Wichita

A city that was on my mind from the start of the trip was Wichita, Kansas.  The very first friend I ever made on the internet (on AOL Instant Messenger, back in 1999 when I was at home all day studying for the bar exam) lived and still lives there.  I've known Damon for 12 years now, but only met him once, when he was on business in D.C.  So in addition to meeting him again and his family for the first time, I got to see a city he'd always described as a really nice place to live.

I was there on the Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend, so I expect it was a lot quieter than usual.  But Damon was right -- it is really nice.  As usually happens when I stay with friends, a lot of my time was spent just hanging out in the suburbs.  But Damon, Kristi and Ethan made up for trapping me in a subdivision by also taking me all around town, and we stopped by some places I probably wouldn't have seen on my own, like this donut shop that offers about (I'm guessing) 60 flavors of donut.  Including one with bacon!

Kristi, Ethan & Damon.  Damon likes a nice cold beer with breakfast.

The two "things" we saw were the Keeper of the Plains, a giant metal statue of a native american (Indian?  Anyone know if there's a preferred word for the people who lived here before the Europeans arrived?) and Botanica, the botanic gardens and butterfly house.  <Ugh!  Writer's block!>  <Later:  Maybe it's not writer's block, maybe it's that I don't have a whole lot of stories to go along with the things I saw in Wichita.>

So, without fun stories to accompany my photos, here is the Keeper of the Plains:

And Botanica:

The big lily pads are 3 or 4 feet across.

How not to be seen?

From the Children's Garden at Botanica

Overall, Wichita seemed like a nice place.  Probably nicer for living in than as a tourist destination.  But if you ever find yourself there for a few days, you might like it.