Mousie Cat points out that you can finally vote for the Eight Wonders of Kansas. It may be cheap promotional tourist nonsense, and you have to give them your email address, but it's still a nice look at what makes Kansas unique. I don't know why L. L. Dyche's diorama in KU's Natural History Museum didn't make the cut, but the other selections are pretty good.
My votes:
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve & the Flint Hills: An astounding part of the natural and cultural heritage of Kansas and the nation.
Monument Rocks and Castle Rock: To my mind, less culturally significant, but an astoundingly beautiful landscape.
Garden of Eden: Folk Art at its finest. See the sculptures that made it famous, then pay your admission to tour the house and to hear the explanation of why the sculptor's mummified remains are also on display.
Cheyenne Bottoms/Quivira National Wildlife Refuge: An important site for migrating waterbirds, and a great piece of natural history. Locals are justifiably proud of it, and birders come from all over to see the rare species that show up there.
Big Brutus: The world's largest electric coal shovel. Now retired, it removed overburden from a pit mine for 11 years, and is now a museum.
Big Well: Until the tornado a few weeks ago, this giant hand-dug well put Greensburg on the map. Nitpickers point out that it is no longer the deepest hand-dug well, nor does it have the largest volume.
Cimarron National Grasslands: Yet another world-class natural area.
John Steuart Curry Murals: The murals include the iconic image of John Brown, a Biblical prophet fighting for a Free State and warning of a greater war to come.
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NOTHING in Leavenworth? Buffalo soldier's monument, the armoury the oldest building in Kansas, Hell even just downtown Leavenworth or Lawrence. The Harvey house in Leavenworth? Bell Hall on Forth Leavenworth? The old growth river bottoms forest on Fort Leavenworth? Lots of stuff not on there.
It has been very interesting to have a Google Alert for Blogs on "Kansas Flint Hills!"
Yours came up today!
We now have a 22 county Flint Hills Tourism Coalition � this is the new website: http://www.kansasflinthills.travel/
Our web site is to promote the Kansas Flint Hills; and we are so happy to be in the 22 page color photo spread in National Geographic's April Issue on the Kansas Flint Hills, as a distinctive landscape.
We would appreciate a link from your site, to ours, if you are willing to do so. THANKS!
You can easily guess which site I'll be voting for! ;-)
Best wishes!
Bill ;-)
I think one of Kansas' great wonders is the fact speedbumps are a major topographical feature.
Hey, Josh --
Thanks for the link. I am embarrassed to say that I have seen hardly any of the 24 sites nominated for the Eight Wonders of Kansas. But I did see an old postcard of the largest hand-dug well (RIP) and the booklet you get when you visit the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Weird, man! Now that I know the mummified remains of the artist (?) who created it are on display, maybe I'll stop by there the next time I go to Colorado.
The Garden of Eden simply has to be seen. It is far too strange to be appreciated other than in person. Fortunately, it looks like the Big Well will survive.