Kansas

The sky is bigger here than anywhere else, people in Kansas say, and on a summer evening over the Flint Hills you might just believe it. If you're planning a trip to Kansas, you'll find North America's last great tallgrass prairie, Wild West cowboy towns, and an aviation capital in the middle of the wheat fields.

Landscape: More Than Flat

Kansas sits right in the middle of the U.S.; the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is near Lebanon in the north. Its reputation as a pancake-flat land is only partly true. In the east, the Flint Hills roll away, their rocky soils never plowed under, which is why the largest remaining stretch of tallgrass prairie survived here. In the west, the Great Plains rise gradually, with endless wheat fields, grain elevators, and scattered chalk formations such as Monument Rocks and Castle Rock. Along the Smoky Hill River and in Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park, you can see that an ocean once covered this land: the limestone cliffs hold the fossils of marine reptiles.

Sights in Kansas

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong City offers hiking trails through grass as tall as a person and a herd of bison. Dodge City, once the roughest cattle town on the Santa Fe Trail, keeps its Wyatt Earp legends alive at the Boot Hill Museum. In Abilene, the end of the Chisholm Trail, you'll find the presidential library of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who grew up here. Hutchinson has two standout attractions: the Cosmosphere, one of the country's most important space museums, and Strataca, a salt mine where visitors descend about 650 feet underground. In Topeka, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site commemorates the 1954 court ruling that declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.

Cities: Wichita, Topeka, and Greater Kansas City

Wichita is the largest city and calls itself the "Air Capital of the World" because aircraft have been built here since the 1920s; the Old Town District with its brick warehouses and the Keeper of the Plains sculpture at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers are worth a stroll. Topeka is the state capital, with an impressive Capitol. In the northeast, Overland Park, Olathe, and Kansas City, Kansas, are part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which stretches across the border into Missouri. Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas, has a lively music scene and a basketball tradition that goes back to James Naismith, the inventor of the game. Manhattan is home to Kansas State University, and Salina is a hub where Interstates 70 and 135 meet.

History

The prairie was home to the Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Cheyenne. In the 1850s, "Bleeding Kansas" became the scene of bloody conflict over whether the new state would allow slavery; in 1861, Kansas joined the Union as a free state. Mennonites from Russia later brought the hardy "Turkey Red" winter wheat, which made Kansas the nation's breadbasket. And of course Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz is from Kansas, a connection the Oz Museum in Wamego embraces.

Food and Drink

Kansas City–style barbecue, slow-smoked and served with a sweet tomato sauce, is a must, as are the crispy burnt ends. Bierocks, yeast-dough pockets filled with ground beef and cabbage, come from the Volga Germans. In Lindsborg, which calls itself "Little Sweden," you'll find Swedish pastries, and out in the country, steaks from Flint Hills cattle are on every menu. Fried chicken is a tradition here too: in Pittsburg in the southeast, the restaurants Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's have been rivals for decades and draw diners from far and wide.

Getting There and Best Time to Visit

Kansas City International Airport is in Missouri but is the main gateway to eastern Kansas; Wichita has its own airport. Interstate 70 crosses the state from east to west. The best times to visit are May and June, when the prairie is green and wildflowers bloom, and the fall. Spring is tornado season, summers are hot, and winters are cold and windy. If you're traveling in the west, fill up on gas whenever you can, since the distances between small towns can be long.