Kansas

Kansas consists of 82,278 square miles.

What is all incorporated in all those miles?  This year, hopefully, my family and I will find out.  What fun and unusual things can we see and learn about in our adventures?

Let’s take a moment and learn about Kansas.

Kansas received it’s name because the Kansas River flows through it.  The Kansas River is actually about 1.5 miles from my house.  The Kansas River was named after the Kansa tribe. It is said their name means “people of the wind”

Did you know the smallest incorporated town only has 5 people in it?  It’s called Freeport.  It’s southwest  of Wichita, which is the largest city in Kansas.

The state flower is the Wild Sunflower.  That’s what you probably think of when you heard the name Kansas (or the Wizard of Oz).

The Kansas state animal is the American Buffalo, which is actually a Bison.  Our state animal is a slang term for bison. 

The state insect is a western honey bee.

Home of the Range is the state song of Kansas.  I remember in 4^th grade we had to perform this song during our Kansas unit. 

The capital is Topeka.  I call it the 666. 

There are 26 state parks in Kansas.

There are 10 National sites; historic sites, historic trails and a national preserve. 

There are a ton of “ghost towns”.

We have Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, so lots of sports watching to have!

Pretty much, there are a lot of things to do in Kansas.  We will see how much we can cover in a year!


Our first trip will be in March to Hutchinson.  We will be visiting the Salt Mine and Cosmosphere.