We went on vacation about three weeks ago.  We decided we wanted to do a little road trip and do some planning, and a little bit of making it up as we went along. Usually we have it pretty much planned out. We just stayed here in Kansas. There is a lot to see in our home state. For years we had wanted to go to Greensburg, Kansas and see the World’s Largest Hand Dug Well. Unfortunately we waited too long and in May of 2007 a two mile wide tornado destroyed the town, filled in part of the well, and killed about nine people. Fortunately Greensburg rebuilt and is now active again and the well has been cleaned out and a new museum at the site, and I think is open for visitors now. That is still on our bucket list to see. Here is an address if anyone is interested in seeing some before and after pictures.  http://www.kansas.com/news/article1091576.html.

This trip took us to western Kansas. Our first stop was in Minneapolis, Kansas to see the Rock City. The best way to describe it is from the pamphlet:  The rocks at Rock City are huge sandstone concretions. In an area about the size of two football fields, 200 rocks, some as large as houses, dot the landscape. There is no other place in the world where there are so many concretions of such giant size.

There was also quite a few nature trails throughout the area.

This is Hubby standing on a concretion.

And me just standing,    and posing,

There was a lot of places to sit and rest if you needed to.  

And even stone restrooms.   And a nice plaque. 

After Rock City, we had some lunch in Lincoln, Kansas and headed toward our main goal of Lucas, Kansas. Home of the Garden of Eden. If you have never heard of this place, (in Kansas that is) but get a chance to see Kansas, you have to see this place. It is strange, but fascinating. It was built by a retired schoolteacher at the age of 64 in 1907. Samuel Perry Dinsmoor was also a Civil War Veteran, farmer, and Populist politician.  And a bit of an eccentric. I will let the pictures speak for themselves:   

The house is made of sandstone and put together in the log house style. I did like the house. And a lot of the original furniture is inside.

These two tables were made by Mr. Dinsmoor as well. The first one is, I think just a checkers, or chess table. The other one is a checkers /Fox and Geese game table.

And last, but not least, here is the Mausoleum Mr. Dinsmoor had built so he could, and is, buried in. His first wife is buried there as well. You can’t see her, but you can see his body if you wish. He made his casket so that he could be viewed. Kind of gruesome, but kind of interesting as well. He was mummified and there is a glass in  place in front of the casket. You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to. Hubby and I did go in. It wasn’t as bad as I first thought, but I am glad the door was kept open!  We were allowed to take all the pictures we wanted around and inside the house and property, but we couldn’t take any inside the mausoleum. It would be kind of sacrilegious. Man, that is a big word for me! 🙂

We had a good time looking around the rest of Lucas after seeing the Garden of Eden. I will have to put the rest into another blog. I think this one has gotten pretty long already. I will try hard to get the rest of Day One into a blog tonight or tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the strange, and interesting pictures. I have to start supper now and check water tanks.

Oh, before I forget again, if you click on the pictures, they will be enlarged so you can get a better view. I forgot to say that in my past posts. I didn’t know if everyone knew that. 🙂

Stay Safe and God Bless!