Marathon Pundit: Eight Wonders of Kansas announced

Okay, this may seem like a comedy piece, but after my week in Kansas last summer, which I dubbed "My Kansas Kronikles," I can assure you that there are many places worth visiting in the Sunflower State.

Here they are, the Eight Wonders of Kansas, as announced Tuesday by Governorn Kathleen Sebelius:

•The world’s largest hand-dug well, Greensburg
•Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Barton and Stafford counties
•Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene
•Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson
•Underground Salt Museum, Hutchinson
•Monument Rocks and Castle Rock, Gove County
•St. Fidelis Church (Cathedral of the Plains), Victoria
•Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County

The Kanas City Star provides a photo gallery which is available here.

More from the Star:

"We were looking for places that were iconic, places that elicited a 'wow!' or places that are literally unique to the state," Penner said. "...We got some nastygrams when the list (of 24 finalists) came out. But that's good, too. We want people talking."

The eight wonders were winnowed from 350 nominees submitted by people from throughout the state. More than 24,000 votes, from across Kansas and the country, were cast on finalists chosen by a committee.

Here's my take: I didn't visit Hutchinson, so I missed both the salt mine (which I regret, because it looks pretty neat), and the Cosmosphere. I was in Kansas for just a week, and I was looking for things and places I hadn't seen before, and since I've been to the Kennedy Space Center and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the latter didn't make the cut.

More about the rest: "The Cathedral on the Plains" in Victoria I saw from Interstate 70. I didn't stop there, because I wanted to get to to the Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, while making a quick detour to Russell, before sunset.

Here are Kansas Kronikles posts about that part of the trip:

Wetlands and Wildlife Scenic Byway
Bob Dole's Russell

I did travel to Greensburg, but the The world’s largest hand-dug well was closed to the public, as it it today. You can get a look at the well museum before the May 4, 2007 courtesy of the Greensburg Chamber of Commerce.

Here once again are my Greensburg posts:

Greensburg, the fall and rise, part one
Greensburg, the fall and rise, part two
Greensburg, the fall and rise, part three
Greensburg, the fall and rise, part four
Greensburg, the fall and rise, part five
Greensburg, the fall and rise, part six

The Monument Rocks are worth the six miles of driving on an unpaved road to get there. I didn't make it to the smaller, less grandiose Castle Rock, which is located about twenty miles to the east of the larger formation. Both outroppings are part of the same formation consisting of Niobrara Chalk.

Both sites are located on private land, but visitors are welcome.

The Monument Rocks

The Tallgrass National Prairie Reserve is in Chase County, in the heart of the Flint Hills region. As I blogged yesterday, perhaps the most famous resident of the county, Easter Heathman, passed away at age 89 Tuesday night. Heathman lived just south of the preserve in Bazaar.

Here are my Chase County posts:

Chase County Courthouse
The Flint Hills
A taste of home

And finally, Ike. Although most of my series was presented a positive view of Kansas, I had to scold the state for not elevating Dwight D. Eisenhower, a great general, president, and American, to the level of state icon, in the way Alexander Hamilton is in New York, or Andrew Jackson is in Tennessee.

True, an integral part of Eisenhower's nature (and genius) was modesty, so maybe he would've recoiled at reaching hero status. But let's give the man his due.

Although Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, his native Kansans parents moved to Abilene, Ike's father's hometown, two years later. Abilene was Eisenhower's home until he graduated from West Point. During World War I (Ike never made it to Europe, much to his disappointment) he was briefly stationed at Fort Leavenworth, and after the war attended the prestigous Command and General Staff School there, graduating at the top of his class.

Fortunately, the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene was named one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas. You can read about the museum, and Abilene in the posts below:

Abilene
The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

Closer to home, last year Illinois used an online poll to determine its seven wonders. The list is so lame, that an Illinois tradition, ballot-box stuffing, must have been involved in deciding the winners. I'm serious. No Lincoln sites? Oh, yeah, he's our icon. Where's the Sears Tower? Galena? Or the Cahokia Mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage site?

Oh the picture. Since I snubbed Hutchinson last summer, I thought I'd include this photograph taken near Lindsborg, about 50 miles from the city.

Related post:

My Kansas Kronikles: A thirty nine post series

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