More coming…

Since I’ve started school, I’ve been absolutely inundated by 19 credits’ worth of homework, studying, and essays.  To top that off, I still haven’t received my laptop back from Everex, and I have a sinking feeling that they went bankrupt.  Until I get my photos from the laptop, I can’t finish my posts concerning my month-long southwest trip, or expand on the details of my three months in South Korea.

Just keep an eye out for new material this summer.  I’ll be out of class, and will hopefully have a computer to work on again.

Happy traveling!

Little Zoo and the Prairie

Salina, KS, USA
June 2008
Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure
Konza Prairie Research Station

Kansas was thoroughly surprising me.  After a pleasant tour of the State Capitol, I made my way towards Salina, where the terrain began taking on a more vertical appearance; on either side of the freeway were rolling hills capped with bare, white rocks.

I spent that night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Salina and after being abruptly wakened early the next morning by a brief thunderstorm, I began day two of my trip by fingering through the literature I had picked up about the local area.  It was utter trash; pure advertising and no substance.  I recalled numerous billboards along I-70 from Topeka pointing out a nearby zoo, and decided to give that a try instead.  How could I go wrong with a zoo?

Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere.  It’s six miles outside of Salina and actually closer to a tiny town called Hedville (I had to get a picture of that one.)  I pulled in, ate breakfast in the parking lot, and hit the gates at opening time.  There are actually two attractions – a zoo and a natural history museum.  Both require a separate fee, and both are money well-spent.

For as small as it is, the zoo offers a lot to see, and it has a homey, rural feel to it.  It’s laid out in a very simple loop, so it’s hard to miss anything.  If you’re not up to walking, or you’d like a bit of interpretation, you can take the guided John Deere tractor tour for a fee.

The animal pens are huge, and the animals look well-tended to.   Unique points that stood out for me were the outdoor prairie dog pen, which added a local flair (and the opportunity to hear their warning “bark”), and the giraffe-feeding station, where you can have giraffes eat right out of your hand.  After watching a presentation about aardvarks, I chatted with the keeper.  She told me that Rolling Hills, founded in 1999, started as a hobby in someone’s barn.  It has been lauded as one of the best in the state, and holds a few distinctions – such as being one of the only five zoos in the nation that has an aardvark.

The museum afterwards was surprisingly enjoyable.  What I thought was going to be another dusty old exhibit of taxidermy was a well-designed natural history museum with wonderful dioramas, ambient sounds, and moody lighting.  It was themed into different locales (Africa, America, Polar, etc.) and had animatronic people that allowed a look into the native cultures of each area.

When I finished, the day was only half over, so I queried the ticket booth about nearby hiking areas.  One of the guys in the booth was familiar with a place 50-60 miles east, near the college town of Manhattan, called Konza Prairie Research Station.  This would mean backtracking, but I didn’t mind since I didn’t feel like killing the remaining daylight by driving.

When I arrived, I was stunned.  Remember those stone-crested hills I noticed on my way from Topeka?  They are the Kansas Flinthills, and Konza Prairie, named after the same tribe of Native Americans as the state, is right in the middle of them.  It’s a biological research area owned and operated by Kansas State University.

The dusty trail begins at a booth where you can grab a self-guided interpretive pamphlet to go along with numbered signs you find along the way.  The interpretation is great – a true outdoor classroom environment that explores natural life on the tallgrass prairie.

The hike itself is easy.  There are three overlapping loops to choose from; I followed the middle for a 5-mile round trip hike.  I was treated to breathtaking views of green, hilly prairie that ambled into the distance to meet the horizon.  The hiking trail would peek in and out of the hills ahead of me in a play of perspective that would make Bob Ross spring for his easel.

Once I branched to the middle loop,  I had the place to myself if I didn’t count the ticks.  Though I was wading through knee-high grass in a lush green environment, I may have well been in the desert; with no trees around, it was hotter than hell.  A hat and a water source are highly recommended, and I was thankful I brought both.

A short while after I reconnected with the shorter loop alongside a tree-laden stream, a deer burst out of the cottonwoods and across the trail.  When it bounced to a safe distance, it casually munched on the surrounding grass, occasionally glancing at me and a family that watched it from a hilltop on the opposite side of the loop.

I returned to the truck, sunbeaten but satisfied.  After I ate and restocked my water bottles for the evening drive, I pushed on towards Texas.  My next stop would be Wichita.

View Full Album of Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure

View Full Album of Konza Prairie Research Station

There’s no place like…Topeka?

Topeka, KS, USA
June 2008
Kansas State Capitol

I admit it.  I snubbed Kansas.  For three whole years, while living a mere half mile from the border in Kansas City, MO, I had traversed my own state from corner to corner and crossed over into Arkansas, Nebraska, Illinois and Kentucky.   I never even considered Kansas during my travels.

What would interest me in a place that is the topographical equivalent of a crepe, and is responsible for spawning the Westborough Baptist Church?  The only time one hears about Kansas is when its citizens are trying to muscle evolution out of the school textbooks, or when their god punishes them for such willful ignorance by sending a huge twister pirouetting through a town composed almost entirely of double wide trailers.  My opinion was that unless one is headed to Colorado, Kansas is a place best avoided.

However, I had to nix my plan to head south on 71 into Arkansas to get to Texas, because I wanted to do something with Hillary on my way out of the state.  The only thing I could come up with along the way was Branson (which was actually a bit out of the way).  Besides being a whopping four hour drive, Hillary wasn’t keen on touring a place that touts Yakov Smirnoff, Tony Orlando, and The Osmonds as its strong points.  I guess couldn’t blame her.

We settled on Topeka, KS, a mere hour away from Kansas City to the west.  A quick internet search yielded quite a few things to see, but we decided the Kansas State Capitol tour would do.  Hillary had to be back that evening for a flight, so we didn’t want to try to take on too much at once.

After being shafted by the Kansas Turnpike Authority for $2.15, and pulled over by the Kansas State Police – the first time I’d been pulled over in over three years – for an “obscured license plate,” Kansas wasn’t off to a great start in my book, but we finally arrived downtown, paid for our parking, and headed to the capitol.  The two tours they had were free, so we signed up for both.

The dome tour started on the fifth floor.  There, a knowledgeable guide started us off with some info about the building and a few safety tips.  We then ascended a precariously narrow staircase and catwalk that twisted its way above the glass inner dome, to the copper outer dome.

Along the way up the steep steel stairs, graffiti covered the girders and the dome above us.  The guide told us that these names were written up there decades ago and without the aid of stairs or ladders.  While in writing this doesn’t seem like a big deal, in person the mere idea gives you a bit of vertigo when you realize that these crazy, vandalous bastards had to shimmy up curved steel girders, dangling 50 feet in the air with nothing below them other than an ornate, glass dome.  It was the first time I actually respected graffiti.

At the top, we we walked outside the outer dome and were treated to a windy 360 degree view of Topeka.   The guide knew her stuff, and gave us tons of info to swallow, including the fact that the nine-story building withstood an F-5 tornado in 1966.  Considering the thing was made entirely of structure-bearing brick, it wasn’t hard to believe.

The historic tour was equally impressive.  Another volunteer escorted us through the buildings, pointing out facts and dates at every point.  Of note to me were the amazing murals, especially the one of John Brown.  He covered an entire wall, towering above us with a crazed look and outstretched arms, bible in his left hand and rifle in his right.  (If you’re shaky on your civil war history, read up on John Brown.  Then go look at this mural.  It’ll look completely different.)  We also saw the press office, state library, and house and senate chambers.  The building is just flowing over with history, and architect buffs would have a heyday.

After our tours we walked downtown for a bite to eat, Hillary and I gave our solemn farewells, and I headed off into the heart of Kansas.  My trip had officially begun.

View Full Album

Happy 150 Millionth Birthday, Oregon!

One thing that makes traveling and sightseeing more enjoyable is understanding what you’re beholding.  Most designers of museums and historic sites know this, and so the best will provide high-quality and in-depth interpretation.

If you really want to get the most from your visits, a little pre-trip research of your own will go a long ways.  It may help you to grasp your surroundings a bit more when you’re off exploring, especially if you’re without a guide.  If not, it will at least allow you to quickly fire off answers to those annoying and obscurely scientific questions that guides always ask.  Of course you have to be careful; if you start tossing words about such as “pyroclastic flow” and “exotic terrane” during a geology tour, you’re liable to be kicked out of the group.  Nobody likes a smartass.

While I’m waiting for the return of my laptop, I’m gearing up for this spring, when I’ll tackle the Northwest by foot with a vengeance after my 3-year Midwestern hiatus.  During my research, I discovered a book at the library that is simply awesome.  It’s a fitting find, considering February 14th was Oregon’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary.

The book is called “In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History”, by Ellen Morris Bishop.  Bishop is an Oregon geologist whose prose makes geology come to life like Shakespeare’s writing made politics and relationships less dull.  She’s also credited with all of the wonderful photography in the book.

Let me give you a taste.   This is the first paragraph from Chapter 5, which describes the birth of Oregon as a landmass, 150 million years ago, when some offshore islands are scraped up onto a westward-moving North America. (Before that time, Idaho was America’s west coast.)

“However gingerly an island arc docks against a continent, it is not a gentle process.  Rocks fold, melt, and metamorphose.  Mountains rise.  A new landscape emerges like Leviathan from the sea, sheds itself of water, and begins a new life.”

If that doesn’t send shivers down your nerdy spine, I don’t know what will.

Even if you’re not into geology, the book is well worth its value for the photos alone.  It’s one of those great big ones you can put on your coffee table that people can’t help flipping through.  Just be careful who you share your newfound knowledge with, lest you get a response along the lines of “Well, Hello Mr. Fancypants!”

Coming soon…

My laptop containing my photo collection is on its way to Everex to be repaired and my muse finally phoned and said she’s coming back from Seoul to join me (hopefully she’s got her camera.)  Soon, I’ll be able to catch up on some much-needed posting about my summer trip to the American south, some details about my favorite places in Korea, as well as my brief visit to Miami this last fall.

Until then, check out the blog I recently discovered, which is doing Korea the justice my measly four posts didn’t do. Be sure to watch the videos – they’re the best part!

http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/