DAY 3 (5/6/24): Kansas…there’s no place like home

First thing in the morning we headed off for Cassoday (weather warnings for a tough day).  Cassoday is the start of the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway.  We thought their welcome sign was cute, and the downtown seemed straight out of a history book!

Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy on our drive, but we did stop at the Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve to learn about the efforts to preserve prairie grasses.  

I captured this photo of a sculpture on our drive, which really makes me think this must have been what it was like to cross these lands - vast!

Manhattan, KS was our next stop, and a visit to Barry's dad's Alma Mater - Kansas State University.  I can't imagine what it must have been like for an "island boy" to land in the middle of Kansas on the GI Bill in the 50's!  The campus was beautiful and we were able to visit the School of Architecture & Design, which is where he would have gone.  They now have majors in Industrial and Interior Design too - just imagine if Barry & I went there!

Ironically we started getting warnings on our weather apps just as we were arriving in Wamego, KS home of the Oz Museum.  Way to really get the feeling of being just like Dorothy & Toto!  We were able to get through the museum (with Luke in tow), and also see the cute "Yellow Brick Road" alley across the street.

We arrived at Dragonfly Farm just in time for a tour and shopping in Susan's cute "shop" where she sells handmade goods made by herself, her hubby (Andy, a chef), and other artist friends.  Their daughter raises chickens and ducks and shows at 4H events, and they also have tons of goats, and 3 adorable alpacas.  

Since there were tornado watches (these are different than tornado warnings), our hosts were kind enough to leave the light on in the basement, and door unlocked for us "just in case".  Luckily we did not need to access the house, though the lightening, thunder, and winds were pretty loud and rocked our little van pretty good in the middle of the night.  Barry got this shot of our home for the night before the storm.

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 228