Frank and I made the 2½ hour drive north, would stay overnight and drive back on Tuesday. The first two-thirds of the trip is in Oklahoma and the final third is in Kansas.
We hit the road and not far into the journey we saw a house en route. I was reminded of Dorothy's words, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." We were not in Kansas yet.
Had we been in Kansas the house would have been swirling around in a the funnel of a tornado like in this scene from the Wizard of Oz. We definitely were still in Oklahoma.
We parked at a rest stop and saw this unique display of hot food for sale in preparation. The vertical black shields read "behind this sign still cooking".
I never knew about this snack food. I googled it and learned that Tornados are America's #1 Roller Grill Snack. Will my cultural enlightenment never cease? Frank and I refrained from indulging.
We eventually exited onto Route 135 for Wichita. We were headed for Old Town Wichita.
Our hotel was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It had been converted from an old warehouse and was centrally located in the heart of Old Town Wichita.
The first thing I noticed when we entered our room was the old fashioned rotary phone. Nice touch! It seems a bit anachronistic that the TV remote and internet connection are nearby but still... nice touch.
The view from our window was of the Museum of World Treasures, a definite planned stop on our to do list of locations.
Three stories below in the street, a trolly car trundled by along the brick roadways and past the black old fashioned lamp-posts.
Lamp-posts like this always make me think of an old Herman's Hermits tune Leaning On A Lamp Post. You can hear a version of it at this YouTube link where a senior (mature?) Peter Noone sings at the Alameda County Fair in my adjacent town. The song begins at time 1:44. After a brief intro the original song lyrics begin.
This was our view down into the lobby from the door of our third story room, fountain off to the left and tall mirrored wall on the right.
The tall array of mirrors reflected the indoor balconies of the rooms on the opposite wall.
We did stay and enjoy the ambience of the lobby for a bit.
We sat across from the gently flowing water feature below the balconied glass doors.
The warehouse that was converted for this hotel was the Keen Kutter warehouse as evidenced by the name chiseled above the stone lintel.
A black plaque mounted on an outer brick wall contained other historical information and the fact that it had been renovated in 1996 for use as a hotel.
Also interesting was that the windows along the side had been converted from old loading docks where trucks would back up to take on their cargo.
The interior walls were equally fascinating, designed to be fire resistant as described in detail in the following posted sign. Walls were configured to be air tight and retard air currents and wooden beams were encased in brick to prevent burning. Reputed to be the strongest building in Wichita, the Keen Kutter warehouse was also stated to be the largest warehouse in the world. I could not verify that claim by google. Perhaps it was the largest warehouse for its time.
Exploring our hotel was a great diversion. At the elevator alcove for each floor there were corner curio boxes containing interesting trivia items and collectibles. Frank and I checked out each of them. These two were on the floor for our room. Frank is posed next to a collection of Simmon's paints and varnishes. I stand near some household items such as scales, grinders, radios, washboards.
The Keen Kutter brand of tools is a collection of products by the Simmons Hardware Company incorporated in 1874. The company motto was "The recollection of quality remains long after the price is forgotten." These are the corner cabinets for the other two floors, tools in one pair and sports equipment in another.
Stepping inside the fancy wood trimmed elevators was like a mini-trip back in time to a more elegant era with mirrors and brass and sculptured ceilings.
Granted it was only for one night, but the combination of the welcoming lobby, the historic significance of a converted warehouse, the inviting decor, the interesting curio boxes, and the elegant elevators sure did make for a pleasurable stay at The Hotel at Old Town Wichita. We had arrived mid-day and our first venture out was to grab some lunch. We set out to walk just about everywhere we went in Old Town but we cut through an adjacent parking garage where we'd left the car. The seat covers on a car near ours brought a quirky smile to my face. I could not but help thinking how Alex would have liked those bunnies!
We found the street over which that train had been parked in the distance. In the foreground are some more rent-a-bikes similar to what we had seen on the Oklahoma University campus on the previous Friday.
WICHITA, Kan. (May 4, 2017) — The City of Wichita will have a new transportation system starting May 4. BikeShareICT, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and the Knight Foundation Fund through the Wichita Community Foundation, will make 100 cruiser bikes available for Wichitans to use for on-demand local trips from 19 stations throughout downtown Wichita. BikeShareICT leverages Zagster, a provider of city bike share programs around the country, to supply the bikes, bike stations, and the app that gives users access. Annual memberships are $30. College student annual memberships are $20. Riders can also borrow bikes for $3 per hour.
But back to that train in the distance. It is part of the Great Plains Transportation Museum, a mostly outdoor museum with a collection of railroad stock. We could not go into the indoor portion to see what was there because the museum is only open on weekends. The indoor portion seemed quite small taking up only the width of a store front. We could peer through the glass window from the sidewalk and realize that we were not overly disappointed to have missed that minority of the museum. The big ticket items were the rolling stock outdoors. Frank spied a fire escape from which he figured he could see into the rail yard. I told him to go for it. I was content to wait down below.
.
A dedicated railroad buff, he made the climb so he could observe from a better vantage point. That tiny figure is Frank waving from four and a half stories up.
Safely (and lazily) ensconced at ground level, I zoomed in to take a photo of Frank taking a photo.
I also zoomed in to take a picture of that rusty sided box car. I doubt his pictures were much better for his altitude-challenged efforts, but then maybe he saw other items of interest. And after seven years and driving 320 miles round trip, he really did need to "go the distance" to capitalize on what I'd noticed with Robin long ago.
I enjoyed the sights below on the old brick buildings, like this artsy view of the original signage on a loading dock.
So now – drum roll please – we were about to embark on the highly praised (according to www.tripadvisor.com) and reputedly unique visit to the Museum of World Treasures!
I am sorry to say it was a total bust for me, a lot of hype over next to nothing. The building was way too dark inside and I was expecting much more variety. On the first floor, a room full of Buddha heads did not inspire me. And although a few dinosaur skeletons were strategically placed so as to be viewed from the glass elevator I found the fossil gallery to be limited and lack imagination in its display.
If you were a fan of military history and wars then perhaps you would be interested, but the entire second floor was war related with cases and cases of small scale artifacts like pieces of uniforms and gear issued to soldiers for camping or fighting. Frank liked the museum. If he were to write this post, I am sure the picture painted would be quite different.
The presidents' hall of photos on the wall did have a few bits of trivia about some of the presidents. I captured these for Barack Obama, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. But afterward, I just needed to chill until Frank had his fill.
In short, I was very underwhelmed. I speedily whipped through the displays due to my anal desire for completeness, but spent the bulk of my time relaxing on a bench in a children's playroom on the third floor while Frank browsed.
I much more enjoyed our stroll throughout Old Town with varied other sites to see. The colorful banners scattered throughout gave a cheerful feel with their whimsical design both when viewed in the brightest light of the morning or the more subtle lull of the evening light. We had perfect weather while we were there.
I liked the sign on the side of a building.
We popped in to browse a shop because I liked the door. We did not buy anything inside, but the curvy trimmed bright red door just made my mouth curve in a smile. Then we went back to the hotel in the warmest part of the afternoon to relax, read or nap.
On our way out to dinner later we passed a few quirky sculptures right outside our adjacent parking garage. Statuary scattered about Old Town to catch the eye was titled a Sculpture Walkabout. There were two pieces I noted by artist Marc Durfee. The first was called Tote 'em Travel. And I thought my luggage was beat up!
Frank checked and these did weigh more than mine.
A second sculpture was titled and Tote 'em Rocket. It gives a whole to new meaning to the term "payload".
I tend to have a penchant for red doors and the Italian restaurant where we had dinner had cute pizza door handles.
After dinner we walked around the area admiring the craftsmanship in the brickwork of some of the buildings.
On second glance I realized that this next building must have housed the business of three partners. But my initial thought was that it belonged to a man named Sullivan Higdon and that he must have had a very low opinion of his unproductive son.
The next morning, Tuesday May 24th, we browsed in a few more shops as we had done the previous evening. I bought these purses so impressed was I with not only the theme but also the detailed stitching and fine craftsmanship. I found out they were made and imported by a company in London named Vendula. I think it is quite cosmopolitan of me that for never having been to Europe and pretty much having lived my entire adult life in Livermore California, I should have discovered these items in Wichita, Kansas during a trip to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
We left the Old Town Market place having one more intended stop before returning to Oklahoma City.
Remember when I first saw that train that I wanted Frank to see? It was when I was bridal gown shopping with Robin. To make our Wichita trip complete Frank and I looked up the location of that bridal shop and learned it was only a six minutes away from our hotel.
This is the shop where Robin bought the gown for her May 14, 2011 wedding.
I took Frank in and showed him around. The shop had since expanded to about three times the size it had been back then.
Robin found an old email and was able to recall the name of the saleswoman, April, who had helped her. April was there that day. I introduced myself and she remembered Robin and me. I guess she did not have many mother of the brides there in Wichita, Kansas from California for a gown to be worn at a wedding in Oklahoma. Frank and I enjoyed chatting briefly with her. Robin had sent her pictures after the wedding so I think she remembered the dress, too.
This photo of Robin and me had been taken at the shop when Robin decided on that gown seven plus years ago.
I remember well that beautiful circular train...
... and all the intricate embroider on it as well as on the gown.
It does not seems like that much time has passed. But then again there are an almost three-year-old grandson and an almost six-year-old granddaughter in the picture now.
No comments:
Post a Comment