Explore Kansas before summer’s end

There is still time before summer is over and the kids go back to school to sneak in a day trip and explore Kansas.

Take some time to savor the back roads, go to crazy museums or take a dip in the World’s Largest Outdoor Concrete Municipal Swimming Pool.

▪ Because of all the rain, this summer has been awesome for sandhill plums. Look for them along ridges and ditches almost anywhere in Kansas but particularly along the back roads of Reno, Stafford, Harvey and Butler counties. If you prefer to skip the experience of picking your own plums, look for the plum jelly on the Internet or at local farmers markets.

▪ This year marks the 152nd anniversary of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence. The Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau has put together a self-guided tour that observes some of the places William Quantrill and his raiders hit on Aug. 21, 1863. To find out more information about the raid and places to visit, go to http://www.freedomsfrontier.org.

▪ Visit the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Drive on the Flint Hills Scenic Byway, which is 48 miles on K-177 and is considered the gateway to the tallgrass prairie. Visit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, two miles north of Strong City on K-177. To find out more about the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, go to http://www.nps.gov/tapr/index.htm.

▪ Pioneer Bluffs is a historic ranch in Chase County that re-creates life as it was in 1916. The ranch, supported by a nonprofit foundation, is one mile north of Matfield Green on K-177. For more information, go to http://pioneerbluffs.org.

▪ The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures will reopen on Saturday after an $8 million renovation. The museum’s website says it will soon house one of the world’s largest collections of fine-scale miniatures and one of the nation’s largest collections of antique toys. The museum is at 5235 Oak St. in Kansas City, Mo. For more information, go to http://toyandminiaturemuseum.org.

▪ You can never go wrong by taking a trip to Lucas, best known for its Garden of Eden, an 11-room house and yard featuring Civil War veteran S.P. Dinsmoor’s hand-crafted concrete biblical and political sculptures. Lucas also has the Grassroots Art Center. And now the town can boast of having the largest public toilet in the Midwest with a building shaped like – a big toilet.

▪ Go for a swim in Garden City. Nearly nine decades after it opened, the mammoth swimming pool in Garden City is still billed as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Concrete Municipal Swimming Pool.” Built in 1922, it is larger than a football field and holds more than 2.6 million gallons of water. The pool, at 504 E. Maple, is on the south end of town. For more information, go to http://www.garden-city.org/index.aspx?NID=372.

▪ Try attending Kansas’ biggest rodeo, held Thursday through Saturday at the Phillips County Rodeo Grounds at Phillipsburg starting each night at 8. There are Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association members who compete nightly in events such as bareback riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronc and bull riding and women’s barrel racing. For more information, go to http://www.kansasbiggestrodeo.com/map.html.

▪ Or spend a day at the lake. Beginning at 2 p.m. on Aug. 15, Milford Reservoir will host the Float Your Boat Cardboard Boat Races at the Milford State Park and Reservoir. Parks visitors are challenged to build their own boat – capable of holding two people – out of cardboard and duct tape. Participants need to check in by noon. The event is free. For more information, go to http://www.travelks.com/includes/calendar-of-events/Float-Your-Boat-Cardboard-Boat-Races/13262.

▪ Dodge City Days runs through Saturday. At 9 a.m. Saturday, there will be a Longhorn cattle drive on Wyatt Earp Boulevard to observe the 55th annual Dodge City Days. At noon there will be a gunfight at 500 W. Wyatt Earp Blvd., in which the Boot Hill Museum gunfighters and alumni gunfighters stage what is considered to be one of the world’s largest showdowns.

This story was originally published July 26, 2015 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Explore Kansas before summer’s end."