More fun in Central Kansas.

We started the day Thursday in Salina, KS and would be spending another day exploring the Smoky Hills area of Kansas before we continued our journey East.  Our first stop of the day was Mushroom Rock State Park.  

This is a tiny park (it's only 5 acres) in the middle of Kansas farmland and is named for the unique rock formations found there. 

I loved the different shapes and sizes of the rocks, but I also loved the surrounding scenery.  I've been fascinated by all of the windmills that I've seen across the state.  This is just one of many.

Peaches has really been in her element here in Kansas.  She really enjoys climbing and all of the rock formations have been a regular playground for her.  She is a pretty happy girl, but she has been happier this week than I've seen her most other places.  She is so full of life and makes the most of every adventure and I am blessed to have her on this trip with me. 

We left Mushroom Rock State Park and headed a few miles down the road to Kanopolis State Park.  This park is home to Kanopolis Lake and has several hiking trails.  We stopped at the Ranger station and the Ranger there recommended the Buffalo Track Canyon Trail into the Horsethief Canyon. So we were off for a hike.

This was a great hike for us.  While Peaches is always ready to go, anytime, anywhere, Maddie has slowed down and needs a trail that isn't too challenging.  This trail was the perfect combination of hills and flat areas with some rocky outcroppings.

The trail can be done as a loop or as an out and back hike depending on your skill level.  As we reached the end of the trail where we were required to do a bit of rock-climbing to finish the loop, a decision needed to be made...and Peaches was ready to go!

However, Maddie just couldn't make the climb.  I couldn't get that far without climbing to the top to see the view though, so Peaches and I left Maddie down below where she patiently waited for us to explore above and then we climbed down and returned the way we had come. 

As we retraced our steps to return to the Jeep, I really enjoyed the scenery along the way...despite the fact that a very excited Peaches pulled me down into the mud on a slippery hill...and I spent the rest of the day with a muddy knee.

I also enjoyed the scent from these amazing flowering trees.  The whole area smelled of sweet flowers.

I returned to the Jeep with two wet and muddy girls...and I was a little muddy myself, and I enjoyed a little picnic lunch right there.  It was a beautiful and peaceful place to spend some time and if I'm ever back in Kansas, I would definitely return and spend more time here.

After finishing lunch, we continued on our way.  The plan-to find Dorothy!  So we were off to Wamego to visit the Oz Museum.  For the first time on our trip, we had a few rain showers as we traveled there.  But luckily, the rain stopped before we arrived. 

After a quick visit to the museum, I got the girls out for a walk around town.  It is a cute little town with Toto statutes around town and a short section of Yellow Brick Road.  Of course we had to take a walk that way!

We enjoyed our walk, but could see that a storm was moving our way, so we headed back to the Jeep to continue on our journey toward Kansas City.

Along the way, we made one final stop at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.  I've found over the years that college campuses are a great place to walk the girls when we are on the road so we couldn't pass this one by.

I really love campuses in Spring because they are full of flowers.  I was not disappointed on this stop and I was especially excited to find lilacs!

We had an excellent walk and the campus was beautiful.  Peaches and Maddie made lots of friends and got lots of love from everyone.  It was a successful walk and I arrived back at the Jeep with two tired and happy girls for the remainder of our trip.

It had been another good day on the road and we had officially finished our whirlwind tour around Kansas. We had returned to Kansas City where we would be spending the next three nights.  It isn't often that we sit still that long on vacation, but I was looking forward to a little less driving and a little time to slow down a bit.   But I was so glad we had gotten out to explore all that Kansas has to offer.  I was not disappointed.