Hutchinson, Kansas

 

 

click photo to enlarge		 We traveled to Hutchinson and stayed in a driveway through the Boondockers Welcome program, complete with free electric hookups. Our hosts were incredibly welcoming and gave us great recommendations for local restaurants, things to see, and even tipped us off about a downtown car show happening that evening. The show featured some amazing vehicles, including a beautiful 1967 GTO convertible and a rare 1966 Yenko Stinger Corvair. I had read about Yenko Stingers for years, but this was the first one I have ever seen in person.

Hutchinson is also home to the world-renowned Cosmosphere, a Smithsonian-affiliated space museum that houses one of the largest combined collections of U.S. and Russian space artifacts in the world. Highlights included the SR-71 Blackbird, the Apollo 13 command module, and a Space Shuttle replica. The museum began as the dream of a local resident who wanted to create a “Theater of the Skies” planetarium, and it has grown into one of the premier space museums in the country.


click photo to enlarge		 Another surprise highlight of our visit was Strataca, the underground salt mine museum. It turned out to be one of the most interesting attractions we visited in Kansas. Visitors descend hundreds of feet below the surface into an active salt mine, making it one of the few places in the world where the public can tour a working mine of this kind. Because the underground environment is naturally dry and stable, the mine is also used to store fragile historical artifacts, including classic Hollywood movie props and costumes.

click photo to enlarge