Stuck in Wichita

JoLee is writing a paper this semester on Paul Meltsner's painting, Martha Graham Dance Class (c.a. 1939). She wanted to see the painting in person, so we trucked down to the Wichita Art Museum yesterday morning. Wichita is a three hour drive, so we intended to return last night; however, our car's alternator broke and we ended up stranded in the middle of Kansas with no bags! With the help of the Honda dealership that happened to be on our way into town, we were able to contact a mechanic and find a hotel before it got too late. The hotel supplied us with a toothbrush and toothpaste, and we found food and a bookstore at the strip mall across the street. We were very fortunate to have everything we needed within walking distance. In the morning, the mechanic fixed our car in less than three hours and we were back on the road. With the exception of a costly repair, we both enjoyed our little adventure in Wichita.

JoLee spent an hour observing this painting and taking notes. She set up a few folding chairs for us to be comfortable. I highly recommend touring art museums with art history majors. It makes you feel like you know what you're doing.

I know not all art is beautiful, but I thought this painting was. The colors and the forms and the subject matter (i.e. modern dance) make this painting wonderful to look at.

The museum had a space for kids to explore and learn about art. I put this series of ramps and tubes together.

This one was JoLee's design.

After the art museum, we visited the Exploration Place (which is somewhat similar to the Exploritorium in San Francisco). Wichita has a rich flight history, so a big portion of the museum was dedicated to aeronautics. Here I am trying to fly the Wright Brothers' plane at Kitty Hawk. I'm pleased to say that I crashed spectacularly.

The nature section of the Exploration Place had this exhibit of a decomposing rat being consumed by maggots and a giant slug. This one's for you, Blake!

The drive between Kansas City and Wichita is spectacularly beautiful in my opinion. It takes you through the flint hills, which is some of the only tall prairie grass left in the world. What makes the flint hills so unique is the lack of trees. Under a thin layer of soil lies solid rock, making the flint hills useless for farming but excellent for grazing. In the winter time it's a little bare, but come springtime it will be miles and miles of rolling green grass. This drive should be beautiful when Jen and I drive it in June, but I'd argue that it's beautiful even in the winter.

We had incredibly powerful winds on both legs of our journey. A storm was rolling in as we drove home, but we were lucky to arrive before it started to rain.

The last time a car broke when I was on a road trip was in Salt Lake City. My dad got our family a hotel room downtown and we all went swimming with our friends in the hotel pool. Unfortunately, we didn't have our swimsuits in Wichita, but we still had fun.