Driving a short distance north, we visited Second Cup Cat Cafe in Shawnee, Kansas. They opened in 2022 and as of today, they have placed 1,301 cats for adoption. Last year we visited and posted about Second Cup when it was in Olathe, but it moved to this building (which needed much less work) later in the year. It is a lot of fun for people who come to play with the cats and enjoy a beverage. For those thinking of adopting, it gives them a chance to spend some quality, stress free time with the cats before committing to taking one home. This results in a higher success rate in the adoptions. 

The cats roam freely in the large space and there were 34 cats here today. We quickly made some friends.

Reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are welcome if there is room available. An hour costs $15 for ages 11 & older and $10 for 4-10. It includes one hot or cold beverage.

Lunch was at Avelluto's Pizzeria & Ristorante in Mission, Kansas. Originally Italian Delight which opened another Mission location in 1983, it operated until 2021. In 2024 it opened with this new name after the Italian deli D’Bronx at this location closed the year before.

Many people list this as their favorite Kansas City Pizza. We tried a slice of pepperoni & mushroom pizza and chicken parmigiana. The large slice of pizza was only $4.75. Most people find one or two slices to be enough for a meal.

The chicken parmigiana is available by itself for $11 or with pasta for $14 and we went with solo. Self serve fountain drinks (Coke products) are $2.75.

The final stop was at 50th and State Line Road in the tiny community of Westwood Hills (population 400, .1 square miles) to visit Annedore's Fine Chocolates. They have relocated twice over the years in the same cool historic building. Moving into a larger space on the corner in 2014 and back to the original space at the beginning of the year. They have two other locations in Johnson County and the candy is made at the one in Shawnee.

They also make gelato at that location and it is sold, next door to this one in the Flying Cow.

We purchased candies which I haven't tried yet and also shared a small bowl of Peanut Butter Cup and Stracciatella gelato, which was very good.

Second Cup Cat Cafe
 
 
 

Avelluto's Pizzeria & Ristorante
 

The Flying Cow & Annedore's Fine Chocolates

Lunch was at Pizza Man in Lenexa, Kansas. The restaurant serves Chicago style dogs, Italian steak sandwiches and thin crust pizza. The last time we were headed here, we learned they are no longer open past 2 PM. They were never very busy at supper, They were quite busy today and our pizza took much longer than the past. We had our usual, 12" all meat pizza ($16) and it was good as always.

Behind those rows, there was a field with wild flowers and what looked like will be sunflowers, There were a couple of sunflowers with the other flowers, with one having a bloom today. The barn at the front, had chickens, turkeys and a couple of alpacas. There were also couple of barking, but friendly dogs.

At Pittsburg, Kansas, I took new photos of 34 year old Tropical sno, across from the Pitt State campus.

We then photographed the 1907 Miller Mansion. It is on a street with some very large homes, but this one still stands out, larger than the others. Since 2022 it has been offered on Air B&B. You can book the entire home a few hours or overnight ($450). The owner, Larry Seward says that is sleeps 13.

We stopped by Kiddieland Amusement Park in Lincoln Park, about 5:20 PM. They had opened at 5, but it was a hot, humid day and there were no customers. The employees were friendly and happy to tell us the history of the park and how it operated.

Kiddieland is in its 73rd season and most of the rides were purpose built for the park when it opened. Although the focus of park is young visitors, only 2 of the rides have maximum height. Tickets are 2 for $3, 5 for $7, or 12 for $14 (Punch Card). Only two of the rides (train & carousel) require two tickets. All the rest are 1 ticket.

You can book the whole park for $250 For 1.5 Hour Party with unlimited rides.

At 6 we met friends for supper at Chicken Annie's Original, which has a Pittsburg address, but is closer to Frontenac. Annie's was started in 1934 by Ann Pichler, who began cooking out of her kitchen after a coal mine accident disabled her husband, Charlie.  Eventually the family moved out of the house, and additional rooms were added to accommodate customers. They moved into this current large building in 1972 and are one of the places which has made Crawford County chicken famous. 

The food is a bargain, that is nice for folks with a family to feed. A three piece (leg, thigh, wing) with two sides in $10,50. We had onion rings (large bowl $9.50) which were shared with others, a chicken breast meal ($10.50), and gizzards & hearts meal ($12). A third of our large party got gizzards, livers & hearts. The seasoning on my gizzards & hearts reminded my of KFC original. The onion rings are close to being onion straws. They were my favorite part of the meal.

Several of our friends joined us again in the evening, to check out The Library Speakeasy, a 1920s themed bar, which open July 10th in Fort Scott, Kansas. There is no sign and it in the basement beneath Lu's Ice Cream. The first room is filled with books, but the shelves at the end of the room open to let you into the cozy bar. I sampled The Huckleberry, which is described as "bold whiskey meets the golden warmth of maple syrup, brightened by fresh lemon juice and a dash of bitters. 

There are 12 house cocktails from $10-12 or they are happy to make you whatever you want.

There is another speakeasy in Fort Scott, Green Lantern Speakeasy, which opened in 2024, but we saved that for another visit to town.

We spent the night at the Travel Lodge Fort Scott. It was comfortable and, at least on this day, was one of the best values in town.

Kiddieland Amusement Park
 
 
 

Chicken Annie's Original
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Library Speakeasy

Gary & Kylene stopped working when we arrived to give a tour and enthusiastically tell us. They purchased the farm across the road from Gary's parents shortly after they married, but found that the land had been over grazed and needed years of work to be productive. Fertilizer was not adequate or practical and they adopted regenerative farming to produce income while restoring the land. 

They practice sequential integration where cows first graze land, then sheep, then chickens using custom chicken tractors (mobile chicken coops) which allows the chickens to be moved onto new land up to twice a day. The farm also provides custom meat processing and locker services as well as assisting with marketing, labeling, packaging, and distribution for other farms, They are in the process of adding a licensed commercial kitchen which will be an industrial incubator to support local startups.

It has changed. The menu and the hours are both shorter than when I first went here in 2008. But the menu is still long enough and breakfast and lunch are still available from 7 AM - 2 PM seven days a week. This is an old school restaurant.

We had Pork Chops (grilled and topped with sautéed mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables) and Liver & Onion (grilled and topped with seasoned grilled onions, served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables). We each paid a dollar to change the vegetables to fruit.

Both the pork chops and liver were cut thin and had great flavor. And this may sound like a tiny thing, the iced tea was very good, and here is another old school feature, it was served along with an iced tea spoon. We couldn't remember when was the last time we saw one, but it wasn't this year.

There is a 3.5% charge for using a credit card.

After lunch, we drove a few miles south to Lone Elm Park, to visit Lone Elm Park Historic Campsite. From 1821 into the 1850s, this was a campground and rendezvous point on the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trails. The marker at the site says that John Fremont, Kit Carson, Francis Parkman and the ill-fated Donner party stopped here.

There is also an oxen and conestoga wagon sculpture which was originally at the Olathe Visitors Center from 1994 until its closing in 2002. A 1906 DAR Santa Fe Trail Marker, was relocated from the corner of the park to one of the park shelters.

Lone Elm Park

You book DOZER for an hour session. Adults are free and are limited to two per child. There were about 10 kids when we were there. There is a selection of toys in the box including earth moving toys large enough for a child to sit on, but for the most part it seemed that the children there were happy playing without toys or using the simplest ones like small shovels or foam bricks.

Lunch was nearby at Brobeck's BBQ in Overland Park. It has been a family favorite for many years. We particularly like their smoked ham salad, with the house made BBQ potato chips. The ham salad was as good as always, but the chips were off today. Hopefully that is just a blip, since they prepared each day.

Brobeck's has been introducing new products and today I got their Pork Bites appetizer, which is smoked pork, tossed in their signature house breading and fried. It was a generous serving and I enjoyed it a lot. It comes with a side of BBQ ranch dressing, but I liked them best without dressing.

We followed lunch with a stop at the new Cornflower Baked Goods, a half mile away in Leawood. Megan Garrelts opened the bakery on Tuesday Mission Farms, next to Rye Leawood, which is operated by the husband-and-wife team Colby and Megan Garrelts, Colby won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2013, and Megan is a several time James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

Arriving a little after noon, there were only a few items available at the counter, including a couple of kinds of brownies, three kinds of cookies, sweet milk buns, savory milk buns, some really attractive small brown butter stone fruit cakes and some type of pie with meringue. 

I went up to the counter to wait my turn and watched as all of the snickerdoodle and triple chocolate cookies ran out. The counter person continued to box items and give them to other customers, as I didn't realize that you have to go down to the cash register where you can't see what they have, to place the order. 

We got a chocolate chip cookie, signature brownie and a sweet milk buns. We both enjoyed the brownie a lot. I think the cookie was made with brown sugar. It was fine, but I wish I could have tried a triple chocolate cookie.

For supper, a friend joined us at the Golden Ox. The original Golden Ox opened at the front of the stockyards in the Livestock Exchange building in Kansas City, Missouri in 1949. I was first there over 40 years ago and had particularly enjoyed private events there in rooms upstairs over the years, before it closed in 2014.

This new version of the Golden Ox opened in 2018 and I had never been there. The dinning room feels much like I remembered and the menu includes nods to the former restaurant. The house recommended cocktails are reasonable at $12-14 and The Ox Old Fashioned was outstanding.

We started escargot. There were 6 snails, served in the shell. We all agreed that we would have liked it more with more garlic.

Two of us had the smoked prime rib, which is available Friday & Saturday and one had The Haw Filet 8 ounce tenderloin. All of the meat was cooked to the requested temperatures. The prime rib had great flavor, but was not tender. The filet was tender. The steaks come without sides and between us, we ordered onion rings, grilled asparagus and loaded baked potato. All were good. 

The meal, including 1 appetizer and 4 drinks, came to $300 for 3 people.

Pork Bites
 
 

Cornflower Baked Goods
 
 
 
 
 

Golden Ox

The new Adventure Playscape is extremely impressive, with 10 Kansas themed play areas including a hillside water feature with many fun things to do. I am grateful to Exploration Place for accommodating our visit & photography.

Next we drove to Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to photograph some features in the terminal. Just before you reach security, there is a "We Will Never Forget" memorial, which honors the victims of the September 11th attacks. The memorial was dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the attacks and includes a small piece of a steel beam from the World Trade Center.

Nearby, we also photographed "Aloft," a large piece of public art (which I didn't find very interesting) and some permanent aviation history exhibits which tie nicely into Wichita's "Air Capital of the World" slogan.

For lunch, we drove downtown to Envision Bistro at NICHE, Wichita State University Tech's culinary school (National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education), which opened in 2023 in the former Henrys department store. Right now there is the Bristol and The Coffee Spot operated by students, but eventually there will be two restaurants and five Food Hall eateries.

You either order using a QR code on your phone, or at a computer terminal. The staff is watching to see if you need assistance. We had the Bistro Burger with Fries and Umami Pork Steak Banh Mi. I liked the burger and fries a lot. The spiced pork ribeye on the steak sandwich was good, but I would have liked more Yum-Yum Sauce on it.

After our meal, I asked if we might photograph the rooftop garden which opened this spring, After the staff learned why were taking photographs, Chef John Michael, who is the Director of NICHE, generously showed us through the entire building. The upper floors of the former department store are used for classes, kitchens, offices and private venues. One of the kitchens is set up for cooking for blind and visually impaired people.

The rooftop micro garden lines the edges of the terrace which wraps around two sides of the Henry's Place event space. All of the plants in the planters are edible or produce something which is edible and adds to the farm to table.

Our afternoon didn't get off to the best of starts. Our first stop was at Mid-America Fine Arts, but although we were there when it is scheduled to be open, it was not. The next stop was Hall Industrial Services. In February I discovered that their fenced in yard has some amazing antique tractors & bulldozers and we returned to see the amazing collection inside. But we learned that the owner does not want photos of the collection to appear online. We also learned that he is preparing for retirement and may open a museum in the next few years.

But the day improved at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital. The hospital has been built around the Chapel of The Sorrowful Mother, a 500 seat church built in 1947. It even has a pipe organ.

We stopped at M&M Bierocks. A bierock is a yeast dough pocket sandwich with savory filling which originated in eastern Europe. The main ingredients are dough, cabbage, onion, ground beef, and seasoning, though they are variations, for example the ham & cheese bierock is popular here.

The restaurant is drive through only, no longer has a sign and you cannot see in. When we arrived, it looked as if it is permanently closed, but the bell at the drive through brought someone to the window after a couple of minutes. The regular bierock we got was similar to others we have had at scattered places across Kansas.

After the snack, we drove to Old Town to City Arts. As we pulled up, I realized that 20 years ago this had been the home of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame & Museum. City Arts is operated by the city of Wichita and has four galleries of art, much of which is offered for sale. They also offer studio space as well as classes in ceramics, glassblowing, drawing, painting, metalsmithing, mixed media, glass fusing, and others.

The largest gallery on the main floor has an exhibit titled A Life in Bloom, with attractive paintings by Tarah Clark. We looked in briefly at a group doing glass fusing, where glass is stacked and heated in a kiln so that it melts into a single, solid piece. 

There is also a small gift shop with very reasonable prices.

Across town in the Delano district on West Douglas Avenue we stumbled across American Overseas Schools Historical Society (AOSHS) Museum and Archives (which we visited on Thursday) and the Wichita Pool Hall of Fame. The Pool Hall of Fame consists of displays on the wall at Club Billiards. The Hall of Fame is 11 years old and the public is welcome to view it when the pool hall is open.

We had come to this neighborhood to investigate Final Draft, which recently opened in a storefront that was once home to Lola Candle Co. It is a combination book store, coffee shop and bar.

Family living in the Wichita area joined us for supper at Sabor in Wichita's Old Town. We started with an excellent Signature Old Fashioned and a huge Blue Peach Margarita, and then chose Chicken Diablo and Sabor Paella. The chicken was ordered with the sauce on the side and we preferred it without using the sauce. I thought the paella was good in the restaurant but enjoyed it even more as leftovers when I added salt and hot sauce.

From there, we walked a block to the Pumphouse. The building started in 1931 as a filling and service station. There are still a few items in the decor that nod to that start. After the previous restaurant, the prices seemed extremely reasonable, but the skillet cookie was hard & dry, rather than warm and soft, while the onion rings had a heavy, doughy coating with seasoning I didn't care for.

Before calling it a night, we drove to the Wichita Water Works, to see the three public art installations. They were recommended to view at night. Unfortunately, "Source" the 37-foot-tall steel, aluminum, and LED sculpture with lighting sequences that symbolize the city's two water sources was totally unlit. "Water is Life" which is supposed to cast illuminated projections of the cut-out images on the surroundings had only exterior lighting and cast nothing. The third piece, "Cloud Field," seemed to work as intended.

We Will Never Forget
 
 
 

Envision Bistro at NICHE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Chapel of The Sorrowful Mother
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Final Draft
 
 
 

We got Focaccia French Toast, Crispy Chicken & Biscuit and fresh squeezed orange juice. The French toast also had cinnamon & powdered sugar. It was very good and came with a choice from 9 sides. We went with the bacon.

The chicken wasn't served in a bowl, but otherwise was similar and included poblano sausage gravy, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo and a sunny side up egg. The chicken tenders were perfect! I would change nothing in the dish and it was the meal which most excited me of the 11 places we visited this trip! 

I need to come back to try lunch here. If the food at lunch is anything like the breakfast experience, this place is going on my list of Unique Kansas Restaurants!

Our fist stop was the Walnut Valley Presbyterian Church, which we stumbled across north of Winfield. The handsome former 1879 church is closed and makes an interesting contrast with the large grain bins behind it. As we pulled around to the back, we learned that it is now used for storage. I'm glad to assume that means it is being maintained and will last a long time.

The first planed stop was Floral Stone Baptist Church in an unincorporated area northeast of Winfield. The church is abandoned and standing open, but looks striking with the ivy growing up the walls. The property is marked No Trespassing, so I just photographed it from the road.

Less than a half mile away, we also photographed the Floral Stone Arch Bridge. The bridge over Timber Creek was built in 1906 and is still used by traffic. It is less picturesque then some, but is one of the few where the sides are not posted no trespassing and you can see it well. It appears that some rough repairs were done to the bridge as recently as 2010.

In Winfield we photographed several murals and old buildings, particularly the four bank buildings on the four corners of a downtown intersection. We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce office to pick up a map of other murals, but they were closed for an event.

I've had Burger Station food several times before and only needed to check on how they compare these days. New since my last visit, you cannot order inside, but must call in your order and people can only go in, one at a time, when their order is ready. I ordered a chili burger. The single burgers are rather small, but I only had a couple of bites, so I would be good to try another Winfield restaurant for lunch. I can only eat so many meals and Kansas has so many restaurants!

For lunch we went to Shindigs Bar & Grill, a 1910 railroad freight office which was turned into a unique restaurant about 9 years ago. Most of the furnishings were handmade from junk by the owner. Things were everywhere, but a few that stood out are the art work outside, the welcome desk, the bar stools, the light fixtures and automotive martial tuning up in unexpected places. The sinks in both rest rooms are made from large heavy duty pipes, while the urinals in the men's room are made from beer kegs and the dividers are pickup tailgates.

We ordered a Yard Bird (marinated grilled chicken breast) with asparagus & house chips, and Nonion Business (Angus burger with caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles & American cheese) with fries. The burger, chicken & chips were good, while the Asparagus was OK. I'm not a fan of battered fries and particularly didn't like these.

Just south of Winfield, we visited Cowley County Poor Farm Bridge and Cowley County Poor Farm Cemetery. The stone bridge was built in 1908 and lead to the Poor Farm. The cemetery is about a half mile east (before crossing the bridge). There are a handful of individual markers and a large stone with 106 names. Findagrave says there are 125 known buried here.

We continued to other stone bridges and started seeing cotton farms. 

The Thomson Bridge over East Badger Creek was small, hard to view. and I didn't take any photos, but the Badger Creek Stone Arch Bridge was a little larger and easier to photograph. 

Andes Bridge over Silver Creek was built by Walter Sharp in 1909 and named for a local land owner. A house close to the birdge still has Andes on the sign in front. It is a double arch with different style arches. One is about twice as long as it is tall, while the other is a standard Roman arch. It is much easier to see this bridge and I also took photos and a video from the river level.

We had a 4 PM reservation to visit the new Etzanoa Immersion Center and take a tour of the area of Arkansas City which was Etzanoa, "The Great Settlement," a large Native American city of at least 20,000 of the Wichita people when visited by the Spanish in 1601. The Immersion Center just opened on June 6.

We arrive about 20 minutes early and the director was the only person present so far. It was just 2013 when it was discovered that this was the long sought site of the city. We had taken a tour in 2020 and were anxious to see what new things had been learned.

No one else turned up for the tour, perhaps because it was 100 degrees. The tour began with the showing of the same  documentary which we saw in 2020. We then walked to the location where buildings with cedar poles covered with blue stem grass are being reconstructed by Native Americans from the Wichita Tribe. Eventually they will be enclosed to preserve them.

The rest of the tour was shorter than in the past. You still drive your own vehicles in a caravan and we went first to Arkansas City Country Club, where two Etzanoa production mounds remain and there were originally 10 or more. The remaining mounds are viewed from across the course.

The final stop is the most interesting, as we visited a ravine where the first evidence that the Spanish had visited this area was found and where there was a small battle in 1601 between the Spanish and the Excanxaques from what is now Oklahoma.

We had supper at Todds Creole Kitchen, back in Wichita. The service was extremely attentive and I enjoyed the music. We started with cocktails, a Berry Lemonade and a Rum Runner. I really enjoyed the Rum Runner and thought it was a good buy at $10. The lemonade came in a shaker bottle and was a nice presentation, but was sour in a way that wasn't quite what we wanted.

The Hand Breaded Catfish was a generous serving and I enjoyed the taste I had. The Cast Iron Chicken was a much smaller portion and I didn't care as much for it. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose the sides which come with the dishes. Cheddar grits isn't really my thing and I didn't like the maque choux at all. If we could have picked our sides, I think this could have been a great experience. I wish we hadn't gone there.

Floral Stone Baptist Church
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shindigs Bar & Grill
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Andes Bridge
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Etzanoa
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Berry Lemonade, Run Runner

Much of the large dinning room was closed this morning, with one space reserved as a child's play area. The remaining space was busy, but the server was quire attentive. It was also very clean. Clearing a table after a party left, included cleaning the salt & pepper shakers. Something that should be common, but I don't know the last time I saw it happen between parties.

Meals are reasonable and there are even five, $6.95 specials for those 65 and older.

We had the $8.09 Fluffy Scrambled eggs and diced smoked Ham topped with Cheddar Cheese and the $11.99 Country Fried Steak. Big meals!

The eggs came with a choice of potato, plus toast or buttermilk biscuit. The fried potatoes with onions were good and a very generous serving. the biscuit topped with gravy could be a breakfast in itself. The steak was hand breaded and topped with country pepper gravy. It came with two eggs and a potatoes. The hash browns were perfectly prepared.

Did I mention that this is a Buffalo Bills restaurant? There are Bills souvenirs scattered across the dining room.

Our first attraction of the day was the American Overseas Schools Historical Society (AOSHS) Museum and Archives, which we spotted Tuesday in the Delano district on West Douglas Avenue. I spend a lot of time researching attractions and restaurants, but had never heard of this place. 

American overseas schools are Kindergarten to 12 grade schools that have U.S. sponsorship through businesses, churches, or government agencies and serve US students in foreign countries. Many of the schools are or were sponsored by the Department of Defense for the children of military families and there were many more during the cold war.

AOSHS is a non-profit that collects, records, preserves, and exhibits memorabilia for closed, current, or newly opened schools. We were hoping the museum would tell us more about the schools, but it mostly just displays memorabilia. There is no charge for admission and there is free parking on the street in front of the building. 15 minutes is plenty of time to see the museum.

Across town, we visited Snick's Cat Cafe, which opened in December 2024. They have a lovely facility in the Shops at Tallgrass and aside from the cat lounge, have a boutique and nice place for coffee and baked goods (we got a great house made cinnamon skrunch muffin).

It was fun meeting the co-owner, Julia Hardenburger, and the cats, all but two of which are available for adoption through the Wichita Animal Action League. Julia reminds me of Ms Rachel, who has the children's videos. Although there are only about 13-16 cats at a time, these cats were so outgoing that it seemed like there were many more.

In a little over a year and a half, Snick's has found homes for 289 cats.

The next stop of the day was Fairlawn Burial Park on the southeast side of Hutchinson, Kansas. We photographed the grave of Auriol Lee, a British stage actress and West End & Broadway theatrical producer & director. She died in an automobile accident at age 61 in Hutchinson, while driving to New York from California, where she was filmed for Alfred Hitchcock's film "Suspicion." 

She had reportedly said that she would want to be buried where she died. The large grave stone actually reads "To The Memory of Auriol Lee of London, England. Died at Hutchinson July 2, 1941.

Lunch was at Roy's Hickory Pit BBQ, which opened in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1982. The original owner, Anne Armstrong, sold it to Kirk and Julia Johnson in 2024 and this is my second visit since the change. In general, the meats are similar to what they were before. 

The side dishes bar they had before is replaced with the cold sides being in individual containers. Beans, cheesy corn, two kinds of pickles, & jalapenos are complimentary with any purchase, and you help yourself. The corn was pretty good. The beans I would say was about average. There is also complimentary self serve ice tea.

We had Polish sausage, hot link and pork ribs. The ribs were great and I was happy with the sausage. The hot link was more cooked than I would chose.

We photographed some murals, then stopped at the Toy Depot, a vintage toy store which opened in 2011. It's like walking into a toy museum where most of the toys are for sale. The building dates to 1883 and has a 1940s cash register.

90% of their inventory is purchased from people who bring the toys to them. The owner, Mark Buckley, is quite entertaining and he has a knowledgeable, friendly staff of retired professionals, plus consultants who love the toys and specialize in various subsets of the 50,000 items which are for sale.

Mark has collected toy trains for more than 60 years and the back room includes his collection and an operational train layout customers can operate. Another train circles the front salesroom.

We toured Hutchinson's 1941 art deco Fox Theatre. The 1,221 seat theater sat empty from 1985 to 1990, but reopened in 1999 after a $4.5 million restoration. Today it hosts movies, concerts, theater, dance, arts groups, and arts education programs. The theater itself has a classic look and the lobby, ticket booth, rest rooms and dressing rooms reflect its history.

The drive back across Kansas was uneventful. We made a brief stop to photograph the historic one room Lower Fox Creek School in the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The school recently had the roof and cupola replaced and reopened as a museum building earlier this month.

Supper was at Nagoya Japanese Steak & Sushi in Ottawa, Kansas. We had a chicken & shrimp hibachi combo and 
Maki Combo B (Spicy tuna roll, spicy salmon roll, and spicy crab roll). Both came with soup and salad.

Although we ate early on a week night, they were pretty busy and sushi was not ready until a while after the other entree. It was all good.

AOSHA Museum & Archives
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Snick's Cat Cafe
 
 
 
 

Auriol Lee
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Toy Depot
 
 
 
 
 

Fox Theatre

I have enjoyed their signature spicy hot chicken so much that it has been what I have ordered every time for several years. This time I went with my old favorite, the chicken gizzards and thick cut, house made cottage fries. I enjoyed it so much more than the gizzards and hearts which I had at Chicken Anne's in Pittsburg, Kansas earlier in the month! I like them both as they are, but enjoy them even more with gravy and Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Linda had a huge fried chicken breast and mashed potations and enjoy them as well. Stroud's meals also come with green beans, the choice of salad or soup and cinnamon rolls. The meals aren't inexpensive my the food is great and very plentiful. My gizzard meal was $21.99, but had enough leftover for me two have two more meals. The chicken breast meal was $15.99 and had leftovers as well.

We drove a half mile east to Prariefire Museum, The $5 admission to the museum includes the first phase of the College Baseball Hall of Fame, which is still being built in the building. The current exhibit takes about 5-10 minutes to view and there is also the Home Run Dugout Batting Bay Experience, where $10 gets you 20 swings. Based on the layout of the building, it appears that when the next phase opens in 2027 it will be perhaps 6 times this size, though presumably with even more exhibits.

The Prariefire building is quite striking, but the rest of the museum takes relatively little time to visit. The most impressive things are Alive Experience (you design a dinosaur & see it on a TV screen with your party), the children's discovery room, and the cast of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton discovered by Kansas born paleontologist Barnum Brown. If you have children with you, you may stay much longer.

College Baseball Hall of Fame

We ordered a Drunken Rancher with onion rings and a Patty Melt with French fries. The food took about 12 minutes to come out, which seemed reasonable.

The onion rings were the highlight of the meal. I wish there had been 3 or 4 more. People who love McDonnald's fries will be happy with these. They weren't really what I was hoping for. 

The Drunken Rancher is described as a toasted bun, shredded Romaine, house made ranch, tomato, red onion, house made pickle, beef, sharp cheddar, apple wood smoked bacon, onion ring, and whiskey BBQ sauce. The person who ordered this found the sauce very sweet and overpowering. After they brushed it off, they were very happy with the sandwich and they will ask for the sauce on the side the next time.

The patty melt is described as toasted bread, caramelized onion, DBS sauce, beef and American cheese. It was good, although there was only a trace of the caramelized onion.
 
 

You order at the counter and if you are dining in, the food is brought to your table. Most of the time there is no one visible at the counter, they are busying working in the kitchen.

We got a fried basa po'boy with 1930 fries and 6 jerk wings with red beans and rice. The fish has a cornmeal coating and tasted great, there was a generous serving and I don't think someone could really pick it all up and eat it as a sandwich. I don't usually care for seasoning on my fries, but thoroughly enjoyed these.

The wings were nicely cooked and had a good flavor from the seasoning, which wasn't excessively hot. The wing flats still had the tips attached, which I appreciated. The red beans were seasoned differently than I am used to. The seasoning reminded me of the wings. I didn't dislike it, and enjoyed it more after I added hot sauce.

It wasn't until after I paid, that I saw a small sign to the side which said there is a discount for paying cash. I wish more places did this, rather than adding a fee for using a card.
  
  

1930 Classic Kitchen