The Kassel Family Project Life 365

An impromptu wine tasting at Hy-Vee led to this…

It is finally warm enough to enjoy a glass of wine on our front porch. Bring on Spring!

We stopped in Emporia, Kansas, on the way home to eat at Radius Brewing Company. We arrived about 15 minutes before they opened. So, what do cycling geeks do when they have extra time in Emporia? Well, they find the Dirty Kanza start-finish line!

With the start-finish line crossed off our list, we went to lunch. We found Radius Brewing Company last time we went to Hutchinson. Not only do they have great beers…

…but, they have some fantastic macaroni and cheese made with smoked gouda. The kids love it and Andy and I love what they can’t eat.

We arrived home about 3:30 pm. It is time to get back to normal life. First up is baseball practice for John.

We had originally intended to visit Strataca (the salt mine under Hutchinson) today. Because we had been there before, we decided to go to Wichita to see the Sedgwick County Zoo. It was a beautiful day for exploring a new zoo.

While not as big as the St. Louis Zoo, it is pretty impressive. They have over 3,000 animals and quite the breeding program for critically endangered species. Another neat thing is that the zookeepers are more than happy to tell you all about the animals and answer any questions that you have. One of our first stops for the day was the Humboldt penguins.

We also got to see these “young ones.” The baby of this tortoise group was born in 1967.

A favorite of the kids was Jeb, the alligator snapping turtle. Jeb was pretty interactive with us as we walked by the glass.

A favorite of all of us was the bird flight cage. This place was amazing! Not only were there many different bird species, but there were fruit bats hanging from the trees. I tried to get a picture, but I couldn’t zoom in far enough. I settled for a picture of Andy showing them to Laura.

This is the home of the elephants. The zoo has eight elephants and two of them were born here. They are tripling the size of the elephant area, so they are in a smaller space at the moment. However, there is a large covered gazebo that takes you into the middle of their area where you can sit and just watch them. Also, that building in the background is their indoor playground for inclement weather. It is just very impressive!

Of course, we can’t visit a zoo without seeing the meerkats. These little animals are always so fun to watch.

We also got to see the two orangutan babies. This little guy is 14 months old. They also have a six-month old. They were both so cute!

We finished our day meeting these three. Hello there!

It was a long day, but we very much enjoyed ourselves despite the tired feet. It was a great choice!

We spent our first day of vacation at the Cosmosphere. If you have never been, you should go. I realize it is in the middle of Kansas, but there is just so much history here.

Because we had been here before, we spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon in the museum portion. We saw some things that we did not notice last time we were here – like a canister that contained original quality control documents found in a V-2 rocket fuel tank.

My favorite part of the museum is about the space race. It is interesting to read about each country’s victories and perceived failures. This is an actual Sputnik satellite that never flew in space.

All the history and artifacts are amazing. This is a piece of an actual rock from the moon brought back on the Apollo 11 mission.

My favorite exhibit is the Odyssey Command Module from Apollo 13. This is considered a failure by NASA, but the astronauts returned alive. The Cosmosphere spent two full years restoring the Odyssey.

This is a lunar lander that was built for training purposes.

We finished our day with the movie, “Space Next”, two shows at their Planetarium, and a trip to learn about rockets at Dr. Goddard’s Lab. John even got a chance to floss in infrared.

It was a great day and it was very fun watching the kids. I think they learned a lot more this time!

We are off to Hutchinson, Kansas, for a short Spring Break trip. We plan to visit the Cosmosphere and Strataca again.

Our first stop was in Kansas City at Jack Stack Barbecue for a late lunch. I just had to get a picture of the kids with the bull out front.

Next stop, Hutchinson!