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I know that it is more enjoyable to bash than to uplift, but after reading the "I hate KS!" thread, I would love to hear what you DO like/love about living in Kansas.
I may have the potential to move to Wichita in the late winter or early spring. So far the most popular negatives seem to be:
- The weather
- High concentration of religious people
- High concentration of conservatives
- Lack of things to do
- Wizard of Oz references
And none of those seem like horrible things to me... I think that "lack of things to do" is a state of mind. It can't be hotter there than in TN during the summers, and I am looking forward to building snowmen with my son (which is a rarity here these days). I don't have problems with people having different opinions than mine, and as the WOO reference isn't old to me yet, that isn't a problem either.
So, what keeps you in Kansas? What do you love? Any Wichita specifics would be a bonus!!
The beautiful scenery and no passing zone road signs are nice and even though i think the cooler climate of nebraska is more appealing for me,the severe thunder storms and tornadic supercells and visibilty of the sky are something something i would love about kansas.
--It's my homeland. I have been gone since 1971, but I remain a Kansas boy.
--The reserved friendliness. Rarely effusive, but it takes twice as long to change a tire in Kansas as in other places, because people stop and want to help, and while one probably does not need help, one cannot just blow off young cowboys or couples coming back from wherever. Unthinkably rude. So one makes polite conversation about the weather, etc., before the helpers are finally convinced that you are okay, and will mosey on.
--Beef. Unless you live in a place with lousy beef, you fail to appreciate this.
--Food in general. Kansas is all about growing food, and the food is good. Not exotic, but I want a sweet roll right now.
--Abolitionist heritage. There is still a glimmer of this--even though let's not forget it was Brown v. Topeka Board of Education--and while the KKK was strong in Kansas during the second KKK, let us likewise not forget that William Allen White essentially laughed those miserable scum out of Kansas. From before statehood, Kansas hated slavery. And one of the proudest Kansas regiments was the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, for its stand at Honey Springs, IT.
--Gives good opportunities to give Missouri some guff. If you can't give Missouri guff, what is life?
--Rapid weather changes. The weather gods of Kansas abhor dullness.
--Limestone. Fenceposts, county courthouses and even universities built out of 'them ol' rocks', as I affectionately call them.
--Great sons and daughters of Kansas: DDE, Amelia Earhart, Gale Sayers, and more.
--Last I heard it was dead last in the nation per capita in tourism. Heh. I love leading the nation in something. If you want to get away from tourists, Kansas can hook you up.
--State song. Simple, straightforward, and true to the cowboy heritage on both sides of my tribe.
--State flower. What is more recognizable than a sunflower?
--State bird. How can anyone not like a meadowlark?
--State fair. I didn't fully appreciate this as a kid in Hutch. Ought to have. Who can resist the butter sculpture?
--Amish and Mennonites. As a non-Christian, my admiration for Christians who do their own thing in peace and never give me any crap is very high. Plus, the Old Order will gladly pull your ride out of a ditch with a team of horses. For the Carriage Crossing in Yoder and the Iron Horse BBQ in Galva I'd respect them, but the Mennonite disaster relief people seal it. Where I live, we have German Baptists and Hutterites, and it's always comforting to see or hire them.
--Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutch. How can anyone not want to see the Apollo 13, or a V-1, or an SR-71? When I was a lad, it was just a planetarium. My, how it's grown.
--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.
--Real seasons: blistering heat, icy wind, bursting spring, colorful fall.
--Cavalry museum at Riley. The Army never gets its due credit for its museums.
--Everyone (even Team Brownback) hates Fred Phelps. Good. Well we should.
--Jayhawk basketball. I don't even like basketball but I watched the final last year.
--Above all, the persistent rugged spirit of Kansans. If you can't battle on through adversity, you'll fold. Ad astra per aspera was a well-chosen motto.
I would move back in seconds, but my wife is an Alaskan and her career is currently fixed here--and Washington may be the nearest compromise an Alaskan and a Kansan can find in marriage. But in the end, it's the only place that has ever felt like home to me.
Low crime. I can't imagine living somewhere that I was afraid for myself and my property. I have thought before that if I ever DID move somewhere else where the crime rate is higher I'd probably be a victim because I'm so naive and not on-guard because I've never had to be. There have been horrible crimes in Kansas - like Dennis Rader, the BTK killer in Wichita, and the abduction and murder of Kelsey Smith from the mall, and the girl in El Dorado who was murdered. But it's a rare exception, not the rule, and I consider Kansas one of the safest places to live. I hate that we've had the little violent crime we have in recent years and I hope that doesn't escalate. But I am not afraid someone is going to break into my house. I'm not afraid if I go someplace I'll be snatched or murdered. I was never afraid for my kids to go outside and play.
I like the Kansas weather. I have never liked winter. But the spring, summer and fall - I love it. Spring with thunderstorms, early summer thunderstorms and pleasant temperatures, mid to late summer hot and humid but it's not humid like New Orleans or something like that and those hot summer days make for wonderful warm summer nights, wind rustling the treetops. I like the nights where you are comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt at 2:00 a.m. Hearing the locusts in August. Lightning bugs in July. Fall - the humidity is gone and we usually have a long Indian summer with temps in the 70s/low 80s, often breezy/windy - I love it.
Summer gardens with the best tomatoes, corn, lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, onion, etc.
state motto - Ad astra per aspera (to the stars through difficulties).
Cardinals. They are everywhere. I hear them more than see them, but I see them too.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk! KU, Lawrence, sandstone.
You can be in a city or out in the middle of nowhere in a short time if you want to. You can be secluded or you can be around people; whichever you like.
Nice people.
There isn't really much I don't like about Kansas. Lack of things to do would bother me if I lived out in the country; that's why I live in the city. High concentration of conservatives doesn't bother me; I am a conservative. There are liberals too though. High concentration of religious people doesn't bother me. Only the zealots like Phelps bother me and it's easy enough to ignore those people. Wizard of Oz references don't bother me. It does bother me the stereotypes people have about Kansas, like thinking we are all a bunch of country hick, ignorant, inbred, cowtown people. That's not true!
I think we have the best of both worlds. I always dreamed of going to California when I turned 18. Now I think the bad things outweigh the good - too much crime, too expensive, too crowded.
And I like that song that goes:
I was born in Kansas, I was bred in Kansas
And when I get married, I'll be wed in Kansas
There's a true blue gal who promised she would wait
She's my sunflower from the sunflower state.
She's my sunflower, she's my one flower, and I know we'll never part.
She's my sunflower, she's my one flower, she's the flower of my heart.
--It's my homeland. I have been gone since 1971, but I remain a Kansas boy.
--The reserved friendliness. Rarely effusive, but it takes twice as long to change a tire in Kansas as in other places, because people stop and want to help, and while one probably does not need help, one cannot just blow off young cowboys or couples coming back from wherever. Unthinkably rude. So one makes polite conversation about the weather, etc., before the helpers are finally convinced that you are okay, and will mosey on.
--Beef. Unless you live in a place with lousy beef, you fail to appreciate this.
--Food in general. Kansas is all about growing food, and the food is good. Not exotic, but I want a sweet roll right now.
--Abolitionist heritage. There is still a glimmer of this--even though let's not forget it was Brown v. Topeka Board of Education--and while the KKK was strong in Kansas during the second KKK, let us likewise not forget that William Allen White essentially laughed those miserable scum out of Kansas. From before statehood, Kansas hated slavery. And one of the proudest Kansas regiments was the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, for its stand at Honey Springs, IT.
--Gives good opportunities to give Missouri some guff. If you can't give Missouri guff, what is life?
--Rapid weather changes. The weather gods of Kansas abhor dullness.
--Limestone. Fenceposts, county courthouses and even universities built out of 'them ol' rocks', as I affectionately call them.
--Great sons and daughters of Kansas: DDE, Amelia Earhart, Gale Sayers, and more.
--Last I heard it was dead last in the nation per capita in tourism. Heh. I love leading the nation in something. If you want to get away from tourists, Kansas can hook you up.
--State song. Simple, straightforward, and true to the cowboy heritage on both sides of my tribe.
--State flower. What is more recognizable than a sunflower?
--State bird. How can anyone not like a meadowlark?
--State fair. I didn't fully appreciate this as a kid in Hutch. Ought to have. Who can resist the butter sculpture?
--Amish and Mennonites. As a non-Christian, my admiration for Christians who do their own thing in peace and never give me any crap is very high. Plus, the Old Order will gladly pull your ride out of a ditch with a team of horses. For the Carriage Crossing in Yoder and the Iron Horse BBQ in Galva I'd respect them, but the Mennonite disaster relief people seal it. Where I live, we have German Baptists and Hutterites, and it's always comforting to see or hire them.
--Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutch. How can anyone not want to see the Apollo 13, or a V-1, or an SR-71? When I was a lad, it was just a planetarium. My, how it's grown.
--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.
--Real seasons: blistering heat, icy wind, bursting spring, colorful fall.
--Cavalry museum at Riley. The Army never gets its due credit for its museums.
--Everyone (even Team Brownback) hates Fred Phelps. Good. Well we should.
--Jayhawk basketball. I don't even like basketball but I watched the final last year.
--Above all, the persistent rugged spirit of Kansans. If you can't battle on through adversity, you'll fold. Ad astra per aspera was a well-chosen motto.
I would move back in seconds, but my wife is an Alaskan and her career is currently fixed here--and Washington may be the nearest compromise an Alaskan and a Kansan can find in marriage. But in the end, it's the only place that has ever felt like home to me.
I'd like to add a few:
Flint Hills
Flat lands out west
Four distinct seasons (though as I age, the cold is not so good)
My second to what the others have already said.
You can get out of town and see the stars in minimal time.
A long drive on a gravel/dirt road can be quite relaxing.
I'm glad someone started this thread -- I was about to!
I agree with the above posts. I've traveled quite a bit and had plenty of opportunities to move, but I like it here.
I grew up in Hays and live in JoCo now and we're very happy to be raising our kids here. I like to travel with my kids so that they will be able to experience other parts of our country and the world.
But a couple of Summers ago, I wanted them to appreciate our own state. So we put together a 10 day "Tour of Kansas". We mapped out our trip, starting with the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison and ended up out West. We visited many of the "tourist" spots and museums of Kansas and saw as much of the state as we could -- learning so much of the history along the way -- yes, we even got a picture in front of the world's largest ball of twine! We had a great time and my kids got to see and appreciate "home". We have a scrap book we made along the way and they still enjoy looking at it.
Space. Wide open blue skies. Being able to see for miles.
The gold and green Prairie. Sunflowers. The Flint Hills. The wind.
Abundant wildlife.
All the seasons. Hot summer days and swimming at the pool. Cold snowy winter days. Leaves that change color in the fall. Trees budding with pink, purple, yellow and white blossoms in the spring.
People who are friendly, helpful, and tolerant. People who are willing to work hard to get what they want in life. People who readily share what they have to help others.
Opportunity.
Award winning schools. Wonderful teachers. Award winning public libraries.
Friendly, safe neighborhoods. Neighborhood Homes Associations. Block parties.
Quaint little towns. Big city culture. Cows. Wheat.
Lack of traffic jams. Being able to get to work in minutes rather than hours.
Limestone buildings and fences.
Interesting history.
A great place for raising children.
I'm glad someone started this thread -- I was about to!
I agree with the above posts. I've traveled quite a bit and had plenty of opportunities to move, but I like it here.
I grew up in Hays and live in JoCo now and we're very happy to be raising our kids here. I like to travel with my kids so that they will be able to experience other parts of our country and the world.
But a couple of Summers ago, I wanted them to appreciate our own state. So we put together a 10 day "Tour of Kansas". We mapped out our trip, starting with the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison and ended up out West. We visited many of the "tourist" spots and museums of Kansas and saw as much of the state as we could -- learning so much of the history along the way -- yes, we even got a picture in front of the world's largest ball of twine! We had a great time and my kids got to see and appreciate "home". We have a scrap book we made along the way and they still enjoy looking at it.
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.
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