F6 The Impulsive Traveler Weather or not, Wichita has its charms by Stephen Amidon
If you spend a couple of days explor- ing Wichita, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll run into the Berlin Wall. As I prepared for a short stay there, I learned that at least two substantial slabs of the Cold War relic are promi- nently displayed in and near the city. At first, that didn’t feel completely inappro- priate. After all, Kansas’s most populous city has become something of a symbol for the cultural and political divisions that plague the nation. It’s home to Op- eration Rescue, the radical antiabortion organization, and was the scene of the shooting of abortion doctor George Till- er last year. Koch Industries, a sprawling energy company headquartered in town, helps fund a variety of conservative en- terprises and has been linked to the tea party movement. Soon after the 2008 election, a local church made national headlines by posting a sign claiming that President Obama is a Muslim. It didn’t take me long after arriving,
however, to discover that I had not jetted into some turbulent vortex of American discontent but rather was visiting a sleepy, endearingly eccentric city that’s capable of exercising considerable charm. That became apparent as I took an in-
troductory walk along the Arkansas (pronounced ar-KANSAS) River, which cuts through downtown. This is perhaps the finest spot in the city, where beauti- fully landscaped waterfront walkways lead you through a cluster of museums. The most impressive is Exploration Place, a kid-oriented science museum that’s heavily influenced by Wichita’s status as a center for the aviation indus- try. Not surprisingly, the best displays were the flight simulators. There’s also a phone-booth-size machine that simu- lates being in a Kansas tornado. It was realistic enough to make me ask about the location of a shelter once I got back to the hotel. From downtown, I walked through an incessant prairie wind to the majestic Keeper of the Plains monument, a scene- stealing 44-foot-tall steel sculpture of a Native American figure situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the river. It’s a stunning bit of civic sculpture, most impressive for 15 minutes each night when flaming jets erupt around it to create the “Ring of Fire.” Just beyond this is the Mid-American All-Indian Cen- ter, which is more interesting for its eve- ning performances and powwows than for its somewhat stodgy permanent dis- plays. After dining on a delicious local steak,
I took a nighttime walk through the city’s Old Town district, which bustles with restaurants and bars. Both the Riv- er City Brewery and the Anchor offered a wide array of local wheat beer, and a ci- gar bar named Mort’s served a wicked martini. Old Town was also home to my first
destination the next morning, the breathtakingly eclectic Museum of World Treasures. The brainchild of a lo- cal doctor who clearly liked to whip out his American Express card when on the road, it houses one of those sections of the Berlin Wall, as well as mummies, handwritten notes by Ronald Reagan,
IF YOU GO
Want to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Wichita? Here’s what you need to know for the weekend of July 23-25:
GETTING THERE American offers one-stop flights from BWI Marshall to Wichita, with fares starting at $469.
WHERE TO STAY Hotel at Old Town 830 E. First St. 316-267-4800
www.hotelatoldtown.com The city’s most luxurious and centrally located hotel. Rooms from $116.
The Castle Inn Riverside 1155 N. River Blvd.
www.castleinnriverside.com
An architectural duplicate of a castle built in Scotland. Rooms start at $125.
WHERE TO EAT Scotch & Sirloin 5325 E. Kellogg Dr. S. 316-685-8701
www.scotchandsirloin.net The best steaks in Wichita, and that’s saying something. Prices start at $19.95.
The Anchor
1109 E. Douglas Ave. 316-260-8989
www.anchorwichita.com Serves a variety of regional microbrews. Great burgers and cheesesteaks, too. Entrees start at $9.95.
Donut Whole 1720 E. Douglas Ave. 316-262-3700
www.thedonutwhole.com Freshly made doughnuts and great coffee in a laid-back atmosphere. Just look for the big plastic chicken. Doughnuts $1 to $1.50 each, $8 to $12 per dozen.
PAUL CHAUNCEY/ALAMY The 44-foot-tall Keeper of the Plains stands guard over the Arkansas River. At night, jets of fire erupt around the statue.
dinosaur remains, Spartan weaponry from the Battle of Thermopylae and the pitchfork used by Ray Bolger’s Scare- crow in “The Wizard of Oz,” yet another reminder that I had touched down in Tornado Alley. Across the street was A Legacy An- tique Mall, home to some unusual and cheap paraphernalia culled from local homesteads. From there I traveled down Douglas Avenue, the city’s main drag, to the popular Donut Whole, which can be easily identified by the giant plastic chicken perched, for no discernible rea- son, on its roof. Still no sign of political outrage in Wichita, but plenty of evi- dence of enticing oddity. After a stop at the Sedgwick County
r A
Zoo, I spent a few hours wandering the Great Plains Nature Center, an oasis of prairie within the city limits. It is a sur- prisingly verdant and varied landscape, especially to an East Coaster like myself, programmed to view the plains as fea- tureless. Walking amid the waving tall- grass and hyperactive songbirds, I dis- covered that the ecosystem here is as varied as a marshland or a jungle. Just a lot windier. Next, a local writer and I drove 50 or so miles northwest to the town of Hutch- inson. En route, my hostess was kind enough to point out locations where dev- astating tornadoes had touched down, as well as the sites of several abandoned nuclear missile silos. In Hutchinson, we visited the Kansas Cosmosphere and
0 MILES 70 100
NEBRASKA KANSAS
Wichita 35 OKLAHOMA 44 GENE THORP/THE WASHINGTON POST
Space Center museum, whose location in small-town Kansas is at least partially justified by the proximity of those silos and the sprawling McConnell Air Force Base. Affiliated with the Smithsonian In- stitution, it is, in my view, every bit the rival of the National Air and Space Mu- seum in Washington. It also possesses a
More Travel this week FRIDAY
Escapes rides the rapids (lazily) on Virginia’s
Rappahannock River, in Weekend.
NEXT SUNDAY The Impulsive Traveler gets artsy
in the small towns of Upstate New York, in Travel.
Topeka 35 35
Kansas City
70
second slab of the Berlin Wall, this one intended to illustrate the Cold War ori- gins of the space race. Also in Hutchinson is yet another cu-
ratorial oddity, the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. Although the 650-foot el- evator descent and the mine’s low ceil- ings will test the forbearance of even the mildest claustrophobic, this attraction proves to be considerably more interest- ing than the phrase “salt museum” sug- gests. Somewhat unexpectedly, it houses a fine collection of film memorabilia: Be- cause of the mine’s aridity and constant temperature of 68 degrees, several Hol- lywood studios use it as a storage facility for original prints of many classic mov- ies, as well as other film artifacts such as a Batman costume and “Men in Black” sunglasses. I quipped to our tour guide that it must also be an ideal storm cellar. His tight smile suggested that one does not really joke about the weather in this neck of the woods. I left Wichita less concerned about po- tential political and cultural rifts. True, the nation’s divisions can still be quite visible here: Just before leaving town, I heard that the churchman who had put up the sign about Obama was running for lieutenant governor. But for the casu- al traveler, the city’s charming eccentric- ity will prove a much stronger legacy.
travel@washpost.com
Amidon is the author of the novels “Human Capital” and “Security.”
WHAT TO DO Old Town
www.oldtownwichita.com A good selection of restaurants, bars and shops, as well as the incomparable Museum of World Treasures. Be sure to try the 007 at Mort’s Martini and Cigar Bar.
Museums on the River North McLean Boulevard Fine museums along a pleasant river walk.
Great Plains Nature Center 6232 E. 29th St. N. 316-683-5499
www.gpnc.org
Open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free.
Kansas Underground Salt Museum 3504 E. Avenue G, Hutchinson 620-662-1425
www.undergroundmuseum.org Open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 1 to 6 p.m. Call ahead for tour times and reservations. $13.25, seniors and active military $11.90, ages 4-12 and Reno County residents $7.35.
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center 1100 N. Plum St., Hutchinson 800-397-0330
www.cosmo.org
Open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday noon to 7 p.m. Exhibits and an Imax theater. $17, seniors and ages 4-12 $15, age 3 and younger free.
INFORMATION
www.visitwichita.com
— S.A.
All flight and lodging information valid as of press time Thursday.
KLMNO
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010
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