did you know ...Kansas edition

Did you know?

•  Kansas is not flat. It actually has a pretty (as in attractive) rolling landscape. Just not many trees.

• Did you know Kansas is hot in July?  It is. 😑

• It was admitted into the union as a "Free State" (which also happens to be the name of a fun brewery/brew pub in Lawrence).

• Did you know the University of Kansas's mascot is the jayhawk? And the university is in Lawrence.

• Their cheer, "Rock, Chalk, Jay Hawk, KU" was performed at the Olympics in 1920 for the King of Belgium who asked to hear a "classic American college chant". Who knew???🤷   It was originally developed by their science club. The hill the university stands on is a type of limestone, chalk rock. 🧐

• Wilson is the Czech capital of Kansas and has the largest decorated Czech egg in the world.  Why? A Czech immigrant, wanting to create a Bohemian (Czech) community, placed advertisements in Czech papers in the east, west US and Europe to come to Wilson, and they came.

• Did you know that the Brown v Board of Education lawsuit that was the basis for school integration was brought from Topeka, KS and that the National Park Service (NPS) hàs turned a portion of the Monroe School, one of the original schools named in the lawsuit, into a historic landmark? 

Brown v Board of Education Historic Landmark

Our stop here had a profound effect on me. I had always been so isolated and so privileged in my little ethnically monochromatic valley in the middle of the mountains in Vermont. I don't mean to diminish any of the hard work, scarcity of opportunities or downright poverty we experienced, but no one ever said that I wasn't allowed to go somewhere or do something because my skin was the wrong color or the nap of my hair too curly.  I, very naively, believed anyone could make opportunities for themselves, if they tried. I had. But I have since come to understand that is my blind white privilege. It just doesn't work that way for everyone.  I wasn't sure what the NPS would do with this site. There were some signs across the road and I thought perhaps that would be all, but we went inside and there were very insightful displays and films centering on the black experience. Showing some of their rightful contributions in history, politics and the arts. And there was one very difficult room. It was more of a corridor that you passed through as if you were one of those chosen few, courageous, first, black students trying to integrate, trying to just go to a school that might provide you with a real equal education.  The sides of the display showed films of the protesters with their signs and the cacophony of their shouts and brutal epitaphs reverberated in the air (the recordings of protesters were piped in). The lights were lowered. All you had to do was walk through this, as if you, too, were a black student trying to go to school. Trying to have an equal opportunity.  If you felt strong enough, you could stay for a bit and listen to what the protesters were actually saying. I tried. I wanted to hear it, not read a summary, not read individual accounts, but experience it.   I didn't last very long. I plugged my ears, looked down and walked . 

Another section focused on how individuals and groups can correct wrongs, deeply embedded wrongs. The different types of resistance, the cost and the benefits of marches, protests, violent vs nonviolent demonstrations, music, songs and the children, those first children that integrated the schools and what they sacrificed, the parents knowing they couldn't protect them, but that they were sacrificing their child for the greater good of the whole.  Oh, no one should have to make choices like that in my America.

Of the protest music, Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" continued to haunt me as I perused the excellent little book store. I purchased the book "Elizabeth and Hazel" by David Margolick. It follows the lives of two of the most frequently pictured faces when thinking about school integration. Elizabeth, a black teen, one of the Little Rock Nine to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Hazel, the white teen, her face the very image of hate and disgust, her body language full of violence, right behind Elizabeth, screaming at her. It follows their stories from when they were children through the iconic moment of the picture, into adulthood and maturity. What the effects of integration, and that picture, had on them personally. Another thoughtful book as we as a country struggle to deal with our history.

Getting back into the Jeep, we drove and drove and drove.  After driving what seemed like all day, minus our stop in Topeka, we again were in the middle of nowheresville. 🙄 Very different from Kentucky, the last time I had this sentiment though, because although there was a lovely rolling landscape … there were no trees, at least none to speak of, so you could see until the next roll. (Kentucky was wooded). It was still hot though…

Out of nowhere a vision appeared, this beautiful lake and as we drove to our campsite, we had this spectacular spot on a little point.  I was ecstatic!!! The last two sites had been a little iffy, but this more than made up for it.  Just what we needed! Several people stopped by and said, "Vermont! How did you find out about this place and how did you get that site?" (All said with a bit of a friendly flat drawl.) I smiled and said my husband is the best. He's an excellent researcher and planner. 😁

Lawrence, like most college towns, had some great breweries 🍻

I fell in love with the way the this brewery displayed their tanks. I also loved that their parking was on Vermont Street ! ♥️♥️♥️

It more than made up for their ho hum exterior.

And check out this table!!! 😍 I even liked their beer 🍻😂

Now here's an oldie but goodie, ahem, I mean classic, Some wear and tear, certainly seen better days,  but still going (kind of like me 😂😂😂)

sights across Kansas … 

stopped at a crossing. 

view out driver's window …

view out passengers window.

ok, parts of Kansas are flat.

drive-by pic of the capital in Topeka 

the "new" windmills

Agricultural Hall of Fame anyone?  We didn't actually stop there. 

lots of silos and grain storage facilities along rail lines looking like they've seen better days

Wilson. Czech capital of Kansas!

The world's largest Czech egg!!!

airplanes on buildings??? Honestly, you cannot make this stuff up!  Kansas is full of the expected … and the unexpected!

Our campsite on Wilson Lake.  We even have a tree for shade. I don't think it gets better than this. Sigh ♥️♥️

Oh wait, it does get better! A gorgeous sunset

and geese in the water,

oh and our neighbor's grandchildren fishing. (Check it out, the granddaughter is fishing in a dress!)

Next morning, what do I see in our at the edge of our campsite???

Could anything be cuter???

The warning call was given, they all lined up and went into the lake, one at a time

There were other birds too. I'm still not sure what kind of bird this was,

but we also had a killdeer family, dad, mom and three babies!  The grandchildren fished again, after the killdeers had decided to let the babes out for a bit. Oh! the commotion and drama, the worry and concern, the "broken legs, wings,etc" those poor parents suffered trying to keep track of their babies with the kids running back and forth!  I actually did wonder if they would have heart failure, they were at it for so long. I had never seen killdeer chicks before and when I could spot them, they were absolutely adorable. They looked just like the adults, only teeny, tiny replicas.  I'm sorry the pics aren't better. :/ But it was the best I could do. I seem to have done something to the originals so that I can't edit them either. 🤷. All I can say is the babies were so tiny you could hardly see them! 

mom or dad on guard (they were both on duty trying to keep track of these little guys)

parent in foreground, baby in back

two babies hanging out with each other

and now they've decided to run in opposite directions

parent on guard, babes in the background

Ha! check out the sign on the dumpster! 👃🚫

I just had to sneak in another sunset 😀

A few last pics of the campground and hiking trails. 

I loved the trail signs.

Next adventure: …still crossing Kansas with a stop in The Dodge City and overnight at Horse-Thief Reservoir.