Nov 11th, 2012 at 3:00PM:
Is there anything more creepy than an abandoned amusement park? Because everything I find truly perverse and creepy pretty much goes hand in hand with abandoned amusement parks.
That's why the below gallery by Kansas photographer Brandon Vogt is so powerful. Vogt visited Joyland (an oxymoron if ever there was one), a shuttered theme park in Wichita, KS, and shot a series of 33 haunting ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Kansas posts
Photo Gallery: Abandoned Amusement Park
Nov 11th, 2012 at 3:00PM:
Is there anything more creepy than an abandoned amusement park? Because everything I find truly perverse and creepy pretty much goes hand in hand with abandoned amusement parks.
That's why the below gallery by Kansas photographer Brandon Vogt is so powerful. Vogt visited Joyland (an oxymoron if ever there was one), a shuttered theme park in Wichita, KS, and shot a series of 33 haunting ...Barbed Wire Museums Take On A Prickly Subject
May 10th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
I've always loved museums on obscure subjects because they teach you how overlooked objects can have a big influence. Barbed wire is one of those objects.
While various inventors started experimenting with barbed wire in the 1850s, the founder of barbed wire is generally considered to be Joseph Glidden, whose 1873 design soon stretched across the American West. Before then, it was nearly ...Oklahoma's largest Civil War battlefield may become National Park
Nov 7th, 2011 at 2:30PM:
The Honey Springs Battlefield Park in Oklahoma may become a new addition to the National Park Service, the Tulsa World reports.
The U.S. Department of the Interior said in a report that there's "potential action" for "support designation of Honey Springs as a National Battlefield Park." Now Oklahoma history buffs are scratching their heads over just what that means. The Tulsa World couldn't ...Gawker's Worst 50 States
Aug 25th, 2011 at 11:30AM: I've been following Gawker's newest series, The Worst 50 States. I've been enjoying following this series. In an effort to pin down not only the best states in the US of A, but, more importantly, the worst states, Gawker compiled a Gawker-invented rating system in order to rank our fair fifty. Granted, this rating system consists solely of the viewpoints of those on staff for Gawker, so the ...The 5 ugliest states in the country
Aug 17th, 2011 at 2:00PM: They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. San Francisco Examiner writer and occasional Gadling contributor Bob Ecker doesn't behold much, at least for a few unlucky states. Ecker previously named the prettiest US states including coastal California, exotic Hawaii, diverse New York, historic Virginia, and verdant Washington. He's now determined the unfortunate ugliest states, measured by ...Bigger is better: scout these mega-sized attractions on a cross-country trip
May 27th, 2011 at 11:30AM:
Taking to the roads this long weekend or on a summer road trip? Don't miss these larger-than-life tourist attractions.
World's Largest Rooftop Farm
New York City
Brooklyn Grange, is 40,000 square foot elevated garden is located on top of a six-story warehouse, and grows everything from tomatoes to peppers to fennel to salad greens and much, much more. Check out Inhabitat for more info ...Remembering the Confederate dead
Dec 8th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. As state and local planning committees gear up for a host of events, a quiet spot in western Missouri has been commemorating the war for more than a century.
The Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville, 53 miles east of Kansas City, opened as a retirement home for Confederate veterans in 1891. More than 1,600 ...Best college restaurant: Good Morning America wants your vote
Nov 19th, 2010 at 11:30AM: For most of us, college was a low period in our culinary lives. Ramen, macaroni and cheese, beer for breakfast. . .ah, the memories!
When we got tired of contributing to our freshman fifteen with junk food, there was always that one place that served up something a little better, a little special. If you've been to college, or even if you haven't, I bet you just thought of that place right now. ...Visitor passes out in noose at Kansas museum
Sep 24th, 2010 at 1:00PM: There's one tourist who's name the police doesn't want you to know. The 69-year-old visitor to the Boot Hill Museum, a Wild West-themed attraction in Kansas, wanted to get a taste of old fashioned justice, and it didn't work out well.
The Arkansas resident slipped his head into a noose on display in the museum and eventually passed out. He was extricated by the museum director and two of his ...New Wisconsin hotel smoking ban: big fines, no choice
Sep 5th, 2010 at 10:00AM: Wisconsin has just cracked down on smokers from out of state. It's only the second state with a smoking ban that applies to every hotel room in the state. This differs from most smoking bans, like the one in Kansas, in which the properties can allow smoking in a certain percentage of guestrooms. Michigan is the only other state with a hotel smoking ban this severe.
The hotel business in ...Corn Palace to the Jolly Green Giant: 10 Midwest roadside attractions you must see
Jun 9th, 2010 at 12:00PM: America's heartland is home to plentiful crops, rolling hills and orange sunsets. You can find a Dairy Queen next to a cherry tree and park yourself in front of a drive-in movie on a hot summer night. There's also the world's largest bottle of ketchup, and enchanted highway and the Jolly Green Giant.... wait, what?
It's true, travelers. The Midwest is home to many quirky attractions that might ...Peace message painted on Kansas hotel
Feb 16th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Can you call it vandalism if the words are promoting peace? Technically, yes, which is what the Oread Hotel is doing after waking up to a spray-painted peace message on the front of the hotel.
The hotel, which is next to the University of Kansas campus, isn't even open yet but owners are working feverishly to remove the message in time to open the doors next week.
According to Kansas ...Little House on the Prairie travel in Missouri and Kansas
May 27th, 2009 at 12:30PM: A few years ago, a friend of mine embarked on a trip to Kansas City on the now defunct Skybus for an anticipated mini-road trip vacation that included stops at two of Laura Ingalls Wilder's houses.
These weren't the only places on my friend's family's itinerary but they are the only highlights I can remember. Both of the houses are near small towns where life moves at a slower pace and charm is ...Tour stops #4, #5, #6, and #7: From the college towns: "Come and couch-surf Kansas!"
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Oct 14th, 2008 at 10:30AM: After a somewhat lonely showing in the Salina Central Mall, I took my book tour east on I-70 for a series of events on college campuses in Manhattan, Topeka, Lawrence, and suburban Kansas City. It was here, amid college students who were keen on the message of Vagabonding and intrigued by the tales in Marco Polo Didn't Go There, that I feel like my book tour finally hit its stride. I suspect that ...Extreme Geography in the United States
Aug 20th, 2007 at 12:30PM: Catherine's post on the not-so-well-known geographical center of the United States got me thinking: there's something fun and intriguing about visiting, say, the northernmost point in a country, or perhaps driving eastward until you can drive no further -- if only so that you can say, "There's no one further east than me," unless there's someone else standing next to you. If so you'll have to say, ...Hitch50 Comes to a Finish
Dec 1st, 2006 at 1:33PM: Remember Scotty and Fiddy? They started off about two months ago on a mission to hitchhike their way to the state capitals of all 50 states in 50 consecutive days. (Yes, even Alaska and Hawai'i.) Erik gave them some link love early on in their adventure and now that they've completed their fantastic voyage from state-to-state it's time to recap. On October 10, 2006 the two young men headed off ...
