Wichita, KS

[skim82]

I'm planning on visiting Wichita soon. 

I've lived in K.C. all my life, and I've never been to Wichita (actually visiting, not driving around the city on I-35). 
What is there to do in Wichita???

Is there any nightlife??
Any cool places to visit??

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 
Thanks.

[nota]

I havent' been to Wichita in years, but I remember it as being quite flat and boring.

[moderne]

    The best place to stay is the Hyatt.  The riverside park area is where the museums are.  Some nice houseing along the rivers also.  The science museum designed by Moshie Safdie blows ways Science City in KC.  Old Towne has nice collection of shops and restaurants.  Good in town botanical garden"Botanica."  Best place for breakfast is the Beacon on Douglas next to the newspaper plant. 

[KCK]

If you are visiting Wichita be sure to visit one of the Warren Theaters. It is a true experience that a real movie lover will appreciate. Quite possibly the best theaters I have ever visited. Also check out Wichita's nice little riverfront development.

My brother lives in Wellington, which is a small suburb about 30 miles outside of Wichita, so I visit every so often.

[doogieslap]

There's a Warren Theater in Old Town that caters more to an adult clientele, i.e. a sportsbar and other things, like getting drinks at your seat inside the theater itself, I think.  Old Town is a fairly cool place.  My fave place to go is a little bar called Mort's.  It has a big outdoor patio area that features live music a few times a week during the warmer months, and I think they make the best gin and tonics.  Cool place.  They also have the Hotel at Old Town.  (www.hotelatoldtown.com) that looks really well done.  From there, just explore.

And yeah, Wichita is flat.  As a matter of fact, the topography of all of Sedgwick County is flat....for being a part of the old Arkansas River floodplain and all.

[Highlander]

And yeah, Wichita is flat.   As a matter of fact, the topography of all of Sedgwick County is flat....for being a part of the old Arkansas River floodplain and all.

Although Wichita itself is quite flat, the drive to Wichita from KC down I-35 through the Flint Hills, between Wichita and Emporia is one of the most beautiful in the midwest.  Not dramatic, just the subtle rolling beauty of the Great Plains.

[KCK]

Highlander, I disagree on the beautiful thing. Aside from El Dorado, the trip between Emporia and Wichita seemed to consist mainly of cow pastures and extremely long stretches of absolutely NOTHING.

At one point there is a sign that says the next highway exit is 36 miles away. I'm sure many rural parts of the country are similar, but I hardly consider it as beautiful as the trip between KC and Springfield, Mo.

[Tosspot]

Has anyone checked out the Red Hills/Gypsum Hills in southwestern/central Kansas? They are the perfect response to morons who have only seen Kansas from I-70 and thus think the whole state is like that.

[skim82]

A year ago, I drove back form LA to KC and noticed how beautiful those "hills" were north of Wichita.  What a great place for a golf course.

Also, I used to drive to Colorado to ski a lot, and those hills west of the Manhattan exit are goregous. 

People give KS a bad rap because no one lives here, but there are some really serene areas in our state. 

[nota]

Highlander, I disagree on the beautiful thing. Aside from El Dorado, the trip between Emporia and Wichita seemed to consist mainly of cow pastures and extremely long stretches of absolutely NOTHING.

At one point there is a sign that says the next highway exit is 36 miles away. I'm sure many rural parts of the country are similar, but I hardly consider it as beautiful as the trip between KC and Springfield, Mo.

Not so. Not so at all. Even if you take the Kansas Turnpike from Emporia to Wichita, the view is magnificient. Note how big the sky is over the beautiful Flint Hills. You have to think of the pioneers seeing the vast prairies for the first time or the Indians riding over the plains. Buffalo.

If you get off the beaten path and take the roads less travelled-the county roads and highways, you have made a great journey-just places you don't see around here. You can still go out into the country around Matfield Green and Cedar Point and find open range and REAL cowboys-not the wannabes you see around here.

In the spring when they burn the prairies as they have done for generations, it is truly beautiful.

Or go along some of the rivers-caves and wildlife and other stuff.

It is really cool to ride your horse out into the prairie till all you can see is grass and rolling hills in any direction-maybe a few cows, but no sign of civilization-no roads, no cars, no fences. Just you and the horse and the sky and the Bluestem.

The eastern third of Kansas is decidedly different than the western part. Wichita more closely favors western Kansas as far as terrain.

I'm an Emporia native.

[KCK]

Im a KC native, so long stretches of prarie don't interest me. I really am not interested in the way prarie settlers saw the land. Interesting to me are lakes, rivers, and forrests. Much of Kansas' terrain does not interest me.

[bahua]

Not so. Not so at all. Even if you take the Kansas Turnpike from Emporia to Wichita, the view is magnificient. Note how big the sky is over the beautiful Flint Hills. You have to think of the pioneers seeing the vast prairies for the first time or the Indians riding over the plains. Buffalo.

They're called Bison, and the westward pioneers' first glimpses of the vast rolling prairies were hundreds of miles east of here, in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. By the time they got here, they had been cutting their way through the prairies for weeks, and they were probably sick of it, ready to get to California. Cooking your dinner with animal droppings and grass gets old, and I'm sure they were longing for some forests.

[Highlander]

They're called Bison, and the westward pioneers' first glimpses of the vast rolling prairies were hundreds of miles east of here, in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. By the time they got here, they had been cutting their way through the prairies for weeks, and they were probably sick of it, ready to get to California. Cooking your dinner with animal droppings and grass gets old, and I'm sure they were longing for some forests.

What you speak of is the "Prarie Wedge" and consisted of  tallgrass prarie and is pretty much all cornfields today.  The shortgrass prarie is well preserved in a few places such as the Flint Hills and points further north (e.g., Roosevelt National Park in N. Dakota).  Be nice to see the Bison roam once again in the Flint Hills.  It could be a nice tourist destination if a true prarie ecosystem could be re-established there.  Tosspot is right about Kansas topography, I-70 follws the crest of the flat Tertiary alluvial plain coming off the Rockies.  A trip north-south through the state reveals that everytime you appoach a the east-west oriented river valleys, the topography becomes hilly and steep.  When I lived in Tulsa and Amarillo, I took every conceivable route between those places and KC and was really surprised at the diversity of topography and landscapes in the state.

[KCN]

Oh man, my drive up to KC on Thursday took me through the flint hills on the most spectacular day ever.  The large rolling hills covered with bright green grass combined with deep blue sky and puffy white clouds, it seriously belonged as wallpaper on someone's PC.  It's the lack of trees and the simplicity, and the infinite nature of the terrain that makes it so beautiful. 

Even better is one of the taller hills by the highway has a small raggedy cross sticking out of it.  While I would usually roll my eyes at the "red state" nature of that....it really did belong on an inspirational poster or something.

[nota]

They're called Bison, and the westward pioneers' first glimpses of the vast rolling prairies were hundreds of miles east of here, in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. By the time they got here, they had been cutting their way through the prairies for weeks, and they were probably sick of it, ready to get to California. Cooking your dinner with animal droppings and grass gets old, and I'm sure they were longing for some forests.

I call them buffalo, I've always called them buffalo, I was taught buffalo in school and that is what I will always call them no matter what you say.

There were NO Flint Hills and NO vast prairies in ILL, IO, or MO until they got to the Flint Hills. Some beautiful country for sure, but the real prairie is in Kansas.

Sorry some city bigots didnt' learn geography or how not to cook and eat in the manure piles, because there are animal droppings in forests as well.

[nota]

Oh man, my drive up to KC on Thursday took me through the flint hills on the most spectacular day ever.  The large rolling hills covered with bright green grass combined with deep blue sky and puffy white clouds, it seriously belonged as wallpaper on someone's PC.   It's the lack of trees and the simplicity, and the infinite nature of the terrain that makes it so beautiful. 

Even better is one of the taller hills by the highway has a small raggedy cross sticking out of it.  While I would usually roll my eyes at the "red state" nature of that....it really did belong on an inspirational poster or something.

I'm glad to see that someone "gets" the beauty of the area. I'm envious of your drive. We've had so much rain of late that the grass is still beautifully green for sure.

[Thrillcekr]

I call them buffalo, I've always called them buffalo, I was taught buffalo in school and that is what I will always call them no matter what you say.

There were NO Flint Hills and NO vast prairies in ILL, IO, or MO until they got to the Flint Hills. Some beautiful country for sure, but the real prairie is in Kansas.

Sorry some city bigots didnt' learn geography or how not to cook and eat in the manure piles, because there are animal droppings in forests as well.

You're right.  In fact, there were even a lot more trees than there are here now before Dutch Elm disease wiped many of them out.  That happened long after the first settlers passed through.

As for Wichita, I don't think it's too bad.  I've been there a few times in the last couple years and I enjoyed myself.  Kansas as a whole does have a few scenic parts but I've been across the whole state from all directions several times and the majority of it does suck as far as scenery goes.  Especially the western half of the state.  You know it's boring when you're killing time by counting hawks on fence posts.  It can be worse though.  Take interstate 80 across Nebraska some time.  It's flat and boring to the point of being nerve wrecking.

[shinatoo]

You're right.  In fact, there were even a lot more trees than there are here now before Dutch Elm disease wiped many of them out.  That happened long after the first settlers passed through.

As for Wichita, I don't think it's too bad.  I've been there a few times in the last couple years and I enjoyed myself.  Kansas as a whole does have a few scenic parts but I've been across the whole state from all directions several times and the majority of it does suck as far as scenery goes.  Especially the western half of the state.  You know it's boring when you're killing time by counting hawks on fence posts.  It can be worse though.  Take interstate 80 across Nebraska some time.  It's flat and boring to the point of being nerve wrecking.

Damn Dutch.

Gezzy Crezzy Nota, are you eighty? Has your brain become totaly rigid and inflexable?

[bahua]

I call them buffalo, I've always called them buffalo, I was taught buffalo in school and that is what I will always call them no matter what you say.

There were NO Flint Hills and NO vast prairies in ILL, IO, or MO until they got to the Flint Hills. Some beautiful country for sure, but the real prairie is in Kansas.

Sorry some city bigots didnt' learn geography or how not to cook and eat in the manure piles, because there are animal droppings in forests as well.

You need to be nicer.

[nota]

You need to be nicer.

why should I be nicer to the person who wrote this little nastygram to me:

They're called Bison, and the westward pioneers' first glimpses of the vast rolling prairies were hundreds of miles east of here, in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. By the time they got here, they had been cutting their way through the prairies for weeks, and they were probably sick of it, ready to get to California. Cooking your dinner with animal droppings and grass gets old, and I'm sure they were longing for some forests.

I pretty much answer in the same tone that is posted to me.