-
Scott Branch Bull Creek
Hillsdale State Park, KS, November 2025 Hillsdale Resevoir looks a little like a chicken foot. It branches off in a bunch of directions away from the dam. The chicken toe that most of Hillsdale State Park borders is the Scott Branch Bull Creek. Do not ask us; we did not name it. I assume the…
-
Outlet (Melvern) Campground
Melvern Lake, KS, November 2025 Today was a day of exploring. Whenever we see a new park or campground close to where we are staying we like to take a day trip to see if the location could be a future camping site. Today’s adventure was visiting a Corp of Engineer managed area that included…
-
Amazing Sunset
Hillsdale State Park, KS, November 2025 Our current campsite has great sunset views from the living room windows. I have gone out multiple times just to enjoy and try to get a decent picture. I’ve finally succeeded at getting a good to great sunset picture. Cleo did not like being left inside. So, I put…
-
Town Square Craft Show
Paola, KS, November 2025 I am notorious about finding local activities. Today was no different. Paola Kansas is about 10 miles from Hillsdale State Park. The town has a population of around 5,800 people. The main street stores surround the Town Park. Since it was just Halloween, John immediately noticed the sign “Potawatomi Trail of…
-
Lakeside at the Campground
Hillsdale State Park, Kansas, October 2025 There are no campsites next to the lake in the Sunflower Campground at Hillsdale State Park. There is a short, maybe 1/4 mile trail that goes to the lakeside from either corner of the campground. The area along the trail and the lake is mowed with a picnic table…
-
Birds at Bob’s
Sparta, WI, August 2025 We stopped at Kate’s dad’s house to visit and look at his computer. Windows 10 support was ending, and his internet service was saying he was going to need a PIN to get to his email. After looking into it, we found out that his computer had the operating system upgraded…
-
Lawrence Farmers Market
Lawrence, KS October 2025 Lawrence, Kansas has the oldest running Farmers Market in Kansas. The market started in 1976 with 3 farmers selling vegetables from the back of their trucks. Now the market has 49 vendors. Many of the vendors are still selling agriculture products ranging from vegetables, fruits, honey, meats, mushrooms, flowers, etc. The…
-
As American as Horse Apple Pie!
Clinton State Park, KS, October 2025 If bitter and pithy with an milky latex irritant sounds delicious, this is the pie for you! The fruit is not considered edible by humans, and most animals avoid eating them. One theory is that the animal that evolved to eat the fruit and spread the seeds has gone…
-
Japanese Friendship Garden
Lawrence, KS, October 2025 When we visited the area in 2024, we know about the Japanese Friendship Garden. We looked up the location and discovered it was right next to the Watkins Museum which we did visit in 2024. The Friendship Garden started with Hiratsuka, Japan donating $5,000 to Lawrence in 1995. The city of…
-
Prairie Park Nature Center – boy it sucks to diet?
Lawrence, KS, October 2025 We visited Prairie Park Nature Center in 2024 and saw the plumpest prairie dogs that were absolutely adorable. This year the nature center had the same 2 prairie dogs but they have been put on a diet. We were told they have lost 1 lb. This might not sound like a…