Salt Mine Museum

You know that expression that goes, "Make plans and God laughs."? 

Yeah, sometimes I think that's what I should name this blog. My plans have gone down the drain more times than they've gone as planned. 

Our family had actually planned on taking a vacation this week to Colorado but then two weeks ago we ended up taking a last minute trip back to Indiana. So there went our vacation money. While we were at home in Indiana we were able to do a little bit of fun stuff but our experience was overshadowed with trips to the hospital. (A close family member had us pretty worried for a while but everything turned out better than anticipated.) 

DR and I felt like we wanted to have one more summer fun day with the kids so we headed to Hutchinson, KS over the weekend to see Strataca; the underground salt museum. 

A fairly plain facade, as though it wants to go as unnoticed as the mine beneath it. 

When you get to the mine you have to buy tickets for a certain time. They only take 30 visitors down every 20-30 minutes. We arrived at 1:30 but didn't go down until 2:40 and this was on a Sunday afternoon too. 

Once it's your turn to go down everyone gets fitted with a hard hat and a self rescuer, a nifty 3 lb. device that is slung across our chest that, in case of fire and smoke, we would use these to breathe. Though we were reassured that in 70 years of bringing visitors down no one had ever needed to use them. 

We took a 90 second ride down in a hoist we arrived in the gallery, a huge room/tunnel with a few signs explaining that this salt mine is pure salt with very little other minerals found. 

This is an awfully big hunk of salt!!! I think it was 400 lbs...whoa! 

The Carrey salt mine is still active and is used as the rock salt that is put on icy roads. 

There are a lot of really neat artifacts on display throughout the museum. This is the machine that was used first in the process. This giant chainsaw would saw at ground level under a wall, then holes would be drilled in the wall, explosives inserted in the holes, then....BOOM!!....a pile of rock salt! 

Fresh air is pumped down the mine, of course, and since there are about 150 miles of tunnels there are places that don't need fresh air. Since the very early times miners have been blocking off some of those unused tunnels so as not to waste fresh air. In the distance you can see one such wall built of lumber. Some walls were also built by filling empty dynamite boxes with salt. 

Not only is the mine used to supply salt but some of the empty tunnels are used as storage. Every major Hollywood movie company has something stored in the Hutchinson Mine. There was this Dorothy from the movie Twister, Dean Cain's Superman suit, a uniform worn by Matt Damon from the movie Monument Men and more on display for visitors to see. 

The museum itself is self guided with a natural flow with a variety of artifacts on display as well as videos that explains the mining process. In this photo the family had taken a seat to watch how the salt was transported to the surface. 

You can't leave the mine without your own souvenier piece of rock salt (because THAT'S so hard to come by!) They have a huge pile for folks to rummage through. 

 

I have miners in the making!! Seriously, Yip is all ready to start training to be the powder man...yikes!!! 

A really neat museum that I highly recommend!! 

Quick Oklahoma Road Trip

 Last weekend we made a quick road trip to Oklahoma and stumbled onto a little gem of a place that I can't wait to get back to!!

 

We found the Quartz Mountain Resort which has a golf course, paddle boats, campgrounds, hotel and I'm sure more that I haven't discovered yet.

 

 

The kids loved climbing up the hills of boulders. Yip and Yap were more than ready to take off and leave DR, their sister and I in the dust. Cactus and wildflowers and huge boulders. I could have climbed mountains all day long!

 

What I was most excited about though was the art work. The resort hosts art workshops and have a sculpture by one of my favorite artists, Alan Houser.

 

 

Of course my boys were super impressed by the giant deer head.

 

I can't wait to go back and just sit and draw or paint the mountains all day long. What gorgeous and inspirational scenery!!

 

 

 

The Cow Game Road Trip!

A friend passed on this game to me that we played the whole road trip to Indiana and back. I can't believe how long it kept us all occupied and boy was it fun!  

The Cow-Culator. Divide the people in your car into two teams; left and right. Decide when your game will end (miles/hours). 

Count the cows you see on your side of the car. 

That means if you pass a field of cows (or a feed lot!) count fast! Each cow is worth one point. 

If you pass a cemetary on your side of the car, the opposing team has to yell "Your cows are buried!" and you lose all your points. To prevent this your team, the one with the cemetery on their side of the car should yell "Cemetery!" first to keep all their points. 

Windmills and white horses are worth 50 points each. 

And a peg legged man is worth 500 points! 

We had so much fun with this game, especially through Kansas which is of course filled with cows and windmills. The game got really fun when we tried to distract the other team so they didn't see the cows. Or when we started arguing about just what constitutes as a cow? Does it have to be real or can in be a photo on a billboard? What about a peg legged man? Can we count the one on the movie playing in the back seat? (How to Train Your Dragon, Peter Pan, what others?) And just how much white has to be on a horse to make it a "white horse"? DR, who drove almost the whole way, was REALLY competitive! He saw every stinking cemetery and I lost every time! I think there came a point when DR and I were playing and the kids weren't! This was the best car game I've ever played. 

Providing Educational Experiences

It's no secret that I love rural life and our little rural school is no exception. Yip and Yap are two of only 20 1st graders. Their teahcers and principal konws everyone. My boys routinely give hugs to the varsity football players when they see them right after school. And there is ample opportunity for students to have one on one attention from their teachers. 

Recently, however, I was talking to a mother of a high school senior in our district. She did have some complaints about the school; it doesn't prepare students for college and it doesn't provide enough experiences and opportunities for students. 

I have to disagree with her 1st point. The school DOES prepare students for college. Last year's seniors included a pre-med major and an student who is in the engineering program at Purdue this year. A state senator can also boast of being a recent graduate of our little high school. I believe my friend's son's problem isn't that he isn't prepared for college but that he doesn't know what he wants to do when he gets there. 

But the fact that this particular senior boy doesn't know what he wants to major in could be from lack of experiences. Of course our high school, of 100 students, has sports, band and an academic team. But there is no FFA program, which I hold in hig regard for its ability to instill leadership qualities in high school students. Like any school our students go on field trips but honestly, destinations are limited. For our students to have the opportunity to visit a museum of the same caliber as those in Chicago or Indianapolis would require an overnight trip. 

I'm an advocate of the importance of a well rounded education, not just in school but at home as well. If the school can't provide the experiences that my kids need then I see it's DR and my job to provide them. 

If you've read my blog routinely you know DR and I take road trips...a lot. Amarillo, Taos, Ft. Larned, Colorado. It's not just about our family seeing new places but experiencing new things and learning about people and places outside their community. DR and I have been discussing visiting a military base because Yap wants to be a soldier. I'm not pushing Yap to be a soldier if he changes his mind in the future but this is his interest now and I feel it's important to provide support and experiences for my kids' interests at any age. 

We also read....a LOT in our home. Books, magazines, newspapers....it's not uncommon for my kids to be on the floor surrounded by books before they go to school. DR and I both are constantly on the lookout for new and interesting reading material for our kids. 

Rural living is wonderful but it does have drawbacks. Isolation and lack of broad educational experiences is one of those obstacles we face out here in SW Kansas. For some the solution would be homeschooling. NOT ME! Overall, the school does a MUCH better job that I ever could on my own. Right now my job is to supplement my kids' educations with road trips, reading or whatever...but I know I could do better. 

So, my question to those of you living in very rural America, how do you provide educational experiences  for your children outside of those offered in your rural school? 

Finally Home!

Phew! We made it. In one piece. 1982 miles...give or take a few.  


Mile 102 - We were all immersed in a VERY competitive Cow Game. I lost. (I'll blog on that later)


Mile 504 - Yahoo was awake at 5 AM! "Child!!! Don't you realize this is vacation?? Sleep!!!"


Mile 631 - We checked out the St. Louis Arch and ate at one of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis, Morgan Street Brewery.  


Mile 780 - Finally! We made it to family who had a bonfire and hot dogs waiting for us. Yay! I think Yap's blisters will heal soon. For some reason he was fascinated with the burning coals the next morning. 


Mile 786 - We visited a place where DR took me on one of our very first dates, Merom Bluffs. The bluffs, in Indiana, over look the Wabash River and Illinois. The first time DR brought me here it was covered in a pristine blanket of snow. It's still lovely, even in dreary November. 

Mile 925 - DR and I did ended up in a huge argument (over something VERY stupid) on my sister's front lawn. (Sorry Officer!) I blame it all on not enough sleep and too much time in the car! 


Mile 1083 - I met one one very brave woman! My youngest brother's new girlfriend joined in our Christmas festivities. This was no small feat on her part. She faced my brother's grandmother, great aunt, parents, one cousin, five siblings, five in-laws, five nephews (two of which were puking) and two nieces...and a LOT of noise. Not only did she tolerate all of us but she did it two days in a row! Crazy or brave?? 


Mile 1094 - Sunday morning worshiping in the little country church where I grew up. Nothing had changed. Yet, everything had. I had tears in my eyes. 


Mile 1100 - Guns!!! What a tradition! Part of my mother's family gets together twice a year to eat and target shoot! 

Marvel Man and Officer (my BIL and Sister) brought TWO cases of handguns for us to shoot! How fun, of course they had to coach me in the right way to hold a pistol. It has sure been a long time since I'd been out on the range! 

Yip shot all afternoon, despite the weather being cold and rainy. He sure enjoyed all the help Papa gave him. The Hoosiers were tired of rain...I could have stood in it all day long.  

Our 6 day trip went by in a whirlwind and all too soon it was time to head back to Kansas. I don't say head home because HOME will always be Indiana! 

Mile 1453 - After two nights of sleeping on couches (no complaints!) DR and I finally got to sleep in the same bed. DR is a good cuddler but he's kind of a blanket hog. 

Mile 1704 - $7 Wrangler jeans for Yip and Yap! I love Outlet Malls!  

Mile 1977 - Yahoo FINALLY fell asleep after hours of being pretty darn slap happy. Five miles later we were home. 


I loved being home. I loved seeing family and friends, although I didn't get to see everyone or those I did for as long as I would have liked. I loved seeing trees and smelling and feeling rain again. But, I was sure glad to leave when we did. The 4-8 inches Indiana received a couple days later would NOT have been much fun!