KFRM Blog

Road Trip
Tuesday 5th of April 2011 08:15 AM
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By Kim L. Fritzemeier

KFRM Central Kansas Reporter

The people who live at the foot of Pike's Peak probably don't think about taking an afternoon to ride the cog train up the mountain. Orlando families don't visit Mickey Mouse when it's vacation time. The folks who live near the Grand Canyon don't take in the majesty in their own backyard until their out-of-state relatives come to call.

Even though the rest of the world may not think there's much of anything to do or see in Kansas, there are plenty of places to visit and explore. And they don't even consume a whole tank of gasoline.

For our 30th wedding anniversary celebration, we decided to spend a day in Lindsborg. That little town was one of the big-time winners when it came to the 8 Wonders of Kansas program sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation.

Coronado Heights just northwest of Lindsborg was chosen as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography. It was so named because the explorer Coronado is said to have climbed to the top of this southern-most bluff in the Smoky Hills and viewed the prairie from this lookout point 300 feet above the valley's floor. In 1936, the "castle" and picnic facilities were constructed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration program.

We toured the Red Barn Studio and the Birger Sandzen Memorial Art Gallery, also one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art.

Even though the Messiah Lutheran Church on Bethany College's campus wasn't one of the official winners in the Kansas Wonders contest, its stained glass windows rivaled the brilliant colors of Sandzen's famous landscapes housed across the street.

On our way to Salina, we took a detour to the Mushroom Rock State Park in Ellsworth County. Randy had taken the kids there when they went camping at Kanopolis on one of their father-child adventures. What does it say that the kids don't remember their visit to the 5-acre park?