Day 4 of our journey across America took us to Lawrence, Kansas. After driving from St. Louis, stopping at the University of Missouri and Harry Truman's home in Independence, then driving through Kansas City, we made it into Lawrence about dark.
We stayed at an old-fashioned Holiday Inn with a great indoor pool, and got up the next morning for a visit to Kansas University.
Lawrence and KU far exceeded my expectations. Lawrence is a small college town about 40 minutes west of Kansas City and 20 minutes east of the state capital of Topeka. It is really clean and pretty.
Kansas U was beautiful. Instead of being flat and dull (as I had envisioned) it is up on a hill with pretty views, a large open campus with gorgeous buildings. One of the favorites I have visited ... Athens/UGA is the gold standard of course, but I rank Kansas up there with Georgia, UNC at Chapel Hill, and Virginia.
On campus, we visited Allen Fieldhouse and drove by the football stadium (you can tell b-ball is the big deal at Kansas.
Enjoy the pictures!
Holiday Inn Lawrence, Kansas
A great big pool that was a comfortable temp
You can't see them well, but all the Big 12 school flags are hung from the rafters.
Phog Allen Fieldhouse ... named for the great Kansas coach and student of James Naismith (who came to teach/coach at Kansas after inventing basketball in Springfield, Mass). Kansas has a great tradition ... Allen coached Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith so there is a direct link from contemporary times back to the origins of the game.
Kansas Hall of Fame inside Allen Fieldhouse
Found a way into main court area!
Allen had a real old-school feel to it obviously ... I think I liked it better than the Dean Dome or Cameron at Duke. It was big like the Dean Dome, but kept that old gym style of Cameron while being very modern on outside and around concourse. Very impressed by whole campus.
Campus is up on a hill, but football stadium is kind of down in a valley. A beautiful drive around dorms, academic buildings (like the one above), and an outdoor park area made it very picturesque. The parking would not come close to handling an SEC type crowd though.
Next stop .... Lincoln, Nebraska ... we take a quick detour in Topeka to eat at a place I saw on Diners-Drive Ins and Dives, then get off the interstate to drive several hours north to the home of the Huskers!
Thanks for visiting (I am typing from Rawlins, Wyoming) ... will update soon.
Hope all is well with all of you.
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