Kansas Visitor's Guide 2007/2008 - (Page 53) (Clockwise, from top left) Real cowboy spurs at a Paxico antiques shop. Kayaking among the limestone towers in Wilson Lake. Unintentional horseshoe art in a barbed-wire fence. The Grassroots Art Gallery in Lucas. Famous fried chicken at the Brookville Hotel. Oz artifacts in Wamego. The exterior sign at Flying Pig Studio art shop in Lucas. A spray of Konza Prairie grasses. by L. Frank Baum with a huge collection. More great stops: downtown shops, City Park’s 1879 Dutch windmill, the renovated 1900s opera house, Columbian Theatre, Museum and Art Center. Explore the Prairie Manhattan, Exit 313 From I-70 eight miles north to Manhattan, K-177 parallels Kansas State University’s Konza Prairie. A lookout provides expansive views of the 8,600-acre tallgrass prairie. You can hike three trails through the rolling natural grasslands. Visit downtown and nearby Aggieville, a campus haunt of cafes and shops. Buffalo Soldiers and More Junction City, Exits 295–299 Visit the Buffalo Soldier Memorial dedicated to the 9th and 10th Cavalries. Fort Riley’s U.S. Cavalry Museum display honors the black cavalrymen who rode from this famous post to protect the frontier. Guided tours at Custer House show early living conditions at the fort. Ike and Wild Bill Abilene, Exits 272 and 275 The first weekend in August, you can take in some Western-style action at this onetime cowtown’s big annual Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo and Western Heritage Festival. Come anytime to visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library & Museum, including his boyhood home. The legendary Brookville Hotel serves fried chicken and fixin’s family-style. Lions and Tigers and Lattes Salina, Exits 244–252 At 65-acre Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, visitors board covered trams to see more than 300 animals, including rhinos, giant anteaters, giraffes and tigers. Take Exit 252 to downtown Salina for shopping, mini burgers at the Cozy Inn and a latte at Capers Cafe and Bakery. Danish Heritage Lincoln, Exit 221 A courthouse grand as a castle rises above this town’s half-dozen streets. Stop in Village Lines, a combination visitors center, tea room and crafts shop, for a piece of pie and information. The center also can arrange a tour of nearby 128-yearold Denmark Evangelical Lutheran Community Church. Cowboy Duds Ellsworth, Exit 219 (from the east, Exit 225) Once one of the state’s rowdiest cowtowns, Ellsworth still hasn’t been entirely citified. You can shop for western wear and gear at Drovers Mercantile. Czech This Out Wilson, Exit 206 Settled by Czech railroad workers, Wilson calls itself the state’s “Czech w w w. T r a v e l K S . c o m 53 http://www.TravelKS.com
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