One of the teachers at my workshop said that Wichita is a great place to live, but not so hot to visit. I can believe it. The opportunities might not be as plentiful (or typical) as a larger city, but I still managed to find some unique places to visit. When I arrived on Friday, I had dinner at Old Chicago Pizza Company in a restored area called
Old Town.There were several spritzing fountains in the concrete plaza in between all the restaurants. If the weather had been warmer, I think the plaza would have been filled with kids in swim suits; but the recent dip into fall weather had everyone donning jeans and sweatshirts. (BTW, the pizza was good, but definitely NOT as good as real Chicago pizza).
I had a day free on Sunday, so the next stop was the
Keeper of the Plains hike/bike trail along the Arkansas River. Not much water in the river - more of a mud hole, but the statue and surrounding walkways were nicely landscaped. Supposedly at night, they light a ring of fire around the statue.
I tried getting into the Cow Town museum, but it was closed in preparation for some future event. After consulting several travel brochures, I decided to head to the
Cosmosphere in Hutchison. This is a planetarium and museum that focuses on space exploration. I took this picture of a full-scale model of the Mars
Sojourner rover. I got to watch several rocketry experiments in the Dr Goddard lab; my favorite was when they blew up a giant head-sized cotton ball soaked in liquid oxygen - very loud and lots of flames.
The Kansas State Fair happened to be going on in Hutchison, but I skipped it in favor of having dinner at
Hog Wild Barbeque. I had a huge platter of pulled pork, curly fries, and coleslaw - delicious.
