Both meals were good. though I prefer the onion rings to the fries. The pork tenderloin was enormous and served on a very good bun. The tenderloin was much thicker than many and its size may not be obvious in the picture because of the thickness and the large size of the bun.

Since we were nearby, we revisited the Eudora Community Museum. We hadn't been there since shortly after it relocated to this historic downtown building from the former school where it was located from 2011-1015. They have added exhibits on the second floor since before.

Executive Director Ben Terwilliger has done a nice job with some of the displays on the main floor, but many of the displays are collections of artifacts with little or no explanations or content.

We followed up with ice cream next door at Main St. Scoops and Sweets. They don't make their own ice cream, it comes from Madison, Wisconsin and is as good as the homemade ice cream I've recently had at Kansas ice cream parlors. We had Mint Chip and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough. I absolutely loved the Peanut Butter. Both ice creams are even certified kosher.

The ice cream is manufactured by the 63 year old Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company. The junior cups of ice cream which we ordered were $3.99.

Mint Chip & Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

The smoked chicken drummies were fine, but the flat wing thirds had a truly wonderful flavor from the higher amount of skin.

Jeron & Nykita Slater opened the restaurant in 2021.

There are just two tables and two high counters, with a total of 12 seats. Dining in, the food is still served packaged to go.

While we were there, we learned that in September they are moving to a new, larger location on Parallel Parkway in September. When I asked if they would be adding French fries with the larger kitchen, Nykita said they had already added them, but were waiting until they moved to print a new menu.

Jeron & Nykita Slater

When you order at the counter, they ask your name, so they can bring the food to your table when it is ready. My cheeseburger and tatter tots took about 9 minutes to come out. All of their burgers are cooked medium well. There is a choice of American, cheddar, Swiss or pepper jack cheese. Grilled onions were available for 60 cents. None of the potato options are house prepared, so I went with the crispy tots.

Blazers has both Coke & Pepsi self serve fountain drinks. I wish more places offered this!

I was going to also visit the soda fountain at Gardner HealthMart Pharmacy, but even though their website is still active, the pharmacy is gone and the building has the two year old Transport Brewery. I did get photos of some of the interesting old buildings nearby and the Rotary International street clock.

The next stop was the 55 acre Evergy Wetlands, which is just a short distance away. Although Kansas City Power & Light became Evergy 6 years ago, the sign still says KCPL Wetland Park. The most unusual thing about the urban surrounded wetlands is a large wildlife viewing blind, though it is a bit far/ from the small pounds.

Driving west out of Gardner, I visited Mt. Pleasant Four Corners Burying Grounds. There are 17 remaining memorial stones. Although the cemetery was officially established in 1870, the stones are dated from 1858-1893. Over the following years, the 2 acre cemetery was pretty much abandoned and was badly overgrown, with just two of the stones still upright in 2018. Fortunately volunteers took on clearing, updating and restoration in 2020-2021. the location of graves are noted, stones have been set back up and some of the deteriorating stones have small adjacent plates with the info which could be identified from them.

The final stop of the day was at Heritage Park in Olathe, Kansas where a new statue, called "Fire Keepers Circle," was unveiled on July 19 near an existing monument which commemorates the nearby November 2, 1838 Oak Grove encampment of Potawatomi people on their forced removal from their home in Indiana to Linn County, Kansas. The 660 mile walk took 2 months and more than 40 died, mostly children.

The sculpture is inspired by the history of the Potawatomi people as keepers of the fire. It is designed as an active sculpture that provides a space to gather and is wrapped by a multi layered blanket. The artists were Leah Yellowbird and Aaron Squadroni.

The final destination of the Trail of Death is now St. Philippine Duchesne Historical & Memorial Park near Centerville, Kansas.

We added a new page devoted to Faithful Friends Pet Cemetery, in the country south of Solomon, Kansas.

Evergy Wetlands
 

Mt. Pleasant Four Corners Burying Grounds

Fire Keepers Circle

We sampled some of the fairly long list of specialty drinks and I enjoyed a Burbon Slushy. My personal favorites were the Grilled Spanish Octopus with olive oil poached potatoes, Malson salt & pimenton and the Croquetas (Serrano ham & Manchego cheese with quine dipping sauce).

I had planned several quick photo stops today and started about a mile away with a historical marker on Antioch in Merriam. The marker was erected in 2014 for a 1944 crash of a B-24 bomber on a training flight from Lincoln, Nebraska. The pilot, Lt. Kenneth Keech, was from Merriam and flew it low over the neighborhood. The plane's wing ripped the roof off the roof of the home across the street from 5515 Loomis Road, which was the home where his wife was living with her parents. It resulted in the death of three of the crew members, while the other three crew members and three or four residents were injured. Keech's arm had to be eventually amputated.

Four homes were damaged and one was destroyed. The neighborhood has since been replaced by Cinemark Merriam theater and a strip mall. The marker is right next to the entrance closest to the theater.

The crewmen who died were Lt. James B. Davis of Oklahoma City, OK; Cpl. Calvin H. Somers of Brownsville, PA; and Cpl. E. G. Vellone of Syracuse, NY.

The next stop was another historic marker, this one for the former Madam C. J. Walker School, which was built in about 1860 to house the black students of the South Park area until 1949. The building is now the Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church.

Driving on through Merriam, I photographed some public art, than went on to Antioch Park to photograph a temporary art installation called  "Between Earth and Sky" and another nearby temporary installation of 10 painted garden spheres made from Portland cement, recycled newspaper, water and sand by multiple artists.

B-24 bomber crash marker

The first stop was northeast of town, the Skewed Iron Truss Bridge on Santa Fe Lake Road, west of Towanda, Kansas. The road crosses the West Branch Whitewater River at a diagonal, and rather than make the bridge longer, the iron work is skewed at a diagonal, so it almost looks twisted. It is rather neat. All that I know about this particular bridge is that it was built in 1928.

Driving on to Karg Art Glass in Kechi, Kansas was a little roundabout because of road construction. I've been there before, but wanted to take some new photos to update its listing. Unfortunately there was no glass blowing being done today.

I also took photos of Kechi Playhouse across the street. It has been many years since I last saw a show there.

In Park City, there were short stops to take new photos of the "Chisholm Trail" by Frank Jensen in Chisholm Trail Park and a historic marker for the indian treaty of 1865. The park looks much different from when it was first photographed in 2010.

First lunch was at Tad's Carry Out on Hillside Street in Wichita. Tad saw me taking photos outside and came out to ask what they were for.

The restaurant has just a small area inside the front door for placing orders through a window. This is the third time I've had food from here and I went with a single cheeseburger, fries and a hot link sandwich. The hot link sandwich was really good. Soft drinks are limited to a few cans in a small cooler and there were no diet colas.

Next stop was Lutheran Cemetery, a few miles away in Bel Aire, Kansas. The small cemetery has 18 known graves and is no longer available for new burials. The source of its name is now known and most of the burials are Methodists. Only 5 of the headstones are still present and readable, though portions of other stones mark about half of the other grave sites.

Most of the food from Tad's had gone in the cooler and my second lunch was at Jumbo's Beef & Brew, back in Wichita. The Italian Beef sandwich was highly recommended and what I ordered, but the server brought a Spicy Italian Sausage sandwich instead. The caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and house marinara sauce on Turano Bread.

It was still a good sandwich and the hot giardiniera (pickled vegetables) I'd ordered added to the beef sandwich went well with this sandwich. Unfortunately with so many other restaurants to try in Wichita, its unlikely I will make it back to ever have the Italian Beef.

The next stop was a revisit of Piatt Park, which was the location of a KC-135 airplane crash into a residential neighborhood in northeast Wichita on January 16, 1965. 7 crewman and 23 people on the ground were killed in the largest non natural disaster in Kansas history. Piatt Park was built where a number of homes were destroyed. There is a monument to those who died that day.

The reason for returning was to check on another monument dedicating the park basketball great, Lynette Woodard, who grew up across the street from the park. It was badly defaced when I last visited the park and I was hoping to find that it had been restored. It has not.

After a brief stop to check on the progress of the Walt’s Klassics building across from Station 8 BBQ, I went on to Old Town. 

When parking on St. Francis Street, the new murals across the street. where there had been a barren  parking lot caught my eye. They were on the wallls and on shipping containers which have been moved onto the lot. Walking into the lot to take photos, it turned out that something similar continued across the alley at the back and then across another street.

Walking over to Douglas Avenue, I revisited Old Mill Tasty Shop. It is nice finding a soda fountain where you can still get table service. Today I had just a root beer Float. The ice cream did not stand out and there was just one small dip of ice cream in the glass, The service was prompt and good.

Before leaving the neighborhood I stopped at Nifty Nut Hut to get updated pictures and then parked next to Sedgwick County Memorial Hall and Soldiers and Sailors Monument. While there, I went over to First Presbyterian Church, which is the oldest congregation in Wichita and after ringing the bell I was admitted to take photos of the sanctuary and chapel. The nice woman who interrupted what she was doing to show me around, also turned on lights and shared some of the church history.

I also took exterior photos of the work being done to the dome of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Construction on the cathedral began in 1906 and it was dedicated September 19, 1912. The church is closed to all visitors during the week due to liability issues while work is being done on the domes. 

After photographing Epic Center (the tallest building in Kansas, at 325 feet) and the Chisholm Trail Marker, I traveled to the south side of Wichita to photograph the Starlite Drive-In, which first opened as the Rainbow Drive-In on October 1, 1953. The single screen theatre was demolished and rebuilt 1974, reopening as the Landmark Twin Drive-In. In 1998 it was renamed Starlite Drive-In and has a capacity of 1,300 total vehicles.

Working north along the Arkansas River, there were more stops for photos at John Mack Bridge and other spots along the river. John Mack Bridge is said to be the longest remaining March Arch Rainbow Bridges built by James Barney Marsh. There are 8 arches and it spans 800 feet.

After exploring Friends University and checking in at the Best Western Plus Wichita West Airport Inn, freshening up and checking on the status of my websites & Facebook pages, supper was at Prost. Newspaper articles had led me to believe that they had moved to a new location in Old Town, but that appears to be premature and they are still at Revolutsia, a retail shipping container development which opened on Wichita's east side about 7 years ago.

I ordered a Bratwurst Teller appetizer and Currywurst & Pommes entree. The appetizer is 2 bratwurst served with sauerkraut, bread, mustard & pickles. You select which brats and I went with two of their more popular ones Cheddar & Andouille. Both were very good as was the sauerkraut. The mustard was great and if I hadn't been taking most of the meal home, I would have wanted more.

The entree was grilled & sliced weisswurst smothered in house made curry sauce served with pommes & brötchen. The fries were the best today by far. The sauce did not click for me. I think I was anticipating mustard and curry, but this was more like curry and ketchup. The large bun which came with it was great.

I waited on dessert until I could go to Frost, a made from scratch dessert shop that opened in December of 2020 in the east Douglas location which housed Cero's Candies from 2013 until it closed in November, 2019. There is very little seating, but I manage to snake a stool after ordering and picking up a flight of three ice creams at the counter. It was a good value at $6 and I selected Dark Chocolate, Cookies & Cream and Peanut Butter. It was close, but Cookies & cream narrowly beat out Peanut Butter for my favorite.

While waiting for food at supper, I had check on our Kansas Travel Facebook page and had learned of a new sunflower field, Red Barn Acres, a third generation working farm in Peck, Kansas and the newest farm to open sunflower and zinnia fields to the public. There is a $5 charge for everyone older than 4.

The sunflowers are totally new for the farm, in addition to already growing wheat, corn and soybeans. There are two fields of sunflowers which were planted at different times, but the flowers didn't cooperate and are both in bloom now. Melissa Kelly is the farmer and host, and warmly greeted me and shared some of their history.

Before calling it a night, I added a new web page devoted to Red Barn Acres and added it to our Kansas Sunflower Fields Guide.
 
 

Skewed Iron Truss Bridge
 
 
 

"Chisholm Trail"
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lutheran Cemetery
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lynette Woodard Monument
 

St. Francis Street Murals
 
 
 
 

First Presbyterian Church
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

John Mack Bridge
 
 
 

 Prost
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Red Barn Acres

The restaurant is only open for breakfast & lunch features locally source dishes so I don't know if the same dishes are available at other locations. They were founded by Wichita entrepreneurs Lauren and Jon Rolph in 2017, but are now owned by the Thrive Restaurant Group. which also owns Applebee's, Carlos O'Kelly's and Qdoba.

I ordered the brown sugar cinnamon Pop'd Hearts and Gimme the Meats! They call the Pop'd Hearts (think Poptarts) a starter and I asked for them to be brought out first, but I had to ask for it again after my entree came out. That was OK, its really a desert and it was quite good, even the sprinkles!

Gimme the Meats! is described as bacon, ham, sausage, mushrooms, onion, red pepper & cheddar cheese topped with country gravy. Featuring all Yoder meats. I enjoyed it as well.

The first stop of the day was Botanica, the Wichita Gardens. It had been several years since I had been there and it was a chance to update its information. The only thing which appeared to be new was the Alexander Bee House. It was all a pleasant place in the morning before the heat of the day.

The next stop was Adorers of The Blood of Christ Convent Cemetery, on the south side of Newman University, a private Catholic college which was founded by the sisters in 1933. The cemetery is exclusively for the sisters and the head stones are identical. There are 356 burials in the cemetery, with the oldest I could find being from 1913. Most of the burials are from the past 45 years and nearly half are from the past 25. It is a lovely setting.

The next stop was at a single grave, that of Lyn Wyckoff, on the edge of the parking lot of Textron Aviation Engineering, south of Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. It took quite a while to locate it, but I know where it is now. The headstone which I have seen in pictures of the grave is missing.

Lunch was at Walt's East Wichita. The exterior is rather plain, but the interior is dark and warm with lots of wood. I ordered a Walt's Classic, a burger which they say they have had since starting in 1947. The ground beef patty is topped with mustard, pickles and fried onions on a butter toasted bun with the choice of American, Cheddar, Swiss, Blue Cheese crumbles, or Pepper Jack. It comes with the choice of hand cut french fries, coleslaw, potato salad, or homemade chips  I went with cheddar and hand cut fries. It was a good burger. Although I often which fries were cooked more, these fries were a little more done than I like. The thicker fries were still good. I would probably try the homemade chips if I dined there again.

The final stop of the day was Pierpoint Cemetery, a tiny cemetery immediately next to Greenwich Road on Wichita's east side. There is only a sign, no fence or headstones. It is believed there are three burials here, Elmon and Caroline Pierpont (who owned the property) and their son Elmon, but there is no official record of the burials. Caroline was the last one to die, in 1902. The cemetery was deed separately from the rest of the property.
 
 

Gimme the Meats!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lyn Wyckoff grave

Walt's Classic