Dust In the Wind

Not really sure how to title a trip to Kansas, so I decided to use the number one hit by the group Kansas. Kind of a stretch I know. Anyway, last week I made a quick trip to Topeka with my ladyfriend Kirsten to visit her Aunt and Uncle. We flew in to Wichita and drove up to Topeka, since apparently being the state capital doesn't equate to having commercial air service.


We spent a day sightseeing in Topeka. One of the first places we stopped was Monroe Elementary school, site of the famous Brown V. Board of Education incident, regarding integration of public schools back during the civil rights movement. The building has been completely restored to it's original condition (although the halls smelled like pee). They had some nice exhibits about the civil rights movement and some great photographs from the time. The one that struck me as the most powerful was a picture of an African American girl walking into school and this white woman behind her, mouth wide open, obviously spewing some racial slur. I would love to know where that white woman is now and what her feelings are about the issue, hoping she changed her mindset.




We also visited the capital where we climbed the dome of the state capital. It was pretty high up. Kirsten was more anxious going up, I was more anxious going down, but it was neat experience and afforded us a great view of downtown Topeka. Inside the capital, I got to walk on the floor of the state senate. I attempted to pass a resolution increasing the signage on the freeway between Wichita and Topeka (which is virtually non-existent.... how do you know where you are going?), but no one was there to vote on it.




We spent the afternoon back at her Aunt and Uncle's house. They live on a lake, so we went out on the pontoon for a relaxing ride.






All in all a quick trip, but a fun couple of days.