitely up there on the bizarre list was in Lucas, KS, aka “the art capital of Kansas.” There, we visited the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.
We are pretty sure that it is a collection of really big things in miniature size (like a mini replica of the world’s largest rocking chair). However, when we got there, we found out that it is a traveling exhibit out of a van. Although the van was in the yard, it was locked and we couldn’t see much from the outside, but hey, how many chances do you get to see the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things? =)
World’s Largest Ball of Twine
Ironically enough, our next stop after the world’s largest exhibit was the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, located in Cawker City, Kansas. I already wrote about our experience with this massive ball of twine in another post… so I won’t go back into all the details. But it was definitely a memory that we won’t soon forget!
Center of the Continental USA
About 40 minutes up the road from the World’s Largest Ball of Twine is the Geographical Center of the Contiguous United States. (That means that if you drew a line from the east coast to the west coast and the north and south of the 48 states you would end up just outside of Lebanon, KS. So of course, being that we are on a roadtrip to all 50 states this was a definite must-stop location. It is really just a plaque out in a bunch of farm land, but there is a cute little chapel there and it is cool to really get to see the actual heartland of America. It is also kind of cool to say that we saw something that not a lot of other people will ever see (unless they plan to drive 20 hours to see a plaque in the middle of a farm field like we did =)
We did find out two clarifying facts when researching about the center of the US. 1) The center of the entire US (including Alaska and Hawaii) is in South Dakota (so we might have to make a trip to the middle of a farm field in South Dakota =) 2) The exact center of the 48 states is actually in the middle of a farmer’s field, but he got tired of tourists walking through his fields, so the city put up a plaque at the end of a dirt road instead. (haha so we drove 20 hours to take a picture of a plaque that isn’t actually in the center of the US ;) But regardless of the technicalities, we had a fun time trekking out and seeing the spot!
Monument Rocks
Monument Rocks was really cool, but totally not what I think of when I think of Kansas. They are a group of rocks that jut 70 feet up in the air in the middle of a Kansas farm field. They are literally in a farmer’s field – we drove about 7 miles down a dirt road and were in a cow pasture! But the owner doesn’t mind and doesn’t charge anything either. (We actually met the owner of the field while we were there. He was really nice and told us that as long as people respect his property, he doesn’t mind sharing the view with others).
It is quite a cool and strange sight to go from miles and miles of flat land to these large chalk rocks sticking up out of the ground. It is hard to explain just how out of place these rocks looked in the cow pasture without actually being there. It was a really cool sight and a great way to end our time in Kansas!
