Tourism abounds in Land of Oz
Cosmosphere, Big Brutus headline the Kansas Spring Break attractions
By Lance Hamby Special to the Kansan
There is no place like home.
So KU students don't have to worry if they can't get a ticket to the beach. They can just click their heels three times and follow the black asphalt road to Kansas' hidden treasures.
Kansas, the home of a world-class projection system and space museum, Rock City. Big Brutus, and the world's largest handdug well, has several unique tourist spots for students who are low on cash but who still want to see some sites this spring break.
"An out-of-this world look at Earth...a down-to-Earth look at space," is the slogan for the Kansas Cosmosphere that is home to both a world-class projection system and the Hall of Space Museum.
The Cosmosphere in Hutchinson was the sixth place in the world to build an OMNI- MAX theater. The theater is situated in a 44-foot-high dome that showcases one of the world's largest movie projection systems. The effect caused by moving pictures on the surrounding dome simulates a reality that audiences sometimes find too close for comfort as they watch a shark-feeding frenzy, said Virginia Elliott, vice president of marketing and development at the Cosmosphere.
From March 20 to 30, two movies will be showing: "Search for the Great Sharks" and "The Discoverers."
But don't expect the lines to be short. More than 40,000 school children and tourists from all over the world visit the 118-seat, newly renovated auditorium each year. The price of admission is $4.75.
Home to one of the finest collections of both U.S. and Soviet space artifacts in the world, the Hall of Space Museum is an alternative for space buffs that can't afford a trip to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Located in the museum are some of the spacecraft, space suits and rocket engines that the United States and Soviet Union developed during the great "space race."
But the price of admission is far less than the billions of dollars that the artifacts cost to produce — admission is $1.
For $2, students can visit Rock City in Minneapolis, Kan., home of the largest sandstone concretions in the world.
"The formations were made by God when he flooded the Earth," said Lola Dallen, manager of Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce.
But most geologists claim that the rocks
were formed when Dakota Sandstone was deposited from the inland sea that covered Kansas millions of years ago.
Geological history aside, Dallen said that she usually did not think about how the rocks got where they were. Some of the more than 200 rocks located in an area the size of two football fields are as big as a house, she said.
"What is great about Rock City is that when you're sitting with the rocks it's the most peaceful place you'll ever be," Dallen said.
Perhaps a more moving experience is what students have in mind - earth moving that is. At 16 stories tall and more than 11 million pounds, Big Brutus is the largest electric coal shovel museum in the world. This shovel, located in Pittsburg, was built to expose the coal in southeast Kansas for the strip miners.
Vicky Johnson, executive director of the museum, said that the monstrous machine was retired and turned into a museum in 1985.
Johnson said that when the coal shovel was built in 1962 it cost more than $6 million. The coal shovel, in just one scoop, could fill three railroad cars. But at a top speed of well under 1 mph, the machine became too burdensome to use.
To date, more than 400,000 people have visited Big Brutus, including visitors from 42 different foreign countries last year alone.
This relic of the past is open year-round. The price of admission is $3.
It's hard to miss the sign on U.S. Highway 54 that says world's largest hand-dug well and pallasite meteorite, Greensburg.
The 109-by-32-foot well was completed in 1888 and helped supply the town with water for 50 years before modern alternatives took over.
The well brings a lot of people from all over the world to Greensburg.
"We get to meet a lot of different nationalities from across the globe," said Anne Kelly, manager of the world's largest hand-dug well.
Kelly said her favorites were the two Swedish reporters on assignment to cover rural life in small U.S. towns.
"I still haven't got a copy of the story that they did on the well," Kelly said. "But they promised to send me a copy of it and I'm still waiting."
The well is the primary visitor attraction, but the 1,000-pound meteorite found just outside of Greensburg in 1948 is also a source of great pride for the town, Kelly said.
The meteorite, composed of essentially metallic iron, is also the largest of its kind in the world. But unlike the well, people don't have to walk down 105 steps to see the entire thing. The meteorite is displayed in the gift shop, which is open to the public.
But to venture down into the well, it costs $1.
"For a dollar it is about the best value of entertainment that you will find in Greensburg," Kelly said.