Category Archives: Kansas

Greetings from Dodge City

We had a bit of a scare outside of Wichita – when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse and freezing rain caused several scary accidents that we passed by in the dark on two-lane Highway 54, with flashing lights from racing police cars interrupting the dark countryside. But other than that, our drive and the weather were fine. We stopped at what had been advertised in an Internet article as a “Shake Shack” in Overland Park, Ks. but it turned out to be the “Snak Shack” – same kind of food, quality burgers and homemade shakes and handcut fries, but not part of the New York City Shake Shack empire. (Why I thought there would be an offshoot in Kansas, I can’t tell you…) We stopped in Wichita at the N&J Middle Eastern restaurant and got take out gyros and falafal sandwiches which we ate en route in the car (beats stopping at Sonic for a hot dog and tater tots, although do always like a good limeade.)

It is windy but warm when the wind isn’t blowing out here in Dodge City. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant Sabor Jaliscos – very good carne asada and flan. It’s very Hispanic out here – we actually listened to a radio station that had a Spanish song about Santa Claus. Ho ho ho.

Leave a comment

Filed under Kansas misc

Driving to kansas for xmas – part three

Exciting topic, I know but best I can do today. We’re leaving earlier than planned and driving straight thru (a nine-hour trip to dodge city) rather than stopping overnight in Topeka) thanks to forecasts of snow and freezing rain in Iowa and Kansas on Friday. Good news is once we get to Dodge City should be fairly pleasant weather – highs in upper 30s, lower 40s – and maybe no ferocious winds like last year or major snows like years past. Will be warmer than Des Moines too which will be in the teens over the xmas holiday.

Meanwhile, stumped on where to eat in Kansas City en route. We’d normally eat at Gates or Arthur Bryants but BBQ isn’t an option for our family vegetarian. Oddly, I know where to eat more in Wichita or Salina than in K.C.Oh well, I’ll have 3 hours in the car to think up something.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Kansas misc

Driving to Kansas for Christmas part 2

What a difference a day and a few degrees can make – of course we still have a day left until we leave for our nine-hour drive to Dodge City for Christmas but as of a few hours ago, things looked better on our route at least – snow later than earlier forecast in Iowa and snow rather than the freezing rain earlier forecast for Kansas City and Topeka. But who really knows? Could have changed again in the few hours I’ve been out of my office. Anyway, on the road again. Happy holidays!

Leave a comment

Filed under interstates, Kansas misc

Driving to Kansas for Christmas

Every year this seems to happen on the cusp of our nine-hour drive to western Kansas for Christmas with my in-laws. The steady drumbeat of meteorologists’ reports about impending doom (in the form of snow and/or the dreaded freezing rain). This year is no different, so as usual we have a wait-and-see attitude that includes keeping an eye on various websites from weather.com to the Kansas Department of Transportation (for road conditions.) We’re supposed to leave on Thursday at around 2 p.m. but now we’re being warned to leave in the morning if possible – but then we may hit freezing rain in Kansas. So maybe we’ll drive through Nebraska instead. Always an adventure.

Leave a comment

Filed under interstates, Kansas misc

Three great fall drives – one obvious; two not

Couldn’t help but be amused by three perfect fall drives recommended by People Magazine. I’ve been on all three – which is not what many could claim, I’d guess. The first is a no-brainer: Highway 1, must-see stop: Big Sur. The second isa drive along the Mississippi River, with a must-see stop : Dubuque, Iowa, which is one of my favorite cities in Iowa (and this is a drive I wrote about for the New York Times travel section several years ago.) The third drive was even more of a surprise: Highway 50 through the middle of the country. Must-see stop: Dodge City, Ks.  (With all due respect to my in-laws who live in and around Dodge, I don’t buy this one…)

Leave a comment

Filed under California, Dodge City, Iowa, Kansas misc

salina, Ks.

Oh that I could share some of the secret charms of Salina, Ks. with you but alas we saw nothing of it but the inside of the Ramada hotel. Such is the reality of my husband’s family reunion. I did hear tell that Salina is the terra-cotta capital of Kansas – no small feat considering how much terra-cotta clads the buildings of Wichita – but I didn’t get to see it – or visit some of our favorite restaurants such as the Cozy Inn and Jim’s Chicken. We did stop today on the way home at Freddy’s – the frozen custard/steakburger chain we first discovered in Oklahoma which seems to be expanding across Kansas. (We last spotted it in Hutchinson, now it’s in Topeka and Junction City.) Very rich custard – maybe too rich. My stomach hasn’t been right since – and eating Gates BBQ, which we picked up in Kansas City, probably won’t help. But fortune favors the brave….

Leave a comment

Filed under DINING, Kansas City, Kansas misc, LODGING

lawrence ks

Our $49,99 ($57 w/tax) hotel room in Lawrence wasn’t bad at all – spacious, clean, sort of soft  beds but sleepable. There were some loud party girls at 2 a.m.  but that’s to be expected. So for the record, the motel is the Virginia Inn. I’d stay there again.

we ate breakfast at Milton’s on Massachusetts – good hearty omelette and strong coffee then walked along the street in the blistering heat, stopping in at vintage shops and KU apparel stores. Kids got the obligatory jayhawks t-shirts although lily got her’s  at a vintage shop.

we’re now at the ramada inn in Salina, ks. for a family gathering and this is the only sight  I’m  likely to see here.

t

3 Comments

Filed under DINING, Kansas misc, LODGING

Kooky Kansas: pt. 5 Lucas


One attraction I’ve longed to see during several trips to Lucas – but haven’t yet caught up with – is a traveling museum  featuring  “The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.”

I’ll give you a moment to absorb that properly.

It’s a clever idea – by an artist and free spirit named Erika Nelson who moved to Lucas, next to the Garden of Eden. She drives her museum (inside a van)  to kitschy roadside attractions, often in little towns  that overcompensate for their littleness by producing a LARGE version of something or other that, with hope, puts the town on the map. Then she makes small versions of  these large things and exhibits them in her  van, err museum.

Nelson has also compiled a state-by-state list of the world’s largest things and I’m pleased to report that I’ve seen several including the World’s Largest Swedish Coffeepot and Cup in the small Iowa town of Stanton (which doubles as a water tower); the World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Ks. (although this claim is disputed by Minnesota twine-ballers)  and the World’s Largest Tire near the Detroit airport (a highlight of my Michigan youth).  There is a larger point – that these quirky things make these towns and cities distinctive and, as such, should be celebrated. (Nelson is into “combating genericana” i.e. all the generic fast food restaurants and chain stores you see in one town after another that makes them all seem the same.) Check out the list at – www.worldslargestthings.com/wllist.htm

One final (as if) note about Lucas: this is the only place where I eagerly look forward to eating baloney – in this case homemade Czech bologna made at Brant’s Meat Market, an 85-year-old store on Lucas’  tiny main drag. The beef jerky is good too!

Leave a comment

Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc

Kooky Kansas: pt.4 Garden of Eden

I never like making errors but maybe it’s a good thing I was tired last night when blogging (that’s my excuse) and made two errors in my post about the Garden of Eden BECAUSE I got an email today from the great-grandson of S.P. Dinsmoor (yes it’s S.P. – for Samuel Perry, not E.P. as I mistyped yesterday) politely setting me straight. Which I appreciate.  And it’s interesting to hear from a vigilant member of the Dinsmoor clan.  The great-grandson also noted, rightly, that technically S.P. is entombed, not buried, in the mausoleum. Again, I stand corrected.

Leave a comment

Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc

Kooky Kansas: pt. 3 Garden of Eden

What really put Lucas, Ks. on the map, is an astonishing place called The Garden of Eden, which was built by an eccentric Civil War Veteran named S.P. Dinsmoor. The Garden is in the backyard of Dinsmoor’s small cabin made of limestone logs (vs. wooden logs.) I’ve struggled for years to describe it properly. It’s a true concrete jungle, made of concrete and stone vines and pillars with statues of  Biblical figures (Adam and Eve are there) as well as pro-working Joe tableaux (such as the working man being crucified by the banker, the lawyer, the preacher, and the doctor.) One of my favorite parts is the large limestone mausoleum where Mr. Dinsmoor is entombed. A guide hands you a flashlight so you can enter and look through a plate of glass at Dinsmoor’s disintegrating skeleton.  I have a priceless photo of my sister, who was visiting from the east coast during the late 1980s when I lived in Kansas, outside the mausoleum looking at me with a “You’ve got to be kinding me” expression.

2 Comments

Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc