June 18th 2011

Ft. Collins historic old town and family at church

Driving June 18, 2011

Just sky pictures. see the Rocky Mountain Foothills in the far distance

Castle Rock Kansas June 17th 2011

Castle Rock Kansas, about 20 minutes south of I70. It's a bit of a bumpy drive when you get there. they must have had crazy rains because the roads were really terrible. at one point i thought i was gonna tip over. all i can say is i am glad i have an off road vehicle and if you plan on going then make sure you are prepared to possible get stuck.

The Cathedral of the Great Plains

This church is just one of those things that you always see the sign for and from I70 you can see the two towers, yet i have never been down to Victoria, Ks to see the Church. Wiki says it was finished in 1911. Not great pictures but they work.

Forgotten Kansas

I was this house with i was leaving the Mushroom Rock State Park area. The GPS quit working because i was using my cell phone and after it sent me to Kanapolis I exited and it wouldn't find the signal again. I knew i needed to go West to Colorado and North to get back on I70 so i just headed west till i found a highway that took me north. 

What i liked about this house was that it was in complete disrepair. It looked magical to me when i first drove by it and so i turned around and went back to check it out and the color of the brick was still so vibrant. i wonder if they used local stones to build it with.

Mushroom Rock State Park, and Kanapolis State Park

So I decided to hit the Mushroom State Park first, I had been driving for about 4 hours and was coming close to Salina. I took the address that i found http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us which said that it was 200 Horsethief Rd. Marquette, KS 67464. I type that into the GPS. Following along the path the GPS told me to go, i see the sign for Mushroom Rock Park. Well at first i decided to go that way, then about an eighth of a mile the GPS was yelling at me so i decided to go back the way the GPS told me to go. Hey maybe there was another entrance. Nope. The GPS took me to Kanapolis Reservoir. It happens to be the first state park in Kansas. While i didn't get to see Red Rock Canyon while i was there i did make a quick stop next to the shore line to grab a few pictures. My brother said something about Jesse James and the canyon and i should wait to do all that with him. So I jumped back in the car and headed back to the sign that told me the Mushroom Rocks were. Pulling up to the park I drove past the Sign saying Mushroom Rock State Park. after about 20 seconds of driving on I had to turn around because the sign was the park. From the road you may think your entering a park but you should just park right there by the bathroom because the park i to the left and to the right. i found this website, looking at the pictures from the early 1900's show just how much a landscape can really change. http://www.kansastravel.org/mushroomrock.htm. Since these rocks are so close to Kanapolis, all i could think about when i was there was if Jesse James rode though on horseback and took a nap under the cool sandstone shade.