Life on the Plains - A Year in Kansas

Manhattan "The Little Apple" as the residents refer to it, is a surprising small town. My first impression upon arriving here was the abundance of purple, everywhere, including carwash foam. I have always lived in and loved college towns but this one takes the cake. (KSU's colors are purple and white.) But it was that true college spirit that made me really start to love it here, and game days are really something to see. I also arrived here with the idea that Kansas was flat and brown. While there are not many green trees, Manhattan is anything but flat. There are hills surrounding the city some offering great views of the plains, check the main road off the highway for these.

Quick Tips:

Nearby Fort Riley, where my husband was stationed, is also full of history, and activities if you has the access. You must get a pass at the main gate, museums are open to visitors but to do any shopping or other activities you must have a military ID.

Best Way To Get Around:

The downtown area and campus are easy to walk, though parking is scarce, other than that driving is your best option. There is not much in the way of city transportation here.

Tuttle Creek is a Corps of Engineers campground, there are 4 different campgrounds with varying services at each. We stayed at the more popular, River Pond area which is directly below the Tuttle Creek Dam. This creates a very interesting scene with the ominous dam retaining an entire lake on one side and lush green park on the other side. There are all sorts of recreation activities in walking distance or a minute or two drive around the park, fishing, boating, playgrounds, swimming area, and canoe rentals.

We had a camper site here and it offered both water and electric hook up, all of the sites had picnic table and fire pit. We were also backed up to a wide open field with no camp sites in it so it was perfect for kids and dogs to play in, and yes dogs are allowed! There were shower and restroom facilities in walking distance though at night I would take the car because it was a long walk from our site. One of the nicer campgrounds we have stayed at as far as cleanliness, and adjacent activities.

If you need a place to watch the game, this is it. We were here constantly for both Saturday and Sunday games, my husbands work gatherings were always held here, and we went here just because the kids loved it. If you have never been to one of these, they have TVs everywhere, some with the big games of the day and others with the NTN trivia, which is now a requirement for us to eat somewhere. They have a good size menu with 12 sauces for the wings and a variety of other dishes as well. It gets loud in the evenings and during big games but this atmosphere is what makes it such a great place to watch events. At lunch time and weeknights it is a actually rather quiet, making it a good place for office lunches and gatherings.

This is a small zoo but it has one advantage over all other zoos I have been to and that is getting right next to many of the animals. You can walk right through the middle of an Australian exhibit, the prairie dogs and peacocks roam free, and the flamingos are right next to you, there is also a petting zoo for kids with pigs, goats and other various farm animals. There are not many of the larger animals here like elephants and such but the interaction that you get with the animals that are there makes it worth the time, and small amount of money.

There is a lunch area where you can bring your own food or purchase it there as well as several snack stands. The park is very clean and there are several open areas for kids to just roam around. We all had fun just watching my daughter in amazement, and her interaction with a parrot that was apparently talking to her and didn't want her to leave! This can be a bit difficult to find because it is in a residential neighborhood. But it is not far from the high school and there is a big sunset zoo arch entrance to the parking lot, if that is you don't find the peacocks first.