Top Ten Reasons I Love Kansas
1. November - enough said. Maybe November is like this in every state, I am not sure? But November in Kansas is incredible. The red, orange, yellow, brown, and greeen leaves started to fall and are falling fast within the last couple of days. The temperature is cool and crisp, though the sun is still warm and bright. You can run outside in the afternoon with a t-shirt only. But in the very same month as that, we'll have our first freeze (not quite yet) and then our first snow-storm sometimes right after Thanksgiving. October was still hot. November is great!
2. Kansas is flat which makes for good sunsets that you can see for miles and miles. Flat also makes for easy running/training. Though it is kind of hard when you have to look really hard or maybe even drive several miles to find a good hill to run. I have heard it said that scientifically Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. You gotta love it.
3. It's home! I am a Jayhawker. I root for Kansas University in sports (when I care to root, and mostly just because my dad always does root for KU). I was born in Great Bend, KS and have lived every other (other than 2 lost to OK) in Hutchinson, Wichita, or Haviland. KU is one of the best BB teams ever, I think.
4. Haviland. It's one of my favorite places in the world, though it's one of the simplest, smallest towns in the world. No other state has Haviland, as profound as that is. I traveled to Haviland this week to visit some students at Barclay College and my best "meeting" was with Eric, during an 8-mile run in the country. I was reminded how much I love Haviland!
5. Wichita is only 8 hours or less from the Rocky Mountains. That almost seems like an insult until you realize that you really wouldn't want to live full-time in the mountains, but having them so nearby is great for visiting!
6. Fall evenings in Kansas are just incredible. The sun begins to set by around 5:30 and it is usually dark by around 6. The sky and the air and the feel is just so perfect.
7. Pawnee Prarie Nature Center. My new favorite place to run even though I've known about it and visited it for several years. It is on the edge of town near the airport in Wichita. I call it the Central Park of Wichita. It has about 7 miles of trails. Two weeks ago when I was running there I saw 26 deer in one hour! The woods and trail systems are a great retreat and quiet and just perfect for running! They also dual as horse trails so watch your step...
8. There is a lot about the mid-west that leave much to be desired (social and ethnic prejudice, etc.). But those things are not unique to Kansas, if anything they are better in Kansas than our neighboring states to the south. Progress is happening here but slowly. One thing that is starting to interest me is that property values here are so much cheaper than on either coast. That's good for the buyer, bad for the seller. Trying to buy in the city is way more expensive than in the country or in a small town in western Kansas. But still, the value and what you get for the buck, home and lots of land, is great compared to other states. And the good thing about Kansas is that there are enough people to have culture, but not so few to be sparse like Wyoming or North Dakota.
9. I don't know why but my favorite spot in Kansas is SouthWest especially in June when the wheat is about to be cut. It is so perfect. I also like to see the tall corn. October when the new wheat is planted and very green and just a few inches out of the ground is great too. Kansas has great variety: flat farm lands in the south west, desolate cold ranchlands in the northwest, green hilly wooded ranches in the southeast, and the flinthills in the northeast.
10. I found this one off a Why I love Kansas blog: "If you don't love Kansas, there is no way to explain to you why you should love it or want to move here! I can't imagine living anywhere else. I live in a tiny town of less than a thousand people. The BEST thing about it is that there is nothing here! No reason for anybody to move here, no reason for tourists to come here, just good quality of life." I guess that says it all...I guess? You gotta love KS!
