Campfire

To The Storytellers

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Author
Gary Thompson

Chill along the Glacial Hills Scenic Byway

Horse around at the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum in Leavenworth by riding the ponies of a restored 1913 model made by Parker’s then-world-famous local company. Singer Melissa Etheridge, a Leavenworth native, donated a vintage band organ. The military town’s diverse culinary scene includes First Taste…

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Big Hunt on the Prairie

The Game Deer and antelope play on the Kansas range, including mule deer, white-tailed deer and pronghorn, a species unique to North America. Elk, common in presettlement Kansas, virtually vanished by 1900 but have since made a comeback in free-range herds. If birds are more your game, the…

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Soar through the Land and Sky Scenic Byway

You may think you’re not in Kansas anymore at Arikaree Breaks, a rugged expanse in northern Cheyenne County, where plains give way to yucca-studded gorges and gullies formed by windswept deposits. Take a good look at these badlands, which stretch for 36 miles. Coffee breaks draw crowds in nearby St…

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Get Your Kicks on Kansas Historic Route 66

Road-trippers normally dread close encounters with tow trucks, but not at Cars on the Route in Galena. Stop by to see Tow Tater, the 1951 International boom truck that provided vehicular inspiration for Tow Mater in Disney·Pixar’s animated classic Cars. Just down the street, Gearhead Curios, located…

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Epic Exploration in South Central Kansas

You can earn a master’s degree in Kansas culture by exploring this region’s wide and impressive range of rural and urban experiences. Go on field trips to natural habitats for up-close studies in biology and zoology. Take multiple-choice taste tests in gastronomy and mixology. Learn about avian…

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Free-Range Adventures in Southwest Kansas

Talk about wide-open spaces. The southwest quadrant of Kansas (22 counties) is no faux frontier—it’s the real deal. The region carries on the centuries-old legacy of explorers and pioneers who trekked its expanse. In 1865, when the U.S. Army established Fort Dodge along the Santa Fe Trail (near…

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