Hutchinson/Lawrence, Kansas (State #33)-Clinton State Park

APRIL 10-17, 2016

(Disclaimer:  I don't know why the font is so crazy in this one but after trying to figure it out I decided to just let it go and move on!)

I must admit that I never cared whether or not we went to Kansas. Not sure why really but probably because everyone has said there is not much there. So I am happy to report that we found plenty to do and saw some very nice areas.

Our first stop in Kansas was the Strataca Salt Mine in Hutchinson. This mine produces salt primarily for de-icing roads (Morton Salt is in the same area but they mine salt differently).

We have been on one mine tour before and this was sooo much better (although we did like the other one too). We went down 600 ft in a DARK elevator to the mine museum. There we did some self-guided learning by reading displays, checking out old equipment and watching videos. 

Then we took a tram tour and a train tour. It was very interesting and informative!

We stayed overnight at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. For $20 we had 50 amp electrical with sewer hookups! Of course we had to check out the Kansas Barbecue at Hog Wild. The brisket was great but I didn't love the sausage.

The next morning, we went to the Cosmosphere (free with museum membership). According to wikipedia, it “houses the largest combined collection of US and Russian spaceflight artifacts in the world.” We learned a lot about the V1 and V2 buzz bombs from Hitler's time, the space race between the soviets and the US and saw many other interesting items.

They have a SR-71 blackbird suspended from the ceiling in their lobby and it is low enough to touch!!

This rocket-sled was pretty interesting. The US used It to test G-forces. In 1957, a chimpanzee was tested at 1326 mph!  And yes, he survived.

We even got to touch portions of the orginal German wall.

The museum was nice but I will say that the kids did not enjoy it much. It wasn't quite interactive enough for them. The good news though is that it appears from their website that there are plans in place to update it for that.

We then drove to Manhattan, Kansas through the pretty hills to the Flint Hills Discovery Center (also free with our museum pass). We watched a video on the Flint Hills Ecosystem then checked out their great interactive exhibits. In addition to learning about the Flint Hills, the kids tried their hand at Auctioneering and designing cattle brands.

Their favorite part however, was a traveling exhibit about how things are made. We did wax molding, made spoons by injection molding,

ran pennies through a rolling mill,

assembled a car

and learned about vacuum forming.

They also had rolling videos on coin making and wagon making. VERY cool!!

After Manhattan, we headed to Lawrence, KS where we would set up camp at Clinton State Park for the rest of the week.

In Bonner Springs, the kids and I visited the Moon Marble Company. We watched a live demonstration on marble making. It was pretty amazing how just dots of glass added to the outside could become swirls and beautiful designs on the inside.

These were so pretty!

In Lawrence, we visited the Reuter Organ Company for a tour. Next year, this company will celebrate its 100th anniversary! Our tour guide was great and showed us so much of the factory. We learned how they make their own metal, shape their pipes, design their organs and do all of the woodworking. We also learned a little more about the shapes and components of the pipes needed to create their sounds. 

We also go to go into the “voicing” room where they test all of the sounds out. I had no idea there are over 2000 pipes in a pipe organ (since each instrument needs 61 pipes)!  The one negative about this tour though was that much of it was just an explanation of what they rather than seeing them actually do it.

Next, we made the short drive to Topeka to visit the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. It is located in Monroe Elementary School where Linda Brown attended school. We viewed many of the videos and displays, completed the Junior Ranger Booklet for our badge then played a little while in the recreated Kindergarten room.

On the weekend, we drove to Kansas City. We checked out a few areas of town and then we had to eat at the famous Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que. We had the Z-man which Zagat rated as the best sandwich in Kansas in it's 50 states, 50 sandwiches list.

Greg loved it. Jacob and I preferred the sandwich at Hog Wild, although this one was pretty good.

From there, we took a tour at Boulevard Brewery. It was a free tour as long as you got there at 10 am to grab some tickets. The tour guide was great, informative and humorous. At the end, you get tokens for 4 small beers to try them out. I do not like beer so I thought they were beyond GROSS but Greg said they were pretty good. His favorite was the unfiltered wheat.

We also found a cute little hamburger place called Fritz where your food is delivered by a train.  The kids loved it!  The train travels on a track overhead with your bin of food.  When it reaches your table a bar extends to knock the bin on a tray which is then lowered to your table.

My post would not be complete without reviewing the campground (Clinton State Park). It's April, so not really in season for Kansas yet but I suspect it's a pretty fun place during the summer. The whole park is quite large with over 400 RV sites. Our site was right by a great little playground. It's on the lake but its' view was mostly obstructed by trees. 

We were surprised at the number of Annual residents throughout the park, which we haven't typically seen in state parks. There were no full hook-up sites so we were off to the shower houses which seemed to be few for the number of sites. It was fine though and had plenty of hot water.

From here, we are heading to Nebraska.