On Wednesday we rolled out of bed around 1130, had a big brunch and eventually headed downtown to the Wichita Sedgewick County Historical Museum. We only made it through 1 1/2 of the 4 floors before the museum closed, we were so engrossed in the displays. Awesome museum, we’re looking forward to our next trip out here to finish walking through the building. One of the displays is called “Wichita Cottage” and is a perfect replica of a middle class family’s home in the 1890s. It’s an amazing, very detailed display, down to the way the house was wired!
The Historical Museum, didn’t have time to tour it this time but we will.
At 5:00 the bells started ringing. They played a few songs, including My Country ‘Tis of Thee.
Phone with wiring.
The phone still works! For a dime you can still make local calls, but we didn’t have a dime…
Original light switches. All of the lights in this exhibit are wired up like they were in the actual house.
A picture in the museum featuring a pug puppy!!
We think this is a vacuum, there was no information on it but we thought it was fascinating.
Wichita is the founding home to Coleman, Mentholatum, Pizza Hut, White Castle and a few other nationally known companies. It’s also the Air Capital of the world! Airbus is still here, Cessna, Beechcraft and a few others were started here. We’ll make the Aviation Museum next time, too.
After the Museum closed we walked down to the river to get some pre-Thanksgiving exercise in and see what was down there. We found a few more scultures, a lot of fountains (all shut off now), a flock of Canada Geese and a great walking trail. The river bank has been built up on both sides into miles of paved paths with many great sitting areas, interpretive panels with more local history and green parks everywhere. Next time we come we’ll bring our bikes and rollerblades!
Wichita’s Riverwalk is impressive. Many miles of paved path along both sides of the river.
A sculpture across from Drury Plaza. The trees are still so pretty!
Geese taking to the sky over Dave’s head.
Keeper of the Plains
The Babysitter.
Pioneers
We also came across the America3, a huge racing yacht built and raced in the early 90’s. Unlike most racing yachts built by boat builders and enthusiasts this was built by aerospace engineers. It’s massive! The mast is 110 feet tall and the keel is huge! I’ve never seen one like it.
The keel of the America3.
The America3, looking westward toward the water.
America3, perched above the river.
From the river we wandered through town admiring more of the gorgeous historic buildings and eventually ended up in Old Town. There we found the Museum of World Treasures, another one on our must-do list for next trip.
The Methodist Church across the street was not to be outdone.
We stopped it for a second so we could actually see it.
The First Baptist Church
99 words and phrases coined by Shakespeare, I didn’t know he had that many.
There are even sculptures alongside the freeway.
One of my favorites, this is E2. It moves with the wind! Today was a really windy day so it was spinning like crazy.
This is a massive church.
The Museum of World Treasures with a history of Old Town out front.
I don’t know what this building is or was but it’s beautiful.
We’re really impressed with Wichita. It’s very clean, very artsy, and has lots of history.
Today it’s just really icy so instead of driving around we skated down the road to the Spangles restaurant for hot cocoa, coffee and wifi.
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!