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| Greg high fiving Harry |
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| Oval Office in Truman days |
We then visited the Vaile Mansion, which was pretty cool. The Vailes were a wealthy family that lived in the area and donated their mansion to the City. Most rooms were decorated Victorian style and the murals on the ceilings were gorgeous.
Our next stop on the same day was in Kansas City Missouri - the Hallmark Visitor Center. Hallmark has been a major employer here for a long time and they have a great visitor center showing the history of the card company, displays of their ornaments, and lots of other things. You got to make a bow to take with you and they gave us one of those books where you record your voice - pretty cool.
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| I am SOOOOO happy to be visiting Hallmark! |
On our next day, we drove to Wamego Kansas where we went to the Oz Museum. They have the largest collection of Wizard of Oz memorabilia. Really cool museum with great displays. Small theatre where you could watch the movie. Great stop.
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| The Wizard is in session |
We stopped at the Oz winery and sampled their wines, hoping they would be something we would like because the labeling was awesome. Turns out they spent all their money on packaging and none on making good wine. So no wine purchases there - ugh. Taco Toto's for lunch - love the theme in this town. Our next stop was in Alma Kansas, which is famous for their cheese - more specifically curd cheese. We never had it before, but it is great. Lastly, another winery which is known for elderberry wine. Not our normal kind of wine, but we actually liked it so bought a few bottles to bring home for Kansas night on the deck.
Fourth of July weekend was packed full of events. On Saturday we went to the little town of Holton for their July Jubilee. Bluegrass and rock bands, a water ski show, and a hilarious group of "actors" doing western theme skits. Typical food vendors and rides for the kids, and it was all in a great park setting overlooking a reservoir. Later that day we went to Heartland Park which is a auto racing park. We never watch Nascar, but we had a lot of fun here. Between people watching and making bets between eachother on the races, it was great. We were seated right on the turn and it was cool watching them make the bend on 2 wheels.
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| These skits were a hoot |
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| View of stage and reservoir |
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| Car races |
Sunday was spent in Kansas City, Missouri at their Riverfest. Huge festival along the Missouri River with 2 stages with a variety of music, arts and crafts, food booths, etc. Really nice. Made a stop at a casino beforehand, but had no luck.
4th of July was in Topeka at their Spirit of Kansas Blues & Crafts Festival held on Lake Shawnee. Beautiful lake and park setting with typical fair type things such as a car show, rides, food and crafts, but the blues were spectacular. Had a nice stage and each group played for 1 1/2 hours. Really awesome music. After 6 hours we had enough so didn't stick around for country music, water ski show or fireworks.
We are really liking Kansas and could put this on a list of states to live, if it weren't for the tornadoes. We met some really nice people at many of the festivals, and the terrain is really pretty.
Surprise call that we have water line problems at the house, and we feel a need to go home. Disappointed and happy at the same time. It's been a great 11 weeks and there are a few places we have yet to visit that we really wanted to see, but we'll catch them on the next trip.
