On a recent road trip to Moab, Utah we took a little longer route so the kids could say they’d been to two new states in our quest to visit all 50 states: Missouri and Kansas. While we were not wanting to spend a lot of time in these locations (in order to get to our destination more quickly, plus we also had our dog with us), we also didn’t want to just drive without seeing anything. So we went off the beaten path in Kansas City and Kansas.
Off the Beaten Path in Kansas City
Central Library Ramp
First, we swung through downtown Kansas City around lunch time. Our destination was the Central Library to see their amazing parking ramp. We book nerds loved it!
World’s Largest Shuttlecocks
From the library, we headed toward the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to see…wait for it…the world’s largest shuttlecocks. Who knew that was a thing?! The area around the museum was lovely and green, right by the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
If we’d had more time, and we didn’t have our dog waiting in our vehicle, we would have loved to have seen the National World War I Museum and Monument, the inside of the Nelson-Atkins, and eaten some BBQ, but alas, maybe another time.
For more information about Kansas City’s thriving art scene, check out this post from Dang Travelers!
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Off the Beaten Path in Kansas
As we drove through Kansas, we made a few more fun stops. Well, maybe amusing stops would be more accurate.
Truckhenge
First, a place we didn’t end up stopping to see was Truckhenge near Topeka. As you can guess, this is located outside town on a property that appeared to have a lot of salvage vehicles. Rather than heed the request to clean up the property, they turned it into a replica of Stonehenge.
Atomic Annie
Next, we did actually stop to see Atomic Annie near Junction City. It was one of three cannons whose original purpose was to shoot atomic bombs. They were decommissioned in the 1970’s. Unfortunately, we discovered that you can’t actually go up to see it anymore, so we had to settle for seeing it from the bottom of a hill.
Van Gogh Replica
So our endeavors to get off the beaten path in Kansas does get more interesting. We stayed in Goodland that night, then set out the next day to see the large replica of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers that resides in Goodland. It’s huge!
Mount Sunflower
Our last fun stop in Kansas was Mount Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas that is, not surprisingly, located right near the Colorado border. It’s located in a pasture on private property, but they did a nice job of making it a destination. It even had a Little Free Library!
Without taking a bunch of time out of our schedule, we were able to make the drive through Kansas City and Kansas a little more fun.
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