Kansas
Travel Blog
Chronicling
changes to KansasTravel.org and Keith's exploration
& photographing Kansas restaurants, attractions, museums, festivals
and art. Contact him.
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Wednesday,
October 1, 2025: We had supper at The Weather Room in Topeka, Kansas.
We first visited it about a year ago after People magazine named it one
of the 50 Most Beautiful Restaurants in the US.
Tonight
we had Coconut Shrimp (Hand breaded fried shrimp, sweet Thai chili sauce),
Candied Pork Chop (Marinated pork chop, bacon, brown sugar, Parmesan cheese;
served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes) and what turned out to be an
enormous side of French fries.
Although
the coating was falling of the pork chop, it was my favorite part of the
meal, tender with a nice flavor.
Across
Kansas Avenue, I photographed the life sized statue of Topeka's Harry W.
Colmery who authored The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, known as
the G. I. Bill. Colmery's statue is flanked by two relief statues. Colmery
is saluting a row of veterans in uniform, while the relief behind him has
veterans in work apparel for the jobs they achieved after their education
which were funded by the G. I. Bill. It can be found on the sidewalk in
front of 919 S. Kansas Avenue.
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Harry W. Colmery Statue
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Friday,
October 3, 2025: After spending last night in Topeka, we headed straight
west on I-70, stopping only for gas in Hays, Kansas. Although I've been
in Hays more recently, this was the first time I have driven on Vine Street
in a three years and I can't say I am a fan of the 5 traffic circles in
a half mile. I bet people look for excuses not to drive that stretch!
Continuing
west, I took a few photos from the car, but we drove through to Colby,
Kansas, to have lunch at J & B Meat Market. We had a bacon cheeseburger,
onion rings, sour cream potato wedges and ribeye sandwich. The steak sandwich
had great flavor, but I wish I had known that you have to request they
grill the onion on it, which would have made it even better.
In
Colby we photographed the famous Wheat Jesus billboard on I-70, Colby Visitor's
Center made of local limestone surrounding a grain bin, and the Kansas
State University Western Kansas Research-Extension Center. The research
center isn't really an attraction and doesn't bill itself as one, but several
other places had promoted it as one.
At
Fike Park we found four very nice chain saw sculptures, a BSA Statue of
Liberty replica and a mural covered rest room.
After
a short drive east to Rexford, Kansas, we were met at the Judy McCarty
Dairy Learning Center by Jessica BugBee and Shelly Macumber. They are the
Program & Outreach Coordinator and Communications Coordinator for McCarty
Family Farms, LLC.
McCarty
Family Farms is a 4th generation dairy farm headquartered in Rexford, with
additional facilities in Beaver City, Nebraska and Bird City & Scott
City, Kansas. There are 10,000 Hereford cows at this location.
The
Judy McCarty was the mother of the four brothers who head the farms today
and was a former school teacher who led tours of the facility for many
years. The Learning Center opened in June, 2024 and there is no admission
charge nor request for donations.
As
you arrive at the Learning Center, there is a sign saying "Come See the
Cows." The Learning Center has galleries with interactive educational displays,
a gift shop, and a glass wall overlooking a 120 stall milking carousel.
It is fascinating watching the cows enter the room, board the carousel,
and take an 8 minute ride while being milked. When the carousel takes them
back around, they back out and walk back to their barn. The carousel operates
22 hours a day and each cow is milked three times a day.
The
Learning Center is open Tuesday - Saturday and visitors are welcome to
drop in. Free tours are offered to groups of 12 or more by appointment.
Sometimes it is possible to be combined with other smaller groups to do
a tour, plus there is an annual open house when tours are offered. We were
treated to a tour to take photos for this website.
The
tour is in a small, modern bus. We were surprised to learn that the entire
tour is done in the bus, which drives through 4 tunnel ventilated freestall
barns housing 5,000 cows. "Freestall" barns have individual stalls for
rest and sleep. The cows select their own stall and move freely between
the stalls, eating areas, and milking parlors. There are even cool brushes
where cows can get a back rub. The fans cooling the barns are maintained
at a speed that keeps away flies. Everything is done to keep the cows calm,
contented, healthy and productive.
I
mentioned there are 10,000 cows. The enormous dairy has a second set of
four enormous barns and another carousel.
The
tour also goes through the area where feed is carefully mixed, the sand
used for bedding is reclaimed, water is reclaimed, and enough methane is
captured to power 12,000 homes. The manure is used as fertilizer at neighboring
farms.
The
milk produced at this facility and McCarty's three other dairies is condensed
at McCarty's own Condensing Plant across the highway. The condensed milk
all goes by truck to the Danone plant in Fort Worth, Texas where it becomes
Danon and other yogurt products.
A
tour concludes back at the Learning Center with a chance to try one of
the many products Danon produces from McCarty milk. We had a Chobani 20g
Protein Peach Yogurt Drink and YoCrunch Vanilla Low Fat Yogurt with Mini
M&Ms.
Returning
to Colby, we photographed the beautiful mural which was completed earlier
this year on three grain bins near downtown by Lissa Sexton and Raya Wagoner.
For
supper, we went to L&T Family Restaurant in Goodland, Kansas.
We had been told to go here for fried chicken by Roxie on the Road.
The
fried chicken was extremely good and an incredible bargain. Two piece mixed
(breast & leg) with a great biscuit and two sides for $8.85. We like
this chicken more than many places famous for their chicken. The chicken
wings, potato wedges and mashed potatoes & gravy were nothing special.
After
diner, we took photos of murals, Mary Seaman Ennis House, Rod Cooper's
restored White Eagle Station and Gulick-Cooper
House. Rod Cooper's newest project, a three story home which was moved
to Goodland from St. Francis, Kansas, about 30 miles away.
The
final stop was Sweet Mom's Treats & Eats, an ice cream parlor which
opened in an historic building in June. They don't make their own ice cream,
but the scoop of caramel praline I had had was wonderful. They also have
rolled ice cream, dirty soda and specialty candies. As the weather gets
colder, there will be more food, including chili.
We
are spending the night in Colby.
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Ribeye Sandwich & Bacon Cheeseburger
Milking Carousel
McCarty Family Farms, LLC
Grain Bin Mural
Sweet Mom's Treats & Eats
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Saturday,
October 4, 2025: We drove straight to the Sheridan County Courthouse
in Hoxie, Kansas, to be there for "The Stump" meeting of the Kansas Explorers
BKRT PopUp event. It wasn't as crowded as last month's event in Halstead,
Kansas and we had a chance to catch up with friends Marci Penner and WenDee
Rowe.
I
won a small Kansas Explorers bag during the trivia contest.
The
half hour event ended with the announcement that the first BKRT PopUp event
of 2026 will be May 2 in Humboldt, Kansas.
After
visiting a couple of Hoxie attractions, we drove to PSI to join a tour
going to Foote Cattle Company's Hoxie Feedyard, which feeds over 55,000
cattle. For me the most interesting of the operation was the preparation
of feed, which began with turning corn into corn flakes, than mixing them
with silage and other nutrients using special front end loaders which have
scales on the buckets.
It
was very windy, and blowing dust lowered the quality of my photos.
For
lunch, we drove to Midway Cafe in Selden, Kansas. The little restaurant
was busy and food came out slowly. The server brought us a couple of chocolate
chip cookies and apologized for the delay.
We
had a fish basket and chicken fried steak.
Back
in Hoxie, we toured the former County Jail. It had operated nearly 100
years before closing 3 years ago. The county's prisoners are housed in
a different county now. It was followed by a visit to the 7 Rhodes Beef
Co. and the Sheridan County Amusement Company. The Home Based Business
Market had sounded interesting, but it closed at 2 PM, before we could
go there. Other people were also disappointed it closed so early.
The
next community we visited was Quinter, where we found a cute old railroad
depot with adjacent garden, some interesting murals and an old style water
tower with a windmill for the letter "I" in Quinter on the side.
In
Ellis, Kansas we had a 4 PM appointment to get new photos of the BK&E
miniature train ride at the Ellis Railroad Museum. The General Motors Aero
Streamliner has been greatly changed since I last photographed it and Brian
LeFebvre met us there. It had been even longer since I had last been inside
the museum, so I took new photos in it as well.
Before
leaving town, we photographed the new mural on the Ellis Public Works building.
We also photographed several nice Halloween displays.
Driving
to Hays, I was able to replace some photos which I have lost, of the original
"Rome" town site that preceded Hays and of the adjacent railroad bridge
which replaced an original trestle bridge where lynch mobs hanged at least
four persons around 1870 in two incidents. The the historic marker is now
gone.
Supper
was at Paisley Pear Bar, Bistro and Market in downtown Hays. The menu is
somewhat limited and we had a turkey, apple, brie sandwich, a pear club
sandwich & lobster bisque. I had read good things about the cheesecake
here, but after learning that the cheesecake is not prepared in-house and
the pumpkin bars are, we shared one of them.
The
rest room was unusual, in that you have to go through the kitchen to get
to it. They said that with the old building's plumbing, that was where
it had to be.
The
night was spent at the Holiday Inn Express.
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"The Stump" at the Sheridan County Courthouse
Hoxie Feedyard
Quinter depot & water tower
General Motors Aero Streamliner
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Sunday,
October 5, 2025:
The day began with a drive south to Liebenthal, Kansas where I photographed
a stone house which was used in a scene in the movie Paper Moon. On the
way down, we drove through Schoenchen, where we photographed other stone
buildings and Denver Broncos skeleton display.
Getting
back to Hays, we headed east of Old US40 instead of I-70.
In
Walker, Kansas, we stopped to see if St. Ann Catholic Church was unlocked,
but no luck, so I still just have outside photos. Across the street, we
found a home with the yard filled with junk lawn mowers. Driving down the
alley to take photos, we found that they continued into 2 more yards.
In
Gorham, Kansas, we photographed to more Paper Moon locations, plus St.
Mary's Catholic Church.
In
Russell, Kansas we found a number of interesting old buildings and the
old sign which is all that remains of the Sky Vu Drive In, which closed
about 40 years ago.
Driving
through town, we found a nice Halloween Display. When I stopped to photograph
it. the owner (who was mowing in the back) came up to set up one of the
figures which had blown over the night before, so it would be in the photo.
We
had lunch at Waudby's Sports Bar & Grill in downtown Russell. It is
in a neat historic building, which give it, its name. We had a Chicken
Ranch sandwich (Think chicken Philly) and a grilled cheeseburger. The food
was good, if not outstanding and the prices were quite reasonable. I would
give them another try.
Returning
to I-70, we headed east straight to Abilene, where we went to Dickinson
County Museum for its Farm Toy Museum, Heritage Hall & Mural Open
House.
There
was a big turn out for the event which included their new Farm Toy Museum
and brand new mural. This was one of the rare times when the 1901 C. W.
Parker Carousel and 1904 Wurlitzer Band Organ were operated by the original
steam engine.
The
final attraction visited today was the OZ
Museum in Wamego, Kansas which closed in January to March this year
for renovations. Although they did some worthwhile changes like adding
LED lights and ADA accessibility, the exhibits still look much like they
did when I first visited the museum in 2008. There is a little about the
Wicked musical near the end now, but I would like to see more about Wicked.
For
supper, we revisited Sheridan's Frozen Custard in Topeka, Kansas. Although
most of their buisness is walk up or drive through, there is a small dinning
room at one side and we had a chicken sandwich, chili dog and hand cut
fries. Service was very friendly and helpful. This was actually my favorite
food of the trip.
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Paper Moon location
Sky Vu Drive In
Farm Toy Museum
OZ Museum
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Wednesday,
October 8, 2025:
I went to KC Turkey Leggman in Kansas City, Kansas for lunch. The carryout
only restaurant was named on the New York Times list of 50 Best Restaurants
in America about a month ago, so it seemed like someplace I should go.
I
tried to order a turkey leg and yams, but the yams weren't ready yet at
1:30 PM. The restaurant is only open 1 - 8 PM Wednesday to Friday and Noon
to 8 PM on Saturday & Sunday.
So
I went with a leg and fries. $18 + $5. They took about 10 minutes to come
out and I took them to a nearby park. The generous serving of crinkle cut
fries were good. The very large leg was better. I particularly liked the
flavor of the skin. My only issue is that while they supplied many packages
of ketchup (which I didn't use) there was just one small container of BBQ
sauce. Once I got past the skin, I wanted the sauce to compliment the mild
smoky flavor.
For
many people the leg would be big enough for two.
After
photographing the now empty Quindaro Bank and still active Blessed Sacrament
Catholic Church (1924), I drove to an ice cream parlor named Hey Sugar
on Strawberry Hill. The lady behind the counter was quick to offer tastes
of those ice creams which interested me and after sampling 3 of them I
went with a scoop of Peanut Caramel Candy Bar.
The
ice cream comes from One More Scoop Kansas City on Vivion Road in Kansas
City, Missouri.
This
evening I photographed a neat glowing Halloween Display at at home in Lenexa
which had a great Patrcik Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs display last year.
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Turkey Leg
Hey Sugar on Strawberry Hill
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Sunday,
October 11, 2025:
Our KC BBQ guide includes restaurants on both sides of the State Line and
this evening we visited Arthur Bryant's restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri
about 2 hours before the kickoff of the Chiefs football game.
Bryant's
was already sold out of ribs, chicken, brisket & burnt ends and I ordered
the last serving of three large chicken wings ($13.50 including a generous
order of fresh cut fries). We also had baby back ribs ($13.50 without a
side) and we decided that we like them even more than the spare ribs.
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Arthur Bryant's |
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