Before launching into the recap of today’s high-mileage day, you must watch this clip of the news coverage the 1K Country Adventure received from a local station in St. Louis. Don’t blink; you might miss it.
Today was actually a great day, even though we drove 376 miles. Er, that is, my saint of a husband drove 376 miles. I have not been behind the wheel once this trip. Apparently husband is much more comfortable driving 5+ hours than driving in the passenger seat with me manning the steering wheel for 30 minutes. I actually should drive a bit tomorrow — I want to experience the Ford Flex that Avis has so kindly provided us for this adventure!
We were up and out the door early this morning, scooting from the Kansas side of Kansas City to the Missouri side to snap a photo of the JC Nichols Fountain. Kansas City is actually home to more fountains than any other city in the world except Rome.
Then we attempted a visit to Sylas & Maddy’s ice cream shop in the university town of Lawrence, Kansas. Alas, the shop didn’t open until noon and we were eager to get on the road, knowing how many miles we had to cover today. (Don’t worry, we made it up to our kids later in the day with a stop at Braum’s in Wichita.)
In this 1920s plane, the "yoke" was made out of a chopped-off baseball bat!
Also in Wichita, the surprisingly fascinating Kansas Aviation Museum, our main Suite Stop for the day. Honestly, we probably wouldn’t go out of our way to visit this museum, housed in the former Wichita Municipal Airport terminal — but it turned out to be quite interesting. This art deco building now contains all sorts of artifacts from the glory days of Kansas aviation — in the 1940s, it was one of the busiest airports in the nation. The collection of historic planes — including a Laird Swallow form the 1920s — is truly priceless, and all the folks who work there — especially Craig, the knowledgeable docent who showed us around — are passionate about aviation history.
Hanging out underneath a B-52 bomber.
The kids had fun using the computer flight simulator in the lobby, while I most enjoyed seeing the wooden airplanes and propellers nearly a century old. Craig explained that they found an old bi-plane in a salvage yard, and they’ve spent nearly 5 years restoring it for museum display — and they still have 2 years of painstaking work to go. A walk outside, where an authentic B-52 bomber sits — along with other aircraft — was really cool.
Another 2.5-hour drive, and we landed in Oklahoma City, at the Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, Oklahoma City Airport (more on this property and its phenomenally wonderful general manager tomorrow). After a quick hop in the pool for our kids, we went out to dinner with the Svebacks to a quintessential Oklahoma City institution: Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in the historic Stockyards District of town. Filling food, delightful service and smack-your-lips pies… a great meal with great company.
Last night’s hotel: Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Village West
Once again we were greeted by incredibly friendly folks at the front desk at our Country Inn & Suites property for the night. It’s always nice to be welcomed with a smile. The director of sales happened swing by as we were checking in, and she recommended we scoot over to Backfire Barbecue in the Legends shopping mall for dinner. We absolutely loved digging into plates full of pulled pork and brisket, plus baked beans and yummy coleslaw. A little summer sangria to wash it down (me, not the kids) and we were all happy campers last night.
But back to the hotel – we had a standard double-bedded room, which, once again, was plenty spacious for our family of four (though I always appreciate those one-bedroom suites so the kids have their own space on the sofabed in the living room). The hotel is not necessarily in a scenic area of town – close to the Kansas Speedway and parking lots for area fast-food restaurants and the mall – but it’s only a couple minutes from the Schilitterbahn, a massive outdoor waterpark filled with slides, tubing rivers and beach areas.
One aspect of all Country Inns & Suites I’d like to highlight: the curved shower-curtain rods. It’s always a bummer to have a wet shower curtain rub up against you in tight quarters (or worse, stick to your wet legs). But with the curved shower-curtain rods that seem to be standard in Country Inns & Suites rooms, I’ve got plenty of space to suds up without feeling claustrophobic!
Gear Spotlight: Rand McNally Kids’ Road Atlas
I picked up this nifty, cheap ($3.95) road atlas for the kids when I spied it at the Arches National Park visitors’ center last month. It’s been so fun to have in the car during our multi-state road trip this week. My 10-year-old has been marking the highways with a highlighter to show our route, and every time we enter a new state, she does the associated activities – like word scrambles, word searches and hidden pictures. Each is unique to the state – and she’s actually learning a bit of trivia and geography.
Suite Stops
- JC Nichols Fountain, Kansas City, Missouri
- Sylas & Maddy’s Homemade Ice Cream, Lawrence
- Kansas Aviation Museum, Wichita
- Country Inns & Suites By Carlson Oklahoma City Airport
Previous posts:
- Day 4, 1K Country Adventure: Kansas to Oklahoma
- Day 3, 1K Country Adventure: Illinois to Missouri
- Day 2, 1K Country Adventure: Wisconsin to Illinois
- Day 1, 1K Country Adventure: Minnesota to Wisconsin
- Pre-Trip Excitement
- My Family is Going on a Mystery Road Trip
If you’re having fun following my road-trip adventure, consider planning your own here: www.countryinns.com/1kcountry.
Disclosure: A significant portion of the costs and resources for my family’s participation in the 1K Country Adventure was provided by Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.
Most excellent! I love Kansas City and its glorious fountains. And all of the Country Inn & Suites people sound so nice.
Sounds like a great, adventurous summer you and your family are having.
Your husband is a Saint to go on all of these trips with you. My husband, who also won’t let me drive, put his foot down after our last epic drive to Wolf Creek and suggested that my next travel adventure be a “girls weekend away.”
Can’t wait to see where you go next. Enjoy!
My husband’s work schedule doesn’t permit time for long summer getaways. So all the driving is done by me! We go about eight and the max 10 hours of driving in one day. But we are not stopping to smell the roses!! I need to take more side trips when I make my regular treks from MS to OK.
You’ve reached my “guess” for your contest already; i,e, Oklahoma City, Can’t wait to see where that final stop will be on Saturday.
I’m having a hard time keeping up with you – and your trip is almost over! This sounds like the kind of low-key day we like when we’re on road trips. I like small, local museums that focus on one topic.
When we’ve stayed at CI&S around the country, we’ve made good use of their pools – have the properties you’ve been staying at had them?
And don’t feel bad about the driving – my husband is such a bad backseat driver that I’ve just decided to let him do the driving from now on. Gives me more time to take notes.
Yep, I’m definitely more comfortable in the passenger seat!
Yes, Mara, all of the CIS properties we’ve stayed at have had pools. So great for the kids.
[...] a short detour off I-70 if you’re driving through. I know Vacation Gal’s ColoradoGal was sorry to have missed out while on her family’s recent 1K Country Adventure. Be sure to check out all the places she did go, however, while road-tripping through the midwest! [...]
wonderful bomber b-52