Kansas - Lindsborg and the Flint Hills - 3/21/2014

We visited Lindsborg back in May 2010 and really liked the town and its still strong Swedish heritage.  On that trip, we were on our way to Colorado so we really didn't spend enough time to explore the town or sample its Swedish cuisine.  This trip, Lindsborg and the Kansas Flint Hills were our targets.

The link to our 2010 Lindsborg blog posting is below if you want to check it out.  I have more information on the history of the area and Lindsborg in that post.  Yes.....I misspelled Denver in the original post.  I corrected the blog text but I was unable to fix the posting address.

http://johnsigrid.blogspot.com/2010/05/danver-trip-day-1-lindsborg-and.html

We had more company with us this time.  We had the grand kids, Tyler and Petra, and our German friend Edel.  We also had Iason Gerdes traveling with us.  Iason was a German Foreign Exchange Student at Lee's Summit High School back in 2008/2009.  We got to meet him and had him over for dinner a few times while he was living here.  Iason is a table tennis player, like me, so the two of us played once a week at a club in Independence.  We kept in contact with Iason after he returned home via Facebook and Skype.  He is back this month to visit his host family in Lee's Summit so we have enjoyed visiting with him again.  There was a lot of German spoken in the car as we bounced down the Kansas highways.

Swedish food was a goal on this trip, specifically Swedish meatballs.  We ate at the Swedish Crown and they did not disappoint.....the food was great!  We had five different things off the menu between all the members of our group and each dish was very high quality and there was plenty of it for hungry travelers.  If you visit Lindsdorg, this is the place to eat.

The decor is warm and in keeping with its Swedish roots.

Tyler

Petra

The meatballs with dill potatoes, lingonberry jam, and a small salad.....very tasty.

One of the other goals for the day was to visit Jim Richardson's Small World Gallery.  Jim is a photographer and journalist living in Lindsborg.  Jim has traveled the world on assignments for National Geographic and has contributed more than 20 stories for the magazine.  I was fortunate to be able to attend a seminar on travel photography offered by National Geographic at the Johnson County Community College a year ago.  Jim and fellow National Geographic photographer Catherine Karnow presented the full day seminar.  The seminar was a surprise gift from Sigrid.....man did she do good!  After 50 years of taking photos, this was my first formal education and I loved it.

The real treat of the day was that Jim was in his store and was kind enough to come out an talk to us about his photos.  He is gone about half the year on photo assignments and seminars so we were lucky to see him.  Jim actually spent a lot of time talking with us and I ended up learning even more about the techniques he uses and got some advice on a lens I was thinking about buying.  Jim's wife also has a nice collection of jewelry that she designs in the gallery.  Sigrid checked out the necklaces while we talk photos.

Our group posing with one of many Dala Horses that line Main Street in Lindsborg.  Google Dala Horses if you are wondering what they are.

Jim Richardson's gallery.

Iason with the big Dala Horse.

We visited the clocksmith.  They have a fine collection of very old clocks in the store.

This is a German beer drinking clock.  The shop owner demonstrated it for us.  I don't think he even knew that half the people in our group were real Germans.

We also stopped at the coffee shop and tried a few of their special roasts.  Sigrid and Edel are big coffee lovers.

The roaster.

Iason trying to play the kids electronic game.

After we left Lindsborg, we drove to Cottonwood Falls to begin our exploration of the Flint Hills on our way back home.  This was a nicely restored home in town.

A short distance north of Cottonwood Falls, we stopped at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  This is one of the newest additions to the National Park Service.  In addition to the visitors center and walking trail, there is an 1881 Kansas ranch house, barn, out buildings, and a one room school house on 11,000 acres of pristine Kansas prairie.  It was just before closing at the visitors center so we had to rush a bit but we did get to the most important parts of the park.

The barn is an impressively large structure for its time.

Now that's a tree!  The leaves were just beginning to appear.

The ranch house.....solidly built to withstand Kansas prairie winds.

It was a long day of around 450 miles and 12 hours but it was worth it.  We enjoy short driving trips to out of the way places.  If you check past posts, you will find trips to Wamego, KS and the Oregon Trail, Arrow Rock and Blackwater, MO and Missouri River Towns.  I am sure we will return to see more of the Flint Hills when the grasses are green.

Here are a few of the above photos in black and white.  Most of my early experience was with black and white so I still enjoy seeing images done this way.....just for fun.

I am now returning to my slide scanning project.....thousands to go.

Denver Trip - Day 1 - Lindsborg and Greensburg, Kansas

Just 45 minutes down the road from Abilene, we arrived at our next stop, Lindsborg, Kansas. Sigrid has wanted to visit Lindsborg for several years so we made it a point to stop this trip.

The area where Lindsborg now sits was originally explored by Coronado and other Spaniard explorers in 1541. Modern day Lindsborg was founded around 1869 by a group of 100 Swedish immigrants as part of the Land Grant program. The Swed's wanted to be Americans but they also wanted to maintain the best elements of the Swedish culture. Most of the original immigrants were farmers but there was also a group of craftsmen which carried on the Swedish arts. There are now about 3,200 residents living in town. Lindsborg is the home of Bethany College.

The photo below is of a nice gift shop that had a large selection Scandinavian gift items.

The downtown streets have the original brick paving.

Items in the gift shop.


My heritage is Finnish on my mother's side so I always enjoy looking at the Finn stuff.

They actually make the Dala Horses in a workshop at the back of the gift areas. A Dala Horse is a Swedish art form that is used to decorate homes and public areas. Sigrid and I plan to order one with our name painted on the side as a welcome to our home at our front door. The whole town is populated by the horses as you will see in upcoming photos.....pretty neat.

Sigrid giving love to a really big Dala Horse.

Here is a horse showing the mixed cultures of the town..........part American and part Swedish (the blue and yellow of the Swedish flag).

Colorful old buildings like those in Wamego, Kansas (earlier post).

The horse in front of the telephone company offices.

A nice little town.

A colourful bed & breakfast right downtown.

The old blacksmith's shop is now a coffee house.

City Hall.

Any one for international level chess?

The Dala Horse in front of City Hall.

Welcome signs hang from the light posts.

Just a very pleasant place to visit. We had lunch just down the street.

Our next stop was Greensburg, Kansas. On May 4, 2007, Greensburg took a direct hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado had 200+ mile/hour winds and was an astonishing 1.7 miles wide on the ground........just huge! The town was 95% destroyed. The residents debated whether to just call it quits and move to another town or rebuild. Ultimately a few left, but many stayed and rebuilt. They didn't just rebuild an ordinary city, they rebuilt a "Green" city and their efforts were made into a series on the Discovery Channel.

Fascinating stuff but way beyond what I can cover here. The town now has 1,574 residents and is nearly complete with the rebuilding efforts. With the exception of one surviving building the downtown is brand new. They also have a new school, hospital, and mostly all new homes. As you drive through the town, you can still see the FEMA trailers that they had to live in immediately after the tornado.

It surprised me that they didn't mention the "green city" or something about being a tornado survivor on the banners in the city. Instead they went back to their pre-tornado claim to fame of having the largest hand dug well in the world. In the back ground is one of the few remaining original trees in town and it looks the worst for wear. The rest of the trees were instantly turned into tooth picks by the tornado.

We wanted to patronize business in the town as we passed through so we got some treats downtown.

After leaving town and on our way to Dodge City, we found some realty weird art along the highway. It is hard to describe. There was a sales office, so I guess the artist tries to sell it. Judging from the rust and the "out of date" nature of so much of the collection, my guess is that not many homes in American have any of these treasures. If you are curious, you can Goggle "Kanza Art" and find out all you want about this stuff.

Our next stop is Dodge City where we will spend the night and try to get something to eat. More to follow.