You Must See These Kansas Attractions

One of the things I want to do before I die is to travel more. I want to see New York City, Australia, Paris, Ireland and Scotland, just to mention a few of the places. But I figure that before I do that, I should really check out all that the wonderful state of Kansas has to offer. So one day soon, I will plan my trip around Kansas to visit some of the must see Kansas Attractions!

The largest ball of twine created by a community is in Cawker City, Kansas. It was started by Frank Stoeber after he heard of a similar ball of twine in Darwin, Minnesota. Frank wanted to beat the world record. By the time he died in 1974, his ball of twine was 11 feet in diameter – a foot short of the record-holding ball of twine in Darwin. After his death, the community of Cawker City continued to add to the ball of twine and as of 2006, the ball was a record-breaking 40 feet in circumference.

I have always wanted to see this – and I’ll get there soon!

I have been to Greensburg a few times. I’ve been through it a few more times. But still I have never seen the Deepest Hand Dug Well that has made the small town famous. The first time I went through Greensburg was just days after an EF 5 tornado destroyed the town completely on May 4, 2007. My husband and I were on our way to a funeral and had to drive through the town to get to where we were going. It was unbelievable to say the least. There was almost nothing left of the town. Of course, the Well was still there, but the museum that was around it was destroyed. We never even thought about stopping at the Well that day. The next few times I saw Greensburg I saw the town slowly rebuilding, but there were more important things than getting the Well ready for visitors again.

Greensburg decided to rebuild as a “green” town – the city officials wanted everything that was rebuilt to be as green as could be. Many of the buildings and homes were rebuilt using renewable resources and powered by renewable energy sources. There was even a television show that highlighted all they were doing. But still, the Well was not an immediate thought.

A couple of years later, I went back to Greensburg with the specific intention of going to the Well. The television series was over, and the rebuilding was continuing. There was a gift shop now with items depicting the Well, as well as the tornado that had destroyed the town. The gift shop was built over the Well…but the well was not open…

One of these days, I will get to see the World’s Deepest Hand Dug Well.

My nephew works for the city of Wichita. He followed in his dad’s footsteps – who followed in his own father’s footsteps. He loves big machinery –he loves the front-loaders, the dump trucks, the backhoes and excavators. Anything big like that has fascinated him since he was a little boy. And now it is a part of his job to drive some of this heavy equipment – he is definitely in Heaven!

On one of his trips across Kansas, he decided to visit Big Brutus with his family. Big Brutus has been around for quite awhile and just the kind of thing that my nephew can really get into. Big Brutus is the biggest electric shovel in the world, standing over 16 stories high – that’s more than 160 feet high! Its dipper can hold enough to fill three railroad cars. It is said that if you drive through southeast Kansas, you can see the shovels for miles before you get close to it. It is a tribute to the mineral miners of southeast Kansas. In July of 1985 Big Brutus was designated a museum honoring all things mining.

Almost everyone knows at least one thing about Kansas – it was where Dorothy and Toto lived before a tornado whisked them to the wonderful world of Oz. I don’t know how many times I have been asked about Dorothy and Toto when I tell people I am from Kansas!! I don’t know if it drives me crazy – or if it makes me proud! I guess it’s a little of both.

Liberal, Kansas has decided to be proud of the heritage. In Liberal you can see Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz. In 1981, a farmhouse that resembled the farmhouse from the movie was moved into town and turned into Dorothy’s House. Beside it was built a steel building that houses the Land of Oz. Both attractions house items that look like they come from the movie and that would have been a part of a Kansas farmhouse from that era. Hand cranked cream separators and chamber pots are a part of the decorations – as well as yellow foam bricks, flying monkeys and ruby slippers. You are lead on tours of this by local girls dressed as Dorothy.

The Garden of Eden was designed by Samuel Perry Dinsmoor in 1904. He worked on it for years, until 1927. He designed it so that it could be both a home and a way to provide him and his family an income after he retired from farming. The house itself is made from limestone mined from the area. There are no two windows in the home that are the same size. On the outside of the home are numerous statues and structures that represent animals, people and other items from the imagination of Mr. Dinsmoor. This is just a strange, but wonderful place everyone should see at least once. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

In the middle of Kansas, straight out of the cretaceous period, is Mushroom Rock State Park. As a state park, it is relatively small – only about five square acres. The rocks that give the park its name were used as landmarks for many who traveled through Kansas onto bigger and better places. Native Americans and white settlers both used these as landmarks.

If you like Mushroom Rock State Park, your next stop should be Rock City, near Minneapolis, Kansas. Here the rocks are more rounded and less like mushrooms, but there are many more of them. Unlike other places, you are highly encouraged to walk and climb over the rocks while you take pictures of the unique formations.

As I was growing up, I loved reading all of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I really felt close to her – she and I were very much alike – just separated by about a hundred years. Her family moved a lot through the prairie always looking for a better place and a new adventure. My family did the same. She was a middle daughter of three daughters – at least in the early books – and so was I. She was sometimes jealous of her smart, beautiful older sister, and her cute, adorable, little sister. And of course, so was I.

In Caney, Kansas is the original Little House on the Prairie. This is the home the Ingalls’ lived in that Laura wrote about in this book. At this site there is the cabin, a school, a post office and some other exhibits that portray life on the prairie in the 1800’s.