KS Bucket List (Topeka, Lawrence, Manhattan: hotel, house, buyers)

[KSinmyrearviewmirror]

Bucket List

Big Brutus

McPherson College annual auto-restoration car show.

Been There / Done That

Prairie Chicken Booming Ground => Took my 81YO mother to see one @ Konza Prairie, outside Manhattan, 12 years back. We've seen 3-4 other booming grounds (leks).

Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Pageant commemorates the great Peace Council of 1867 between the U.S. and the civilization of the Plains Indians. September 22, 23 and 24, 2017 Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty

The Walnut Valley Festival is held the third weekend of September every year. Bluegrass, folk, arts+crafts and more. We got out of our car on the far end of the parking. Another car pulled up next to us, & Doc Watson got out. September 13-17, 2017. https://wvfest.com

Eldridge Hotel, Lawrence Across the street from Liberty Hall. We stayed there the night The David Grisman Quintet performed. Back in our room, my wife realized members of the quintet were in the next room, playing instruments!

Manhattan Arts Center Birdhouse Acoustic Music Series We've attended since Day 1. Many great acts, which played in Lawrence the day before/after, for > $/ticket! The Prairie Window Concert Series@ Dyck Arboretum. in Hesston, has many of the same performers.

Prairie Window Concert Series - Dyck Arboretum (which also has 2 X yearly native plant sales)

[Mathguy]

Great thread.

I went to the "theatre on the plains" last year where the KC symphony plays out in the middle of the prairie plus lots of other GREAt stuff before the show with music, astronomy, ecology and so forth.

Bring a wagon and after the show consider just hanging out as there is no quick way out. So maybe a reverse tailgate with a designated driver.

Other one I would add would be this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmosphere

They have a Sputnik satellite on display, one that was built but not launched. Plus sooooo much more....awesome place.

[AnywhereElse]

Abilene is a great stop:

https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
Greyhound Hall of Fame
Home
Old Abilene Town – Abilene: Where the Chisholm Trail Ends and the Legends Begin

Topeka:

The Topeka Zoo | Friends of the Topeka Zoo
https://www.kshs.org/museum

Near Cottonwood Falls is the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: https://www.nps.gov/tapr/index.htm (Anyone that RVs or camps: Council Grove has an awesome Corps of Engineers Lake/Campground not terribly far from there. Also, Council Grove is a nice but small town.)

Off in the southeast corner in Fort Scott, the "fort" when they are having a special event can be pretty interesting:

https://www.nps.gov/fosc/index.htm

Places I would like to go, but haven't been:

https://ozmuseum.com/ They have a special event, I think about the first week of October each year.

Off to SW KS (Liberal), another Wizard of Oz attraction (got to love it): Wizard of Oz, Coronado Museum - Seward County Historical Society - Liberal, Ks

http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/ Way out in Hays, KS.

And, lastly, The Dalton Gang Hideout: The Dalton Gang Hideout Meade, Kansas KS

[KSinmyrearviewmirror]

My wife & I have been using the The WPA Guide to 1930s Kansas since the 1980s as a means of touring KS.

Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration

The WPA Guide, the first and only guidebook ever devoted to Kansas, was published in 1939. After six decades and more, its pages still provide a wealth of reliable historic, geographic, and cultural information on Kansas, as well as some intriguing lore that many modern-day readers will find new. Not the least of its contributions is the accurate picture it gives of Kansas between the Great Depression and World War II—of its industrial, agricultural, and natural resources.

The book is divided into three sections: seventeen topical essays covering subjects such as Indians, folklore, religion, and architecture; touring information of the eighteen largest Kansas cities and towns; and twelve automobile tours spanning Kansas and border states. Included are eighty photographs, four maps, and an essay on the "contemporary scene" by William Allen White.

We've used the guide to search for long-abandoned "forts," and what Kansans were proud about locally. Did you know there was a silk-producing commune in KS? Or a gold rush in Woodson Co? There are granite outcroppings near Rose (my grandparents farmed @ Rose, but nobody ever mentioned granite peaks).

[AnywhereElse]

Couldn't think of the other place I wanted to visit, the name of the town anyway: Sedan, KS and the Yellow Brick Road: Sedan, KS - Yellow Brick Road and Munchkin Mall Also, that particular website has many suggestions.

My older son loves historical stuff, me, I have to keep pinching myself to stay awake.

Thought of another I would like to visit: Little House on the Prairie Museum! https://www.littlehouseontheprairiemuseum.com/

Gosh, there is so much stuff. I just got to become a full-time RVer to get this done. We had planned to travel the whole state seeing every little thing.

[Mattks]

Huff and Puff. Hot air balloon show in Topeka.

Cathedral of the Plains. Victoria, Kansas. At one time the largest church west of the Mississippi.

Capitol building in Topeka. Newly remodeled and the only capitol one can go to the top in. Free tours.

Heartland Park Topeka. Racetrack in Topeka. National Drag Races are held here annually.

Fort Larned. One of the best kept forts in Kansas. Larned, Kansas.

Cheyenne Bottoms. Largest wetland in the Great Plains. Not a lot to do, but pretty when I drove though. Good for bird watching.

Governors Mansion. Free tours. The smallest governors mansion in the US on the largest property for a governors mansion in the US. Topeka. Surrounded by a great park.

[AnywhereElse]

Looked up the church in Victoria: The Cathedral of the Plains - St. Fidelis Church, Victoria, Kansas Very interesting.

Also, Fort Larned: https://www.nps.gov/fols/index.htm That looks interesting too!

And, another I thought of I would like to visit: Brown vs Board of Education

https://www.nps.gov/brvb/learn/histo...egregation.htm

[kansas_sky]

Lindsborg! I'm planning to go to the Svensk Hyllningsfest this year for my birthday. But even when there isn't a festival, it's a great little city to explore.

[KSinmyrearviewmirror]

"The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) will conduct a public auction to sell surplus bison at the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, beginning at 11 a.m. The auction is open to the public, and lunch and concessions will be available. Those interested in bidding are encouraged to arrive early to receive a bidder number."

bison auction

I haven't been to the Maxwell bison auction for over 25 years. It was truly a unique experience. There aren't many auction rings attended by buyers from Canada to Florida bidding on bison with exceptional blood lines. I nearly came home with a blind calf . . . .

[Mathguy]

Great museum in Chanute about....

Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum – Your destination for romance and adventure!

Really fascinating stuff, a completely different era of life.

They got very lucky early not to end up dead....and unlucky later in life....but a truly cool couple and in an old train depot nonetheless.

Enjoy.