Sunday 4-7-24 New State, Independence & Park & Little House on the Prairie

 

Welcome to Kansas sign

We had a fun day doing this and that. 

It was breezy all day, which kept the temperature very comfortable. We woke up to the temperature in mid 50's at Washington Cove Campground in Oklahoma and a high in the low 70's in Elk City State Park in Kansas.

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we got ready to leave. We put things away and secure. The wind was down a bit so after four days it was time to leave Washington Cove Campground. We're not going too far, about 35 miles down the road. We were on the road about 8:30.

We started in Oklahoma and 15 miles later we were in Kansas. The highway we drove was four lanes. We drove through the prairie and saw some cattle. It wasn't a bad drive. 

We made a couple of stops before we called it a day. First stop was in Independence Kansas at the Ralph Mitchell Zoo and Park. It was a gorgeous park with a lot of things to do. It had a zoo, splash pad, water park, carousel, train, playground, Veterans Memorial Park, miniature golf, garden with gorgeous statues,  paved walkway through the park, band shell, picnic area, Learning Center and buildings you can rent. I'm not sure if I forgot anything. The splash pad was cute because it had three different statues, that squirt water from a fire hose. Kids are pretending to be firemen. We walked around for a couple of hours. 

Band Shell

 

Statue of a famous poet who lived in Independence

Summer Splash Pad

Cute sign about tickets

Playground

 

Carousel

 

Ralph Mitchell Zoo was very nice. It had a Kiddie Land, where there were figurines such as Snow White, Charlotte's Webb, Little Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (the shoe house) and other things to play on. To get to the Kiddie Land you have to cross over a bridge that goes over a pond. The pond had a beautiful swan swimming in it and a few ducks. They had many exhibits of animals. The exhibit for the bears was closed because the bears were still hibernating. They had peacocks roaming free in the zoo. There was a very nice island called monkey island. It had a moat around a castle, the monkeys hang out in and on the grounds around the castle, there are many things for the monkey to play on. Independence is known for the first monkeys that went into outer-space. They were Miss Baker and Miss Able. There is a nice mural of Miss Able in her space suit.

 

 

 

 Ralph Mitchell Zoo

Red-Golden Pheasant

Green Iguana

Red Fox

Monkeys on Monkey Island

Charlotte's Webb

Snow White and me

Miss Able and me

Emu

After walking around the zoo and park we had lunch in the Minnie. Then we went to our second stop. It was the Little House on the Prairie. This is a tourist stop where you walk around and look at the homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family from her book of Little House on the Prairie. The cabin itself is a replica of the 1870 cabin of the Ingalls. As you walk around you learn about the Ingalls life on the prairie. There was a barn with a barn quilt. The quilt hanging on the barn is the same pattern that Laura used for her hope chest, which was called Doves in the Window. The well on the property is the well Mr. Ingalls dug himself. Now it stands but they have concreted it closed. While there a couple from Germany was visiting the site. It was very nice. 

 

The barn with Laura's hope chest pattern

 

The Ingalls travels

 

Inside the Ingalls cabin

 

The Ingalls cabin

 

Inside the schoolhouse

 

Sunny Side School

 

The well

 

Little House on the Prairie sign

After walking around we went to our final destination, which was Elk City State Park. Before checking in we drove to the overlook of the lake. At the overlook, there was a sign for a hiking trail. The trail is 2 3/4 mile long one way. It the same trail Larry read about, it starts at the campground. We'll probably hike it tomorrow. After looking at the lake we went to the park. 

The lady at the booth asked how many nights we were going to be there. Larry said two nights. She charged us for two day passes, $5.00 per day. She gave us two passes, one for each day, they have to be put on the windshield. Then we drove around and found a site. You drive back to the gate to check-in. They wanted Larry's Social Security Number and he could not figure out why they would need it and didn't really want to give it to them. She told him he could use the kiosk to pay and he would not need it. He used the kiosk and paid for one night but it was very confusing and did not ask you for the site number. He went back and asked the lady what he had paid for. She had no idea, she had never used the kiosk and didn't know how it worked. The Kansas state parks charge you per utility. He just paid for one utility, which was electricity. We went to the site and set up the Minnie for the night. We have until 3:00 in the afternoon to decide if we'll stay another night or not. Larry had also asked the lady at the check in about bathrooms and she said there was a bathroom in each loop, nope, only two running water bathrooms in the entire park and neither of them are open. Very strange.

Elk City Lake from the overlook

 

Camping at Elk City State Park

 

After setting up the Minnie we relaxed with a book. I finished reading a fiction book titled: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It was about humanities survival after a swine flu pandemic, known as the Georgia Flu. It kills off most of the population and how the world changes because of it. It was well written and I liked it very much. Then I asked Larry to choose me another book. He choose Virgil Wander written by Leif Enger I'll start reading it tomorrow.

For dinner I barbecued sausage links. This is the first time we barbecued on the trip. They came out good.

After dinner Larry and I walked around the campground for about a half hour to get familiar with the campground and where the trailhead is. There are other trails in the campground but they're shorter. When Larry went inside I continued my walk for another hour. I ended up doing 16,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group for the week with 104,477 steps.

When I got back I did the event in Solitaire, which was Event: The Hard Road of 16 games. It took me 2 hours, 5 minutes and 26 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group.