So, what do you LOVE about Kansas? (Wichita, Topeka: homes, public schools)

[GraniteStater]

Kansas has a number of good things to offer...

1) Kansas is the breadbasket of the US, and is a key player in feeding the global population. Agriculture has always been a big part of what makes Kansas great.
2) The wide open expanses of land, especially out in the Flint Hills and Smoky Hills region.
3) The diverse landscapes in the state- ranging from woodland in the northeast corner to semiarid short grass prairie in the southwest corner.
4) The frontier feeling that is just incredible in many of the rural areas, and the friendliness of the people.
5) My relatives ranch in the Smoky Hills region of northwest Kansas. It is a spectacular region of the state dotted with buttes and very rugged terrain. It is a great place to visit, and they run an excellent operation.
6) The college towns of Lawrence and Manhattan offer a little something for everyone.
7) My favorite town in western Kansas is Hays. My grandfather and his brother grew up in rural Northwest Kansas on a ranch, and that was the "big" town that provided services to the rural communities in that large region of the state.
8) The I-70 corridor between Topeka and the KC metro area offers a diversified economy intermixed with some farms in the outlying cities. This is where 90% of the population growth in KS will likely come from in the future.

[smellykat]

Well, I'm a Kansas girl, and I'm proud of it! I love the prairie, the flatness of the land, endless blue sky cupping the fields of wheat, the Flint Hills, an unexpected Kansas treasure. Sunflowers, bursting out everywhere, heads bobbing in the Kansas wind.

Four seasons - the bleakness of winter, snowy mornings, icy trees, smoke curling from chimneys, the soft swish of the oak leaves blowing in the chilly air. Spring, abundance of flowering trees, shrubs and manicured lawns, spring rains. Early morning summer walks, evening walks to the Village, the pool, the parks, heat lightning. Summer humidity - makes you appreciate ice cream, sherbert, lemonade, iced tea with lots of sugar, the pool. Autumn is the best! A riot of color, the stately oaks, Indian summer days, blue skies. I love the thunderstorms! Rolling in, torrential rains, electricity in the air, rainbows.

Lawrence, one of the best university towns in the country, and, of course, my beloved Jayhawks basketball.

Amelia Earhart - a gutsy lady!

Wizard of Oz - A classic!

Johnson County - Bash it all you want, but something must be right because Overland Park is consistently rated in "Best Places" lists annually.
The county has great schools and a highly rated library system. What I appreciate most about Johnson County is the zoning. For the most part, it is well maintained. Johnson County has beautiful suburbs and the cost of living is within reason for the middle class. You get alot for your money in Johnson County.

To the Stars through Difficulties - a great state motto.

Friendly people, courteous and helpful, for the most part.

Like Dorothy, "there's no place like home"

Thank you, ShyDaisi, for starting this thread.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by gwander

Samantha, we did the same thing with our kids! We called it "Discover Kansas". The Eisenhower home and library in Abilene, the Dala Horses in Lindsborg, Big Brutus coal shovel, Little House on the Prairie in Independence, The bank that got robbed by the Dalton gang in Coffeyville, the soldiers barracks at Fort Scott, Louisburg Cider Mill, Amelia Earharts home in Atchison, Mushroom State Park, the Cathedral of the Plains in Victoria, the Cosmosphere, Yoder Amish Community, hiking in the Flint Hills and Sand Hills State Park (and learning how to check for ticks afterwards), staying at great little bed and breakfast inns with game boards painted right on the attic floor (where our room was), picnics and prairie dogs, finding snake skins that had been shed, collecting locust shells, catching and then releasing lightening bugs, learning about bees and bats at the nature center, Kansas has loads of fun things to do with kids of any age!
We have many many wonderful memories.

Samantha and gwander - I did something similar! Except mine was a "Kansas City" tour instead of Kansas. I was helping my son study for a test he had the next day about Kansas City history. It was really fascinating, but just going over the answers with him, he wasn't getting it. So we got in the car and I TOOK him to all the places we were talking about. I showed him where the river landing was, and how they took goods from there down what is now Broadway to Westport where the goods were sold. I showed him Kelly's Bar in Westport, which was once owned by the grandson of Daniel Boone, who ran a grocery store there. I took him to Union Station, the Plaza, everyplace that he was studying. SEEING all the places makes a much greater impression than just talking about them. He got an A on his test.

One of the names considered for Kansas City was Possum Trot. Ummm...I'm glad they went with Kansas City.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by smellykat

Johnson County - Bash it all you want, but something must be right because Overland Park is consistently rated in "Best Places" lists annually.
The county has great schools and a highly rated library system. What I appreciate most about Johnson County is the zoning. For the most part, it is well maintained. Johnson County has beautiful suburbs and the cost of living is within reason for the middle class. You get alot for your money in Johnson County.
.

Absolutely!

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by luzianne

One of the names considered for Kansas City was Possum Trot. Ummm...I'm glad they went with Kansas City.

That would have been the real life equivalent of Bug Tussle. Anyone who gets that reference has good taste in comedy.

[KansasKris]

Wow! You guys have made some great points! I'm a native Kansan also and I love all the things you have mentioned so far - except the cold winters....

Chase County has to be one of the most beautiful sights anywhere...it's in the middle of the Flint Hills. You can see "real" buffalo, and horses running free (on certain big ranches that have adopted the wild mustangs), lots of cattle, bobcats, coyotes, eagles (near Oxford), pheasant, quail, a reputed cougar near Fall River, and deer. Pray you don't hit a deer - buy "deer whistles" for your car. I don't know if they work, but why chance it?

In Wichita, we have a wonderful zoo, botanical gardens, museums (several), Exploration Place, the river walk - soon to be much improved, the River Festival, The Jayhawker (I believe that is the name) of the sailboat that won an Americus Cup, we used to have the Boat House that some are trying to build up again, we have Old Town, some top golf courses, and good colleges (WSU, Friends, Newman). So I think if you say, "there is nothing to do in Wichita" then you are just not looking!

Lawrence and KC have a lot to offer also and they are only a couple of hours away, by our excellent turnpike. If you ever travel in Oklahoma, or Missouri, you will appreciate our great KS roads!

And our beloved Jayhawks and Wildcats! (and WuShocks)

Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
Up in Lawrence by the Kaw (river)
Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
With a sis-boom-hip-hoorah!

I've got a beak that's big enough
to twist a Tigers tail (Missouri)
Husk some corn and listen to
the Cornhuskers wail

Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay Jayhawk
Riding on a Kansas gale!

Go Jayhawks!!!

I forgot to mention in SE KS you can take the kids to see "Big Brutus" the largest coal shovel in the world! It took 1 year to go 1 mile....

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by KansasKris

Chase County has to be one of the most beautiful sights anywhere...it's in the middle of the Flint Hills. You can see "real" buffalo, and horses running free (on certain big ranches that have adopted the wild mustangs), lots of cattle, bobcats, coyotes, eagles (near Oxford), pheasant, quail, a reputed cougar near Fall River, and deer. Pray you don't hit a deer - buy "deer whistles" for your car. I don't know if they work, but why chance it?

Heh. Both my parents were raised in Chase; Dad quarterbacked the Bulldogs. Uncle, aunt, grandma and three cousins still live there. Great country. I went back that way last spring to help out a bit after my uncle had an unfortunate medical situation, and got to do a lot of driving around--he could, with some strain, take care of business; but due to the meds he couldn't drive, so I took him wherever he needed to go from Elmdale to Lawrence to Emporia. That was one of the pleasanter weeks of my life, just playing taxi driver and watching Kansas unfold before me.

Unfortunately, PrairyErth didn't do a whole lot of writing about our tribe's portion of Chase. But it was still an epic succeed.

[smellykat]

Originally Posted by KansasKris

Wow! You guys have made some great points! I'm a native Kansan also and I love all the things you have mentioned so far - except the cold winters....

Chase County has to be one of the most beautiful sights anywhere...it's in the middle of the Flint Hills. You can see "real" buffalo, and horses running free (on certain big ranches that have adopted the wild mustangs), lots of cattle, bobcats, coyotes, eagles (near Oxford), pheasant, quail, a reputed cougar near Fall River, and deer. Pray you don't hit a deer - buy "deer whistles" for your car. I don't know if they work, but why chance it?

In Wichita, we have a wonderful zoo, botanical gardens, museums (several), Exploration Place, the river walk - soon to be much improved, the River Festival, The Jayhawker (I believe that is the name) of the sailboat that won an Americus Cup, we used to have the Boat House that some are trying to build up again, we have Old Town, some top golf courses, and good colleges (WSU, Friends, Newman). So I think if you say, "there is nothing to do in Wichita" then you are just not looking!

Lawrence and KC have a lot to offer also and they are only a couple of hours away, by our excellent turnpike. If you ever travel in Oklahoma, or Missouri, you will appreciate our great KS roads!

And our beloved Jayhawks and Wildcats! (and WuShocks)

Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
Up in Lawrence by the Kaw (river)
Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk
With a sis-boom-hip-hoorah!

I've got a beak that's big enough
to twist a Tigers tail (Missouri)
Husk some corn and listen to
the Cornhuskers wail

Oh, I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay Jayhawk
Riding on a Kansas gale!

Go Jayhawks!!!

I forgot to mention in SE KS you can take the kids to see "Big Brutus" the largest coal shovel in the world! It took 1 year to go 1 mile....

What a great post! I need to make a point of exploring more of Kansas.

[smellykat]

Thanks to all for posting such informative, positive postings. I hope we hear from others. It's been a great thread!

[pamark1]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

--
--Nastiness of hazards. Great big prairie rattlers, locust trees, ticks, poison ivy, chiggers. Oh, look--a snarling badger! Kansas makes you pack your lunch when you go walkabout. There are reasons Kansas is not overrun with Californians, as is the Northwest.

Oh Lordy!!! Breathe Pam, Breathe Pam!!! Rattlers and Cougars and badgers.... oh my! (sorry, couldn't resist the WOO reference ). I think I'm going to have to grow some courage before I move out there.....

I can't wait.