So everyone has asked me why I was going to Kansas for a MONTH and why Wichita? My response was its a days drive East and why not? People warned me it would be boring, theres nothing here to do, its flat, the people are awful, theres no hiking and theres nothing but fields of farmland. Well, it is very flat so theres no hiking with elevation but everything else has just not been true. (I think Ive gotten lucky on the people front though). Its absolutely gorgeous in some places and its a big enough city to have plenty to do!
Sunday: Went to West County Lake- about 35 minutes from town and hiked around the lake. Kansas may be pretty but according to All trails there was 18 feet of elevation gain in the 2.5 miles lol. It was a pretty lake with a sketchy looking bridge and some good fall color foliage.
Monday: Went to Chapin park - theres a large hill at this park It actually used to be a land fill that theyve turned into a dog park
and model airplane area (complete with runway). Today was a federal holiday but there werent any other dogs at the dog park in the late morning :(. Still had a nice walk! Then in the evening I went and checked out Wichita which had a delicious pale ale and a fajita salad that came with wasabi dressing- an shockingly amazing combo!
Tuesday: Went to a board game meetup at a place called milkfloat. Basically an esspresso/ice cream/root beer place with spacious tables.
Wednesday: Couldnt be much further away from the ocean... but had sushi! Also went to Keeper of the Plains which is a native american statue where the 2 rivers converge in town. Every night at 9pm they light 5 rocks on fire for 15 minutes and it is spectacular.
Friday: After work Carolyn and I checked out the classic Wichita fast food joint Spangles. Good burger and really good fries. What they are really known for is their 32 oz $3.99 margaritas where an extra shot is $0.99. During covid the republicans in this state pushed to allow alcoholic beverages to be allowed to be sold take out. Now
that law has permanent. So whats really unique at Spangles is that you can get margaritas in the drive thru!!! All they do is put your foam cup in a Tamper evident plastic bag and they hand you alcohol with a straw while you are in the driver seat of the car! We brought our drive thru margaritas back to keeper of the plains and Carolyn also experienced the really cool flames.
Saturday: We checked out a classic store in Wichita called Nifty Nut House. Every candy and nut and snack you can imagine sold in bulk and at reasonable prices. I now have a bag of jelly beans Im playing guess the flavor with. Then it was time for some science at the exploration center. Good exhibits on airplanes (this is the air capital of the world) and on kansas. They even had a tornado simulator that got up to 78 mph (which is a 0 on the tornado scale lol). Saturday night we went and saw the closing show of the midwest burlesque show which was spectacular.
