We left Denver at about 10:30am. We took Sam's mom to the airport first. And we drove past the stadium of the Denver Broncos and saw a bucking blue bronco statue with red eyes by the airport!
Driving through Kansas...so glad to officially see GREEN again! It was nice to be out of desert and mountain areas. A LOT of fields, A LOT of hay...nothing too interesting to see. We booked a place to stay in Russell, Kansas...and found out it was the birthplace of Senator Bob Dole!!! For dinner, we found a local place called Waudby's Bar & Grill...had famous home-made chips and cheese sauce (which was GREAT!). We also had a couple strawberry margaritas, I had a bacon cheeseburger (one of the best I've had) and Sam had a Santa Fe chicken sandwich which she really liked. I RECOMMEND EATING LOCAL AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN! I've never been disappointed.
Today we left about 11am. Itinerary for the day: Garden of Eden in Lucas Kansas, largest ball of sisal twine in Cawker City, Kansas and the geographic center of the 48 states of the continental U.S. in Lebanon, Kansas. (After passing the town of Waldo! "WE FOUND WALDO!")
Here's some links:
Geographic Center: http://www.kansastravel.org/geographicalcenter.htm
Largest Sisal Twine Ball: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8543
Garden of Eden: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2103
The largest ball of sisal twine was pretty neat. They also have a painted twine trail on the sidewalk and if you walk their historic Wisconsin Street, all the local buildings have interpreted classic paintings in their windows...with the addition of a ball of twine in each one! (By the way, you can buy twine and add to the ball!)
The geographic center of the U.S also has a tiny chapel at it! How bizarre would it be to get married there!?
My favorite place had to be the Garden of Eden. Not only was it magnificent to look at but the stories and the history of it is JUST AMAZING. It was built by Samuel Dinsmoor, as both home and tourist attraction. His home is made of limestone but in a log-cabin style rather than brick. He also has a TON of amazing limestone sculptures, of religious and political importance and interpretation. Adam and Eve greet you at the gate before you enter a trellis walkway. There's also sculptures of the devil, an all-seeing eye, angels, Cain & Abel, the Labor crucified, and sculptures reflecting his views of monopolies and also how he believed everyone had a right to vote (at a time when women and African-Americans were not allowed).
He was a very inventive, creative and eccentric person. His strawberry garden was on a pyramid of limestone because he didn't like to bend down to pick them. He handmade all the sculptures and lots of features of the house. All the doorways in the house are different sizes whether it be length or height and he did that purposely to have everyone tour the whole house. In the corner of his garden, he erected a pyramid mausoleum for him and his wife to be buried when they died. (By the way, did I mention that Mr. Dinsmoor is only 5'2" and married his wife on horseback before "stunts" like that were acceptable?) The county would not allow him to bury his wife in the erected mausoleum when she died so she was buried in the cemetery...he went there, dug her up, and buried her in the mausoleum and covered her casket in concrete so she couldn't be taken away again. (By, the way he is also now buried there in a concrete casket...with practically hermetically sealed glass so that you can actually view his remains...this our tour guide said was because "He still wanted to be able to make money after he died.") OH, and sometime after his 1st wife died he married again at the age of 83...to a 20 year old and had a couple kids!
There are so many more stories and quirks about this guy and this place, and I LOVED every bit of it! If you ever go through Kansas, go to the Garden of Eden and DEFINITELY pay for the tour (all monies go to the preservation of the house and sculptures). It's TOTALLY worth it.
Anyway, after an eventful day, we tried to eat local in Red Cloud, Nebraska. But APPARENTLY they close between 2 and 5 (lunch ends at 2 and dinner doesn't start until 5). We tried 2 different places and they both were like that! So we ended up eating at Subway...these towns are so small!! Brick roads, local places close between lunch and dinner...and if they have a movie theater they only play one movie and ONLY on the weekends! I thought Watertown or Johnson Creek were small...these towns give a WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE! Finally made it to the Super 8 in Norfolk, Nebraska. Pizza & cable TV for the night. Tomorrow: Iowa.
Love always & forever,
Stephanie
SotD's: Be As You Are by Kenny Chesney
I Like the Way by Darren Hayes
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