November 14, 2024 • 24 mins
Experience Wichita like never before as I share a whirlwind three-day adventure through this fascinating city, promising insights into its rich Wild West history and modern marvels. From the legendary tales of Wyatt Earp to the authentic Old Cowtown Museum, this journey captures the essence of Wichita's past and present. We'll explore the legacy of Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel, celebrated at the Kansas African American Museum, and reveal the humble beginnings of Pizza Hut, a global icon born of entrepreneurial spirit. Get ready to unlock the vibrant stories that make Wichita a treasure trove of culture and history.
But that's not all—our exploration extends to Wichita's cultural offerings, where train enthusiasts will find a haven at the Great Plains Transportation Museum, and everyone can appreciate the solemn beauty of Veterans Memorial Park. Aviation buffs, prepare to be amazed at the Kansas Aviation Museum and the B-29 Doc Hangar. Feel the magic of the Keeper of the Plains sculpture, and embark on the newly established Gunsmoke Trail, connecting Wichita's Wild West heritage with the iconic TV series. Whether it's the bustling Douglas Avenue or the welcoming community, Wichita is your unexpected travel destination. Join me for this captivating episode and look forward to our next journey, where more top travel destinations await.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Traveling
Fool.
I'm your host, bob Bales, andtoday we're going to be talking
about a place that a Wild Westlegend once walked the streets.
It was also the birthplace ofan award-winning actress and the
birthplace of an iconicAmerican restaurant.
(00:20):
Now I visited this place abouta year and a half ago and I'm
telling you I had so much fun.
There was so much to see and do.
I had a blast.
So stay tuned, I'm going totell you all about it.
All right, welcome back to theTraveling Fool.
(01:06):
I'm your host, bob Bales, andtoday we are talking about
Wichita, kansas.
I visited here a couple ofyears ago about a year and a
half ago and I was blown awayand pleasantly surprised at
everything there was to see anddo there.
I was invited to Wichita by thetourism bureau and they did me
(01:28):
right.
They gave me a car and turnedme loose, showed me some things
that they said here you mightwant to go, check these places
out.
We'd like you to go here.
And then they said just exploreand have fun.
And that's what I did for aboutthree days, and it was a
whirlwind.
Three days I went everywhere Icould, didn't have a moment's
(01:48):
rest and I enjoyed every bit ofit.
Now, long before Tombstone,wyatt Earp arrived in Wichita
and while his common-law wifeopened up a brothel, he worked
as private security forbusinesses, convincing people
that they owed money and theyneeded to pay up, and by all
accounts he was prettysuccessful at doing that.
(02:09):
Now some accounts say he wasarrested a few times for
frequenting brothels in Wichita,but he later joined the local
police force but unfortunatelyhe was fired from that after
getting into a fistfight with apolitical challenger of his boss
for the position of citymarshal.
After that man said a fewdisparaging things about his
wife and the boss Not together,but two different things.
(02:34):
He didn't take kindly to it sothey fired him.
But while you're there you cansee the Wichita Jail that was
built in 1871.
It is actually on display atthe Cowtown Museum.
Now the old Cowtown Museum is anoutdoor exhibition and living
history museum of old Kansas.
The museum comprises 54authentic historic and recreated
(02:59):
buildings in an old west town.
It's got houses, a church,general store, a blacksmith,
city marshal's office, banksaloon and just a whole bunch
more.
Now they've shot a few moviesand television shows here,
because one of the few placesthat you can film 360 degrees
(03:20):
and all you see is an Old Westtown.
It's unlike some of these TVshows where you look and you see
an Old West saloon, but if youlook behind the camera there
might be a parking lot with aBMW parked in it.
No, you stand in the middle ofthe street here and everywhere
you look you think you're in anOld West town, so it was perfect
(03:40):
for filming.
It is a fantastic display andthey have people that recreate
everyday life and they also havea lot of events going on there.
You never really know what'shappening there, but if you
check out their website, youwill see all kinds of things
coming up, and if you ever getto Wichita, you need to visit
this place Now.
(04:01):
Like I told you in the intro,wichita is also the home of an
award-winning actress Now bornin this town in 1893,.
This actress would later moveto Colorado at the age of seven
with her family, before latermoving on to California, but in
the meantime she became asuccessful singer, part-time
(04:25):
actress before her breakout rolein the 1939 epic Gone with the
Wind.
I bet you know who I'm talkingabout.
She earned Best SupportingActress award for that movie
establishing her as the firstAfrican-American to win an Oscar
.
As the first African Americanto win an Oscar, she would later
(04:50):
go on to be honored with twostars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame and featured on a USpostage stamp.
I'm talking about HattieMcDaniel.
She and other prominent AfricanAmericans are showcased at the
Kansas African American Museum,which is housed in what used to
be an old Baptist church, andI'm telling you, the church is
(05:10):
fantastic.
It's one of those bigarchitectural things and you go
in there.
I think that's one of the bestparts about the museum.
Actually, it's just a beautifulplace.
I went there and I was greetedby a young fellow who is a
college student and he worksthere part-time, gave me a tour
of the place and told me allabout the history of Wichita and
(05:31):
how these prominent people inWichita played an important role
in Wichita and some of theevents that happened there and
everything else.
Plus, they have a lot ofAfrican art that's on display
there.
It's a great museum to visit.
I highly encourage you to govisit it.
But in addition to HattieMcDaniel, a couple other people
(05:52):
that you might have heard ofwere born there.
Football greats Gale Sayers andBarry Sanders were also born in
Wichita.
Now the museum has plans tomove into a larger facility in
the next few years, buthopefully some of someone will
keep that old church open,because I really think it's part
of the appeal.
Now I also told you about aniconic restaurant.
(06:14):
In 1958, there was two brothers, fellows, by the name of Dan
and Frank Carney.
They were both college students.
They borrowed $600 from theirmother to open up a pizza place.
They had this vision.
They said you know what wecould make pizza better than
just anybody else around here?
(06:34):
And college students love pizza.
So I see a business opportunity.
Now the name for their businesscame about because of the size
of their building kind of areally small building.
So they had to fit the name ofthe business to fit the building
.
They only had so much room onthis little bitty building and
(06:59):
so they named it Pizza Hut.
Now they had an eye on buyingquality ingredients from local
farmers and delivering a qualityproduct, and I'm telling you,
the business took off.
Now, at the time they opened,you could buy a large pepperoni
pizza for $2.
Man, those days are long gone,but with success.
(07:21):
They opened up five more storesby the end of 1958.
And today Pizza Hut has closeto 20,000 stores across the
world.
But you can still see theoriginal store.
It's actually a museum.
There's nobody in there.
When I went and visited, it'sjust this building and you walk
(07:45):
up the door's unlocked and youwalk in and you're in there by
yourself or at least I was.
But the original is now amuseum and it's on the campus of
Wichita State University.
As soon as you drive into theWichita State University complex
.
It's right there on the left.
It's just a little buildingsitting off in a grassy area.
Right there on the left.
It's just a little buildingsitting off in a grassy area.
Walk up the front, walk of thesidewalk there, open the door,
(08:08):
walk in and they have everythingin there.
It tells you about the startingof Pizza Hut, how they started
a lot of old memorabilia fromwhen they first started.
It tells their historythroughout the years and
everything.
But there is a Buckingham sign.
There's nobody in there, thoughthing.
But there is a Buckingham sign.
There's nobody in there, though.
But it's a cool little museumand tells you a little bit about
(08:29):
entrepreneurship and how thesetwo guys started a dynasty in
the pizza industry.
But Wichita has so much more tooffer.
Now, I am a huge history buffand this place is full of
history, and I'm going to tellyou a few more places that I
think you really should visitwhen you're there.
Now, every time I go places, Itell people that I like history,
(08:54):
I like historic things, I liketo visit historic places, learn
about the history of the places.
I visit the culture, the people, because I think it's very
interesting.
I mean, to me, history tells uswhere somebody originated from
and what happened therethroughout the years.
And one of the but they, youknow they always tell me you
(09:17):
love history.
You got to go visit our museum.
We have a really cool museum.
Sometimes they're good,sometimes they're not.
Wichita has one of the bestmuseums I have ever visited
anywhere.
It's called the Museum of WorldTreasures and it's in Old Town,
(09:39):
wichita.
The museum was founded by alocal doctor and his wife back
in 2001.
Now they had a love of traveland history, just like I do, but
they took it a step further.
Every time they visited thesehistoric sites around the world,
they wound up purchasingartifacts whenever they could.
(10:00):
They brought them home and soonthey had so much that they just
decided to open a museum.
Well, it outgrew its originalspace and it moved to its
current location in 2003 in OldTown, wichita, and since the
opening, the museum has grown tohouse nearly 9,000 artifacts
(10:20):
from over 250 differentcollectors.
They wound up getting thingsfrom all of their friends, and
everybody wanted to contribute.
Now Old Town is actually a 20block section in downtown
Wichita that has seen arevitalization like you wouldn't
believe.
(10:40):
There's all these old buildingsand warehouses dating from the
1800s that were repurposed intoa shopping and dining
destination.
There's all kinds of stuff todo down there and it's a
destination all in itself, butthe museum houses, like I said,
about 9,000 artifacts on threefloors and they have rare and
(11:05):
unusual pieces that spaneverything from a seal used to
sign documents from 3,000 BC toa section of the Berlin Wall.
When you first walk in, there'sfossilized dinosaur remains,
but they've got all kinds ofstuff.
They've got ancient artifactsfrom Mesopotamia, rome, ancient
(11:27):
Greece, egypt, pre-hispanic eras.
There's also displays fromAfrica and Asia.
There's memorabilia andartifacts from the Revolutionary
War and the founding of America, all the way through the
Vietnam conflict, and now thiswill blow your mind this museum
has signed documents from everyUS president.
(11:53):
Now I've been places where youmight see, you know, a signature
from Lincoln or something likethat.
This place has a document fromevery US president.
There is stuff there that youjust would not believe.
You could spend two or threehours there.
It's fantastic.
You've got to visit this place.
(12:14):
If you're ever in Wichita, I'mtelling you.
But Wichita has something forjust about everyone.
They have a place calledBotanica, and Botanica is 18
acres of gardens.
That displays plants andflowers native to the area and
some that aren't.
I mean they've got a Chinesegarden complete with a quarry
(12:35):
pond.
They've got a butterfly garden,they've got fountains, streams,
they've got a bee house wherethey produce honey, they've got
a big carousel for the kids andthose that are young at heart
and just lots of eventshappening there.
They do yoga and tai chi andmusic events and just a whole
(12:57):
lot more.
There's a little model trainthat runs through the park.
I mean there's not one you canride, but an actual model train
that runs through the park.
I mean there's not one you canride, but an actual model train
that's on the outside, and theyhave all kinds of stuff there.
I mean it's a gorgeous place.
You talk about a place whereyou can get some photos.
That is a place that you canvisit, real family friendly.
There's kids running aroundeverywhere, but it's just a
(13:19):
really cool place.
I'm not a big, you know, govisit our outdoor garden section
but I enjoyed it, I'm tellingyou.
You can easily spend a half aday or longer just enjoying the
gardens and taking a break, andthey have a whole lot of other
little museums around town.
Close to Old Town there's aplace called the Great Plains
(13:41):
Transportation Museum.
Close to Old Town, there's aplace called the Great Plains
Transportation Museum.
Now, if you enjoy trains andtrain history, this is your
place.
If you're driving through nearOld Town, there's an overpass
train tracks going over theroads and when I was there and
I'm assuming it's probably theremost of the time there's an old
locomotive, an old train,parked on those train tracks and
(14:05):
it's right outside of thismuseum and they have just all
kinds of stuff there.
But it's the Great PlainsTransportation Museum.
You got somebody that lovestrains and train history in your
family.
Stop by and check it out.
Now, I'm also retired militaryand I like to visit a lot of
(14:32):
military history and militaryplaces.
Well, they have VeteransMemorial Park and it's located
on the northern banks of theArkansas River, and Veterans
Memorial Park has a big walkingtrail that leads to all the
various memorials honoringveterans and previous military
conflicts.
There are 21 differentmemorials in this park,
(14:52):
including memorials honoringpeople that were awarded the
Purple Heart.
There's one for POWs and MIAs.
There's one for the KansasKorean War veterans, World War
II Revolutionary War, a CivilWar Reconciliation Memorial.
(15:12):
It's just really cool and niceto see.
It's a really nice park rightin downtown Wichita.
Now here's something aboutWichita.
I did not know until I arrived.
Did you know that Wichita iscalled the air capital of the
world?
And I didn't realize how muchaviation history was in Wichita.
(15:34):
I mean, I knew there was aBoeing facility in Wichita that
built the B-29 Superfortressduring World War II, but Wichita
has a long and storied historyinvolving aviation.
Companies like Beechcraft,cessna, learjet, textron and
(15:55):
many others were early pioneersthat started up in Wichita and
made it the air capital of theworld and as such, they have the
Kansas Aviation Museum.
It's located on the old WichitaAir Terminal grounds, not near
where the modern airport is.
(16:16):
In fact it's across the tarmac.
You can look across and see anAir Force base, but it has
several aircraft on hand fromvarious times in aviation
history.
I mean you see old biplanes,you see things about the
pioneers.
It tells you about the pioneerslike Cessna and things like
this, that made Wichita famousand it was pretty important back
(16:39):
in the day.
I mean Charles Lindbergh andAmelia Earhart both landed there
at one time.
In fact I think Amelia Earhartis from Kansas.
In fact, fred Astaire evenentertained the crowd one time
while he was waiting to board aplane, did a little dance number
there in the terminal and it'sone of these art deco buildings.
(17:02):
So the building itself ispretty cool and there's a lot of
stuff in there to see.
Now here's something reallycool.
They also have what is calledthe B-29 dock hangar.
Now it is located near thecurrent airport, the Dwight D
Eisenhower National Airport, andit houses a true gem.
(17:23):
It is a fully restored B-29Superfortress with the nickname
Doc from Snow White and SevenDwarves.
Doc was one of the dwarvesThey've got a caricature of Doc
on the nose of the plane and itwas one of the planes that was
built in Wichita at the Boeingfactory during World War II.
(17:48):
In fact, it is only one of twoflying B-29 Superfortresses
today, the other being locatedin Dallas, texas.
Now there were a total of 3,970of these big superfortress
planes built at five differentBoeing plants between 1943 and
(18:11):
1946.
The Boeing plant in Wichitabuilt 1,644 of those planes.
So, after recovering this old,dilapidated aircraft in the
desert in 1988, it was fullyrestored and deemed flight
worthy in 2016.
And since then it's been ondisplay in Wichita with its own
(18:35):
hangar where you can get aguided tour.
They'll tell you all about theplane.
There's all these volunteersthat work here and they'll show
you the plane.
They'll tell you all about theplane.
There's all these volunteersthat work here and they'll show
you the plane.
They'll take you inside theplane, let you look around in it
.
All around the plane there'sthings on the wall which will
tell you about the plane and thehistory of the superfortress.
(18:56):
And here's the neat thing youcan even take a flight on that
plane.
Of course, it's going to costyou some money and they have
three or four different priceranges depending on where you're
sitting on the plane.
You can sit in the nose gunnersection.
You can sit in the cargosection.
There's several different areasyou can sit in.
(19:18):
Every now and then they'll goup and they'll advertise it.
They'll say you can book aflight on this plane and we'll
take you up to fly you aroundfor an hour or two.
But you need to check becauseit's not always there, because
they take this thing out andtour it around the United States
at air shows.
So when it's not flying aroundat air shows around the various
(19:41):
air shows in the US, you canvisit this, and it was there
when I was there and I had agreat guided tour and learned
all about this thing.
I love looking at these oldWorld War II planes that made
history.
Now, nothing epitomizes the cityof Wichita more than a
(20:02):
44-foot-tall Keeper of thePlains sculpture.
It's sitting on top of a30-foot rock at the convergence
of the Big and Little ArkansasRivers, just a couple of hundred
yards from this VeteransMemorial Park I was telling you
about.
(20:22):
The sculpture was donated by aNative American artist named
Black Bear Bozen and it wasdonated to the citizens of the
city of Wichita in 1974.
And it's accessible by awalking bridge.
There's a bridge that spansfrom both banks of the river and
(20:45):
you can get to it from eitherbank, and every evening,
depending on weather conditions,the sculpture is lit up by the
ring of fire and these are firepots that are lit and they burn
for 15 minutes.
It happens just after dusk andthere's usually hundreds of
(21:06):
people on the bridges and on thebanks of the river checking out
this thing.
I mean, I was there one nightwhen they did it and it is a
beautiful, beautiful sight andit stands majestically over the
rivers there and it is thesymbol that Wichita is known for
.
Basically, like I said, you needto get there a little early,
(21:29):
find you a good spot, get therea little bit before dark and
you'll have a great view forthis nightly event that happens.
But there is just so much stuffto see and do in this town.
You could spend a week thereand fully enjoy yourself.
There's festivals, there's allkinds of things going on.
There was a river fest therewhen I was there and it was a
(21:53):
huge event with live music andfood vendors and just all kinds
of things.
Right down on the river.
In downtown Wichita there's allkinds of historic buildings,
great shopping and restaurantsalong Douglas Avenue, there's
live music venues, there's greatmuseums, tons of outdoor
(22:15):
activities and just a whole lotmore.
And one thing I didn't knowthen at the time but have since
learned.
Kansas has started somethingcalled the Gunsmoke Trail from
the old Gunsmoke TV series, andWichita is part of the Gunsmoke
Trail.
And what the Gunsmoke Trail isis four cities in Wichita that
(22:39):
were prominent in the TV showWichita, abilene, hes and Dodge
City and all of thesecommunities have kind of linked
up to make the Gunsmoke Trail.
If you want to take a road tripthrough Wichita and check out
all four of them and they alllook back on the region's Wild
(23:01):
West days and they have allkinds of things and experiences
that you can do, and I'm tellingyou, if you ever get a chance,
you need to visit and you needto check these places out.
A lot of people don't think ofKansas as a destination to visit
, especially if you live, like,in the deep south or the east
coast or the west coast, but ithas a lot to offer.
(23:23):
It's a great place to visit.
Some really good food there,some nice museums, a lot of
history and some really friendlypeople.
I had a blast.
I think you will too.
You really should check it outif you ever get a chance.
So that's it for this week andnext week.
I'm going to tell you some ofthe best places to travel during
(23:47):
the month of January.
So until then, safe travels,thank you.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Traveling
Fool.
I'm your host, bob Bales, andtoday we're going to be talking
about a place that a Wild Westlegend once walked the streets.
It was also the birthplace ofan award-winning actress and the
birthplace of an iconicAmerican restaurant.
(00:20):
Now I visited this place abouta year and a half ago and I'm
telling you I had so much fun.
There was so much to see and do.
I had a blast.
So stay tuned, I'm going totell you all about it.
All right, welcome back to theTraveling Fool.
(01:06):
I'm your host, bob Bales, andtoday we are talking about
Wichita, kansas.
I visited here a couple ofyears ago about a year and a
half ago and I was blown awayand pleasantly surprised at
everything there was to see anddo there.
I was invited to Wichita by thetourism bureau and they did me
(01:28):
right.
They gave me a car and turnedme loose, showed me some things
that they said here you mightwant to go, check these places
out.
We'd like you to go here.
And then they said just exploreand have fun.
And that's what I did for aboutthree days, and it was a
whirlwind.
Three days I went everywhere Icould, didn't have a moment's
(01:48):
rest and I enjoyed every bit ofit.
Now, long before Tombstone,wyatt Earp arrived in Wichita
and while his common-law wifeopened up a brothel, he worked
as private security forbusinesses, convincing people
that they owed money and theyneeded to pay up, and by all
accounts he was prettysuccessful at doing that.
(02:09):
Now some accounts say he wasarrested a few times for
frequenting brothels in Wichita,but he later joined the local
police force but unfortunatelyhe was fired from that after
getting into a fistfight with apolitical challenger of his boss
for the position of citymarshal.
After that man said a fewdisparaging things about his
wife and the boss Not together,but two different things.
(02:34):
He didn't take kindly to it sothey fired him.
But while you're there you cansee the Wichita Jail that was
built in 1871.
It is actually on display atthe Cowtown Museum.
Now the old Cowtown Museum is anoutdoor exhibition and living
history museum of old Kansas.
The museum comprises 54authentic historic and recreated
(02:59):
buildings in an old west town.
It's got houses, a church,general store, a blacksmith,
city marshal's office, banksaloon and just a whole bunch
more.
Now they've shot a few moviesand television shows here,
because one of the few placesthat you can film 360 degrees
(03:20):
and all you see is an Old Westtown.
It's unlike some of these TVshows where you look and you see
an Old West saloon, but if youlook behind the camera there
might be a parking lot with aBMW parked in it.
No, you stand in the middle ofthe street here and everywhere
you look you think you're in anOld West town, so it was perfect
(03:40):
for filming.
It is a fantastic display andthey have people that recreate
everyday life and they also havea lot of events going on there.
You never really know what'shappening there, but if you
check out their website, youwill see all kinds of things
coming up, and if you ever getto Wichita, you need to visit
this place Now.
(04:01):
Like I told you in the intro,wichita is also the home of an
award-winning actress Now bornin this town in 1893,.
This actress would later moveto Colorado at the age of seven
with her family, before latermoving on to California, but in
the meantime she became asuccessful singer, part-time
(04:25):
actress before her breakout rolein the 1939 epic Gone with the
Wind.
I bet you know who I'm talkingabout.
She earned Best SupportingActress award for that movie
establishing her as the firstAfrican-American to win an Oscar
.
As the first African Americanto win an Oscar, she would later
(04:50):
go on to be honored with twostars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame and featured on a USpostage stamp.
I'm talking about HattieMcDaniel.
She and other prominent AfricanAmericans are showcased at the
Kansas African American Museum,which is housed in what used to
be an old Baptist church, andI'm telling you, the church is
(05:10):
fantastic.
It's one of those bigarchitectural things and you go
in there.
I think that's one of the bestparts about the museum.
Actually, it's just a beautifulplace.
I went there and I was greetedby a young fellow who is a
college student and he worksthere part-time, gave me a tour
of the place and told me allabout the history of Wichita and
(05:31):
how these prominent people inWichita played an important role
in Wichita and some of theevents that happened there and
everything else.
Plus, they have a lot ofAfrican art that's on display
there.
It's a great museum to visit.
I highly encourage you to govisit it.
But in addition to HattieMcDaniel, a couple other people
(05:52):
that you might have heard ofwere born there.
Football greats Gale Sayers andBarry Sanders were also born in
Wichita.
Now the museum has plans tomove into a larger facility in
the next few years, buthopefully some of someone will
keep that old church open,because I really think it's part
of the appeal.
Now I also told you about aniconic restaurant.
(06:14):
In 1958, there was two brothers, fellows, by the name of Dan
and Frank Carney.
They were both college students.
They borrowed $600 from theirmother to open up a pizza place.
They had this vision.
They said you know what wecould make pizza better than
just anybody else around here?
(06:34):
And college students love pizza.
So I see a business opportunity.
Now the name for their businesscame about because of the size
of their building kind of areally small building.
So they had to fit the name ofthe business to fit the building
.
They only had so much room onthis little bitty building and
(06:59):
so they named it Pizza Hut.
Now they had an eye on buyingquality ingredients from local
farmers and delivering a qualityproduct, and I'm telling you,
the business took off.
Now, at the time they opened,you could buy a large pepperoni
pizza for $2.
Man, those days are long gone,but with success.
(07:21):
They opened up five more storesby the end of 1958.
And today Pizza Hut has closeto 20,000 stores across the
world.
But you can still see theoriginal store.
It's actually a museum.
There's nobody in there.
When I went and visited, it'sjust this building and you walk
(07:45):
up the door's unlocked and youwalk in and you're in there by
yourself or at least I was.
But the original is now amuseum and it's on the campus of
Wichita State University.
As soon as you drive into theWichita State University complex
.
It's right there on the left.
It's just a little buildingsitting off in a grassy area.
Right there on the left.
It's just a little buildingsitting off in a grassy area.
Walk up the front, walk of thesidewalk there, open the door,
(08:08):
walk in and they have everythingin there.
It tells you about the startingof Pizza Hut, how they started
a lot of old memorabilia fromwhen they first started.
It tells their historythroughout the years and
everything.
But there is a Buckingham sign.
There's nobody in there, thoughthing.
But there is a Buckingham sign.
There's nobody in there, though.
But it's a cool little museumand tells you a little bit about
(08:29):
entrepreneurship and how thesetwo guys started a dynasty in
the pizza industry.
But Wichita has so much more tooffer.
Now, I am a huge history buffand this place is full of
history, and I'm going to tellyou a few more places that I
think you really should visitwhen you're there.
Now, every time I go places, Itell people that I like history,
(08:54):
I like historic things, I liketo visit historic places, learn
about the history of the places.
I visit the culture, the people, because I think it's very
interesting.
I mean, to me, history tells uswhere somebody originated from
and what happened therethroughout the years.
And one of the but they, youknow they always tell me you
(09:17):
love history.
You got to go visit our museum.
We have a really cool museum.
Sometimes they're good,sometimes they're not.
Wichita has one of the bestmuseums I have ever visited
anywhere.
It's called the Museum of WorldTreasures and it's in Old Town,
(09:39):
wichita.
The museum was founded by alocal doctor and his wife back
in 2001.
Now they had a love of traveland history, just like I do, but
they took it a step further.
Every time they visited thesehistoric sites around the world,
they wound up purchasingartifacts whenever they could.
(10:00):
They brought them home and soonthey had so much that they just
decided to open a museum.
Well, it outgrew its originalspace and it moved to its
current location in 2003 in OldTown, wichita, and since the
opening, the museum has grown tohouse nearly 9,000 artifacts
(10:20):
from over 250 differentcollectors.
They wound up getting thingsfrom all of their friends, and
everybody wanted to contribute.
Now Old Town is actually a 20block section in downtown
Wichita that has seen arevitalization like you wouldn't
believe.
(10:40):
There's all these old buildingsand warehouses dating from the
1800s that were repurposed intoa shopping and dining
destination.
There's all kinds of stuff todo down there and it's a
destination all in itself, butthe museum houses, like I said,
about 9,000 artifacts on threefloors and they have rare and
(11:05):
unusual pieces that spaneverything from a seal used to
sign documents from 3,000 BC toa section of the Berlin Wall.
When you first walk in, there'sfossilized dinosaur remains,
but they've got all kinds ofstuff.
They've got ancient artifactsfrom Mesopotamia, rome, ancient
(11:27):
Greece, egypt, pre-hispanic eras.
There's also displays fromAfrica and Asia.
There's memorabilia andartifacts from the Revolutionary
War and the founding of America, all the way through the
Vietnam conflict, and now thiswill blow your mind this museum
has signed documents from everyUS president.
(11:53):
Now I've been places where youmight see, you know, a signature
from Lincoln or something likethat.
This place has a document fromevery US president.
There is stuff there that youjust would not believe.
You could spend two or threehours there.
It's fantastic.
You've got to visit this place.
(12:14):
If you're ever in Wichita, I'mtelling you.
But Wichita has something forjust about everyone.
They have a place calledBotanica, and Botanica is 18
acres of gardens.
That displays plants andflowers native to the area and
some that aren't.
I mean they've got a Chinesegarden complete with a quarry
(12:35):
pond.
They've got a butterfly garden,they've got fountains, streams,
they've got a bee house wherethey produce honey, they've got
a big carousel for the kids andthose that are young at heart
and just lots of eventshappening there.
They do yoga and tai chi andmusic events and just a whole
(12:57):
lot more.
There's a little model trainthat runs through the park.
I mean there's not one you canride, but an actual model train
that runs through the park.
I mean there's not one you canride, but an actual model train
that's on the outside, and theyhave all kinds of stuff there.
I mean it's a gorgeous place.
You talk about a place whereyou can get some photos.
That is a place that you canvisit, real family friendly.
There's kids running aroundeverywhere, but it's just a
(13:19):
really cool place.
I'm not a big, you know, govisit our outdoor garden section
but I enjoyed it, I'm tellingyou.
You can easily spend a half aday or longer just enjoying the
gardens and taking a break, andthey have a whole lot of other
little museums around town.
Close to Old Town there's aplace called the Great Plains
(13:41):
Transportation Museum.
Close to Old Town, there's aplace called the Great Plains
Transportation Museum.
Now, if you enjoy trains andtrain history, this is your
place.
If you're driving through nearOld Town, there's an overpass
train tracks going over theroads and when I was there and
I'm assuming it's probably theremost of the time there's an old
locomotive, an old train,parked on those train tracks and
(14:05):
it's right outside of thismuseum and they have just all
kinds of stuff there.
But it's the Great PlainsTransportation Museum.
You got somebody that lovestrains and train history in your
family.
Stop by and check it out.
Now, I'm also retired militaryand I like to visit a lot of
(14:32):
military history and militaryplaces.
Well, they have VeteransMemorial Park and it's located
on the northern banks of theArkansas River, and Veterans
Memorial Park has a big walkingtrail that leads to all the
various memorials honoringveterans and previous military
conflicts.
There are 21 differentmemorials in this park,
(14:52):
including memorials honoringpeople that were awarded the
Purple Heart.
There's one for POWs and MIAs.
There's one for the KansasKorean War veterans, World War
II Revolutionary War, a CivilWar Reconciliation Memorial.
(15:12):
It's just really cool and niceto see.
It's a really nice park rightin downtown Wichita.
Now here's something aboutWichita.
I did not know until I arrived.
Did you know that Wichita iscalled the air capital of the
world?
And I didn't realize how muchaviation history was in Wichita.
(15:34):
I mean, I knew there was aBoeing facility in Wichita that
built the B-29 Superfortressduring World War II, but Wichita
has a long and storied historyinvolving aviation.
Companies like Beechcraft,cessna, learjet, textron and
(15:55):
many others were early pioneersthat started up in Wichita and
made it the air capital of theworld and as such, they have the
Kansas Aviation Museum.
It's located on the old WichitaAir Terminal grounds, not near
where the modern airport is.
(16:16):
In fact it's across the tarmac.
You can look across and see anAir Force base, but it has
several aircraft on hand fromvarious times in aviation
history.
I mean you see old biplanes,you see things about the
pioneers.
It tells you about the pioneerslike Cessna and things like
this, that made Wichita famousand it was pretty important back
(16:39):
in the day.
I mean Charles Lindbergh andAmelia Earhart both landed there
at one time.
In fact I think Amelia Earhartis from Kansas.
In fact, fred Astaire evenentertained the crowd one time
while he was waiting to board aplane, did a little dance number
there in the terminal and it'sone of these art deco buildings.
(17:02):
So the building itself ispretty cool and there's a lot of
stuff in there to see.
Now here's something reallycool.
They also have what is calledthe B-29 dock hangar.
Now it is located near thecurrent airport, the Dwight D
Eisenhower National Airport, andit houses a true gem.
(17:23):
It is a fully restored B-29Superfortress with the nickname
Doc from Snow White and SevenDwarves.
Doc was one of the dwarvesThey've got a caricature of Doc
on the nose of the plane and itwas one of the planes that was
built in Wichita at the Boeingfactory during World War II.
(17:48):
In fact, it is only one of twoflying B-29 Superfortresses
today, the other being locatedin Dallas, texas.
Now there were a total of 3,970of these big superfortress
planes built at five differentBoeing plants between 1943 and
(18:11):
1946.
The Boeing plant in Wichitabuilt 1,644 of those planes.
So, after recovering this old,dilapidated aircraft in the
desert in 1988, it was fullyrestored and deemed flight
worthy in 2016.
And since then it's been ondisplay in Wichita with its own
(18:35):
hangar where you can get aguided tour.
They'll tell you all about theplane.
There's all these volunteersthat work here and they'll show
you the plane.
They'll tell you all about theplane.
There's all these volunteersthat work here and they'll show
you the plane.
They'll take you inside theplane, let you look around in it
.
All around the plane there'sthings on the wall which will
tell you about the plane and thehistory of the superfortress.
(18:56):
And here's the neat thing youcan even take a flight on that
plane.
Of course, it's going to costyou some money and they have
three or four different priceranges depending on where you're
sitting on the plane.
You can sit in the nose gunnersection.
You can sit in the cargosection.
There's several different areasyou can sit in.
(19:18):
Every now and then they'll goup and they'll advertise it.
They'll say you can book aflight on this plane and we'll
take you up to fly you aroundfor an hour or two.
But you need to check becauseit's not always there, because
they take this thing out andtour it around the United States
at air shows.
So when it's not flying aroundat air shows around the various
(19:41):
air shows in the US, you canvisit this, and it was there
when I was there and I had agreat guided tour and learned
all about this thing.
I love looking at these oldWorld War II planes that made
history.
Now, nothing epitomizes the cityof Wichita more than a
(20:02):
44-foot-tall Keeper of thePlains sculpture.
It's sitting on top of a30-foot rock at the convergence
of the Big and Little ArkansasRivers, just a couple of hundred
yards from this VeteransMemorial Park I was telling you
about.
(20:22):
The sculpture was donated by aNative American artist named
Black Bear Bozen and it wasdonated to the citizens of the
city of Wichita in 1974.
And it's accessible by awalking bridge.
There's a bridge that spansfrom both banks of the river and
(20:45):
you can get to it from eitherbank, and every evening,
depending on weather conditions,the sculpture is lit up by the
ring of fire and these are firepots that are lit and they burn
for 15 minutes.
It happens just after dusk andthere's usually hundreds of
(21:06):
people on the bridges and on thebanks of the river checking out
this thing.
I mean, I was there one nightwhen they did it and it is a
beautiful, beautiful sight andit stands majestically over the
rivers there and it is thesymbol that Wichita is known for
.
Basically, like I said, you needto get there a little early,
(21:29):
find you a good spot, get therea little bit before dark and
you'll have a great view forthis nightly event that happens.
But there is just so much stuffto see and do in this town.
You could spend a week thereand fully enjoy yourself.
There's festivals, there's allkinds of things going on.
There was a river fest therewhen I was there and it was a
(21:53):
huge event with live music andfood vendors and just all kinds
of things.
Right down on the river.
In downtown Wichita there's allkinds of historic buildings,
great shopping and restaurantsalong Douglas Avenue, there's
live music venues, there's greatmuseums, tons of outdoor
(22:15):
activities and just a whole lotmore.
And one thing I didn't knowthen at the time but have since
learned.
Kansas has started somethingcalled the Gunsmoke Trail from
the old Gunsmoke TV series, andWichita is part of the Gunsmoke
Trail.
And what the Gunsmoke Trail isis four cities in Wichita that
(22:39):
were prominent in the TV showWichita, abilene, hes and Dodge
City and all of thesecommunities have kind of linked
up to make the Gunsmoke Trail.
If you want to take a road tripthrough Wichita and check out
all four of them and they alllook back on the region's Wild
(23:01):
West days and they have allkinds of things and experiences
that you can do, and I'm tellingyou, if you ever get a chance,
you need to visit and you needto check these places out.
A lot of people don't think ofKansas as a destination to visit
, especially if you live, like,in the deep south or the east
coast or the west coast, but ithas a lot to offer.
(23:23):
It's a great place to visit.
Some really good food there,some nice museums, a lot of
history and some really friendlypeople.
I had a blast.
I think you will too.
You really should check it outif you ever get a chance.
So that's it for this week andnext week.
I'm going to tell you some ofthe best places to travel during
(23:47):
the month of January.
So until then, safe travels,thank you.
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