2009 - Kansas Journey Highlights

Yes, it's been a long time since my previous post - September 24th in fact. After a profusion of entries mid-year, I ran out of gas. Maybe I should just say I took a sabbatical. Before catching up on some of my Kansas travel posts, I'll take a brief look back at some 2009 highlights.  

~~~Unique opportunity: Some friends asked me to lead them on a tour of some of the interesting off-the-interstate places they had seen in my photos and heard me talk about.  The resulting two-day Kansas trip introduced them to the art and culture of Lindsborg (Little Sweden), Mushroom Rock State Park (shown in photo above), Wilson (Czech Capital of Kansas), the grassroots arts of Lucas, and the Post Rock Scenic Byway. It was a great time of discovery and fellowship. We look forward to a similar trip this spring, setting our sights on the central region of the Flint Hills.

~~~Speaking of the Flint Hills: I was able to enjoy more of the Flint Hills this year than ever before, from the northern reaches in Marshall County to the Chautauqua Hills region near the Oklahoma border. It would be difficult to list one site or one drive in the region above the others.

Since childhood, I've had a special affinity for the hills of Chautauqua, Elk, and eastern Cowley Counties, where my dad grew up, and where our family would camp and fish along the Caney River and Otter Creek. It was good to nostalgically view the site of some of those memorable outings along Otter Creek (right).

 

Another highlight was a day spent on the Native Stone Scenic Byway and in its vicinity. In addition to the stone fences, the area is dotted with limestone barns, farmhouses, churches and schools, and punctuated with an abundance of native wildflowers. (right)

~~~Wildflowers: Generous rains created a showing  of wildflowers throughout the state that even the oldest of old-timers found incomparable. Nowhere were they more spectacular and memorable than in the Flint Hills.  Seen here is a an autumn view of the flora surrounding Teter's Rock, one of the state's more remote and least known treasures. It is east of Cassody, reachable via gravel road and pasture path. The spectacular vista from this high point on the prairie makes this site worth a visit, even if there were no rock monument.




 ~~~Festival Highlights: I'll make special note of two first-timers (for me) and a perennial favorite.

I have blogged on Salina's Smoky Hill River previously at ftkansasjourney.blogspot.com/2009/06/smoky-hill-river-fes... Briefly for this posting, I will report that Nancy and I had heard mention of the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, but hadn't made any effort to check it out. It was her suggestion we do that this past June. I'm certain we will return in the future. It's a great festival in a picturesque venue, and extremely well attended. There are activities for folks of all ages, a wide variety of top-drawer musical groups performing, and any kind of festival food you would ever have a craving for - from funnel cakes to bierocks to Indian tacos to ice cream made on the premises.  My personal highlight - the fine arts area. I was impressed at the quality of art work on display and for sale.

I have also reported here on Yoder Heritage Day: ftkansasjourney.blogspot.com/2009/08/heritage-day-yoder-k.... There is so much to see and do at this event - a parade, contests, an auction including fine Amish craft work, and delicious, wholesome food, but my favorite had to be the buggy races!    

I would guess that Winfield's Walnut Valley Festival is the state's largest and best-known festival aside from the state fair. Whether that be the case or not, it's one we eagerly anticipate attending annually, and book our lodging years in advance. In truth, it is one of my travel highlights every year. I've only become a fan of bluegrass, roots music, Americana, Celtic in the last decade or so, but to a large degree that has been a result of exposure to those genre at Winfield.

So what makes this festival such a big draw? The music? Of course that is a big part of it - the musical offerings at Walnut Valley Festival are a unique combination of outstanding performers representing a variety of acoustic styles. The camping experience (with all-night jam sessions)? Certainly. The attendees? Definitely. For one week you can be a member of a society with no distinctions of economic class, age, or race.

Most of all, it is an annual homecoming, a reunion for musicians and attendees alike, a gathering of old friends, a place where there are no strangers, just friends you haven't met yet.  Or, in the parlance of the 60s and 70s, it is a HAPPENING!


~~~Kansas People: The temptation here is to start naming names. Not a good idea; as with award winners on Oscars night, my list is too long, and I would come up short. Some are fellow photographers, some fellow bloggers, some Facebook friends.  I've met lots of great folks through Kansas Explorers Club/Kansas Sampler Foundation, at Kansas 150 meetings, with the Great Plains Nature Photographers, at cafes and filling stations. Gosh - I can't even bring to mind all the places, let alone the names. I'll just sum it up by saying they are some of the kindest and most interesting folks I've ever met!


~~~Lowlights? Not many; after all, the worst day of travel is better than the best 9 to 5 caged up in an office cubicle. Regrets? A few - I didn't make it everywhere I wanted to go, but hey, I'm still young!

~~~Looking Ahead: My bucket list seems to get longer by the year, not shorter. In 2010, I'm hoping to do a better job of getting off the blacktops and onto the gravel and dirt, and to do more nature and landscape photography on some of the state's hiking trails, notably at Kanopolis and Elk City Lake State Parks, and to spend some quality time in the Red/Gyp Hills. I'm almost embarrassed to confess that I have not yet been to a Kansas Sampler Festival, but promise to remedy that shortcoming this spring. (See link below).

Finally, Nancy and I are planning a long excursion to far, far, far eastern Kansas, where the towns have names like Milano, Siena, Firenza, Venezia, Asisi, etc. I guess I'll have to start a different blog for that.

Links of Interest:

Kansas Sampler Festival: www.kansassampler.org/festival
Walnut Valley Festival: www.wvfest.com
Smoky Hill River Festival: www.riverfestival.com/salina/
Kansas Scenic Byways: www.ksbyways.org
Yoder Heritage Day: http://www.yoderkansas.com/heritage_day_2008.htm

I'm Goin' for a Little Drive, Nancy...

Time for a road trip. It's been awhile, and I'm itching to go somewhere. I've been experimenting with new photo gear around the house, and I want to use it for real. "Nancy, I'm going for a little drive." I don't know where for sure, and forgetting my Guide for Kansas Explorers, my DeLorme atlas, a cooler and some bottled water, I get in the car and head out.

Photo-wise, it wasn't the greatest day ever. I got some good photos (a few very good in my opinion), but missed a lot more. Those photo ops were seen too late, and finding myself in no position to pull off the road or turn around, I reluctantly moved on down the road, assuming I would get back there or encounter a suitable substitute. It seems there's always a local in a hurry behind me, no shoulder to pull off on, and the rare pull-off obscured by weeds until I'm well beyond them. Even when I'm on obscure gravel roads that seems to happen to me. Sorry folks, I'm a back roads traveler, and I drive slowly so as to see as much as possible.

Basehor ~ My first stop is the Holy-Field Vineyards and Winery. There's nobody here yet, so I walked out into the vineyard a short distance, just enough to get a feeling of being completely surrounded by the vines. The warm early morning light reflecting on the ripening green grapes was a photogs' dream. What a view! This is a large operation that produces a number of varieties of wines, which requires a large vineyard. I was surprised and impressed at the size of the fields. (Reminder to self - the grape harvest might make for a nice photo shoot, if not here then one of the growing number of Kansas vineyards.)


Heading north out of Tongy (that's Tonganoxie for those unfamiliar with regional jargon) I noticed the Leavenworth County Fair in progress and was sorely tempted to spend a day there, as I did last summer. But, I had just recently done that at the Johnson County fair and wanted to shoot something different (even though the event at Tongy definitely has a more authentic "rural feel" to it).

En route to McLouth, an abandoned old Chevy pickup caught my eye. I don't know if it had been moved here for the purpose, or if it had graced the roadside for years, the old rust bucket has been turned into a directional sign for a nursery or garden center. Recycling comes in many guises, I guess.


McLouth has a unique feature - one I've visited and photographed before, but as the old saying goes, "when in McLouth..." I headed directly for Granite Street and the boulder embedded in the middle of the road. Too big and expensive for road crews to move decades ago, the big chunk of granite was simply left untouched for drivers to navigate around. Now days, travelers stop in town for the purpose of seeing that rock, so why should the city remove the town's most unique physical feature? There are no warning signs along the street, by the way. Wonder if anybody ever runs into that thing...


One more thought about the boulder - I haven't researched this, but I don't normally associate granite with Kansas. As the day went by I saw a couple more granite boulders laying about in fields. I am guessing that these were carried into the northeast corner of the state by the glaciers of long ago. Any geologists out there to confirm or debunk my supposition?

Most small towns in the state have one classic older building that has been given the a colorful, Victorian(?) paint job. I love it when these buildings are renovated in this manner. Whether or not the paint colors are authentically Victorian, they are, in my eyes, a thousand times more pleasing than the faux moderne facades thrown up in the 50s, 60s and 70s.


Oskaloosa If Tonganoxie goes by "Tongy," does Oskaloosa go by "Osky?" I don't know, just asking.

The business district centers on the town square built around the Jefferson County courthouse, a mid-20th century square building - no frills, no ornamentation. It's not nearly as hideous as a lot of government buildings from the era, but it's not exactly photogenic, either. Far more pleasing to the eye is an 1880s business building across the street to the south; in fact the entire block was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The former bank building on the corner is shown below:

On the east side of the square was an old-fashioned hardware store in the midst of a retirement sale. They are closing down. Might there be any bargains I could not live without? No, but as I approached the store, I encountered a local couple and we immediately were engaged in conversation as if we had known each other for years. That lasted into the store and included the owners of the store and their family.


Too bad it wasn't time for lunch - I've got a hunch this hand-made sign might lead to an interesting place to eat, probably good food, too.

Parker's Drug, located on the other end of the historical block from the bank building, offers another big draw - a soda fountain. You think Sonic makes a good cherry limeade? Not compared to this lady! Here, too, I was drawn into a lengthy and interesting conversation. I am convinced one will not meet a stranger in Oskaloosa, just new best friends.

Lately I have been particularly aware of roadside wildflowers, so abundant this year due to the frequent rains. Different varieties were in evidence this trip, probably part of the natural annual succession of flowering plants. Seen most were bachelor buttons, compass plants, and the showy partridge pea, shown below.

Winchester ~ I don't believe I have ever been in this little town before. First thing I see is this classic white, clapboard church, like something in a Grant Woods or Normal Rockwell illustration. Congrats to the congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church for maintaining it so beautifully. If I had not been in too big a hurry earlier in the morning to pick my Explorer's Guide, I would have known that the grave site of John Steuart Curry, famed muralist (think John Brown in the state capitol building), was in the cemetery behind this church. Repeat after me: "Haste makes waste."

Greater downtown Winchester; can you say quaint, boys and girls?

Easton Once again, the first thing I notice upon pulling into town is an interesting church building, this an old stone structure. At least it looks old, and I could find no information about it. A new, vinyl-sided entryway has been added, and although I'm sure it is very practical, it detracts from the period charm. Maybe I watch too much Antiques Roadshow on PBS.

Easton's main drag is a dead give-away that this Leavenworth County community is not doing well. Sorry folks. Just stating the obvious. Scenes like the two below don't necessarily reflect well on the town, but speaking as a photographer, they make for interesting and evocative shots.



All this before lunch ~

Lunch you say? I had expected to find a place to eat in Easton, but the one eatery, a smoky bar, didn't appeal to me. Lunch finally happened in Leavenworth at the Pullman Place, downtown at 230 Cherokee. I highly recommend this family restaurant with a railroad theme. I enjoyed one of the best patty melts ever, with Swiss and cheddar cheeses, plus a slice of tomato.