Kansas, as big as you think! This state has everything. We have beaches. We have mountains. We have canyons. We have deserts. We have prairies. We have rolling hills. We have all four seasons.
If you’ve never see the “real” aforementioned sites, then these comparable spots in Kansas will suffice. Which brings a story to mind of my son.
My uncle had taken his Kansas City family with spouses and grandchildren to Florida’s Disney World. Being the photographer that he was, Uncle Chuck showed slide after slide of their adventure. One picture of a family favorite was the Dumbo “octopus” type ride. Out of the mouths of babes came the comment from my young son of “we rode that”! We failed to mention to my uncle’s family that it was a similar ride at the Days of ’49 in Hanover, KANSAS on a much smaller carnival type scale. Beauty and greatness is in the eyes of the beholder.
Kansas has the beaches of Milford and Tuttle Creek lakes, Mount Sunflower near Coffeyville, canyons just north of St. Francis called the Arikaree Breaks, the desert/sand dunes of Syracuse, the Tallgrass Prairie north of Strong City, the Flint Hills in Eastern Kansas running from the Nebraska border North to Oklahoma South, and all four seasons. Will Rogers, Oklahoma born actor, cowboy, newspaper columnist once said, “If you don’t like the weather here, wait a minute and it’ll change.” Kansas has it all.
Kansas will be celebrating its 156th birthday as a state on January 29. The library has many books on our state available, fictional or not, and written by Kansas authors on the glass display case. Come and literally, check them out.
What about The Wizard of Oz? It’s a Kansas based favorite. Maybe a Saturday morning the 28th library matinee for all ages. I’m thinking out loud here. No, it won’t be in a real theater, but the Day’s of ’49 is not Disney World either!
Some have questioned if Dorothy was a good actress. Yes, she was. She brought the house down!
Happy Kansas Day Reading!