Saturday Around Kansas

I am still getting used to using my phone for pictures and then resizing and emailing them to myself for use on the blog. For now, I am seeing just what I have actually successfully done. 

Although it has only been two days, I have forgotten exactly what order we saw the towns and sometimes I have forgotten which towns had which points of interest!

The Kansas Motorcycle Museum is in Marquette. Cary browsed here while Pam and hit some other stores. 

Just by coincidence, there was a rally called Thunder on the Smoky that day. Before we left town it was pouring rain!

We had yummy pastries and coffee at this bakery in Lindsborg, the Swedish capital of Kansas.

These handpainted dalas are sprinkled around town. A shop in town sells (smaller) custom dalas that they will personalize.

The Garden of Eden was designed and built by a very interesting man named Samuel Dinsmore, a Civil War veteran, farmer and Populist politician. He started it when he was 64, worked 22 years and fashioned 113 tons of cement and many tons of limestone into his "log" cabin and surrounding sculptures. Some of the sculptures have religious/Biblical themes while others represent his Populist opinions. I recommend you check out the website for better pictures and more info: http://www.gardenofedenlucas.org/

Located in the same town as the Garden of Eden (Lucas, KS), Bowl Plaza is the public restroom! But just as we got there, an attendant came by and locked it up at 5:00 p.m.! The building is shaped like a toilet tank, the entrane is a raised toilet lid, the benches in front are the curved toilet seat and the sidewalk undulates like and unspooled toilet paper to the big roll. Mosaics adorn the inside and outside walls. 

Lucas is called the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas. There is loads of artwork everywhere. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to linger.

I haven't even mentioned the town of Wilson yet. It is the Czech capital of Kansas and where Cary had chicken fried steak and Pam had something called bierock. I had a typical midwest salad bar--not what you would find at home in Sweet Tomatoes! Across the street from the restaurant is the Midland Hotel and Restaurant where many scenes from the movie "Paper Moon" were filmed. It is supposedly haunted. We drove through lots of rain--Pam probably had a great night's sleep--but we were fortunate that when we were ready to stop and look at things, the rain stopped. It was a great Saturday.