Family-Friendly Overland Park

Posted: May 3, 2012

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If you’ve never heard of Overland Park, Kansas, there’s a reason. We’ve been keeping it a secret. But now, it’s finally time to share this wonderful city that my family and I lovingly call home.

Over the last seventeen years we’ve lived in Overland Park, and have watched our city grow and flourish with family-friendly activities and events. I’m delighted to share my six favorite attractions in Overland Park with you.

Feeding the Goats at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

Ask a local for something fun to do in Overland Park, and the first place they’ll mention is the Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead. Sixteen years ago we enjoyed introducing our daughter to a few goats, hens, a buffalo and a Texas Longhorn that made up this delightful petting zoo. To say that Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead has grown over the years would be an understatement! Now families enjoy over 200 animals, lush gardens and turn-of-the-century buildings filled with indoor activities. Children can experience endless fun during their visit such as pony rides, bottle-feeding goats, fishing with a cane pole and worms, and mining for gems, just to name a few. Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the entire day exploring and playing with your family.

The Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens is a relatively undiscovered gem in the southern part of our city and shouldn’t be missed. This 300-acre outdoor destination boasts eight natural ecosystems with endless trails through colorful gardens and forests. The Arboretum and Botanical Gardens are continually transforming with the seasons, offering new discoveries with the changing weather. Families also enjoy the beauty of the Monet Garden, searching for turtles in Margaret’s Pond, discovering art and sculptures around every corner, watching woodland animals from the bird blind, and listening to the sounds of the interspersed water features. Kids especially love a visit to the Children’s Discovery Garden where they can put on a puppet show, climb the spiral walkway to Sky Watch Mountain, wind their way through the grass maze or learn and discover through outdoor play. The newest addition to the Arboretum is the train caboose and soon to be developed Train Garden. It’s sure to be a hit with train-loving kids! Your older kids will love the Geo-Arboretum: a high-tech treasure hunt that uses a hand-help GPS to track down two hidden secret treasures. The Arboretum also offers outdoor education classes for children and adults, and you certainly won’t want to miss Arts for Kids in October and the Holiday Luminary Walk in November/December.

If you want to spend more time outside, you’ll love Overland Park’s bike and hike trails. Miles of paved trails, varying in distance, are located throughout the city and are easily accessible with convenient parking, allowing you to pick up a trail anywhere around the city. The trails lead you along forested paths through neighborhoods, past golf courses and even to some of our favorite Overland Park attractions. The paths are wide and primarily flat; perfect for every bike rider in the family.

Looking for a day of picnicking and play? It will be hard to choose just one of our 83 unique parks. Each park is unique in size and offerings. In addition to traditional playground equipment, some parks offer ball fields, basketball, sand volleyball or tennis courts, trails, nature preserves, shelters or even a fishing hole. We also have a skate park for those older kids who like to “grind.” Our beautiful parks are tucked into quiet neighborhoods or sit on the main streets beckoning families to come and play. It’s never hard to find a place to let a little energy out around our city.

Introduce your kids to a little culture for your kids by bringing them to the beautiful Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art located on the Johnson County Community College campus. This stimulating contemporary art museum will get your kids’ creative juices flowing with new ways to create interesting art. After your jaunt through the galleries, you can continue an art walk around the campus or enjoy a delicious lunch at Café Tempo located in the museum.

Last, but not least, Overland Park is now home to one of only 11 American Girl stores nationwide. Located at Oak Park Mall, your doll can enjoy a special day of pampering at the doll hair salon while you and your lucky girl peruse the vast selection of clothes, accessories, and books. And just in case you have a little man in tow, he’ll enjoy a ride on the two-level carousel in the center of the Mall.

Explore Overland Park for some family-fun all year ‘round.  I’ll be looking for you!

~Brenda Mott

Brenda is the founder of Smart Mom University, a website dedicated to providing simiple ideas for real parents.

www.smartmomuniversity.com

Planning your next road trip through Kansas

Posted: April 12, 2012

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Overland Park offers plenty of entertainment options. Whether you enjoy a matinee at The New Theatre Restaurant, pet goats at Deanna Rose Farmstead, or explore the changing kaleidoscope of creativity at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, there’s something for every age and interest. Add hundreds of restaurants and shops, and you’ve got a great environment to explore and enjoy.

But what if you want to take a day trip, or a side trip off of the highway, while traveling across Kansas? How do you know where to go? Here are a few ideas:

• Near Topeka, check out Paxico, known as the Antiques Capital of Kansas, or enjoy a decadent slice of the coconut cream pie named America’s Best Slice, by Good Morning America, at Sommerset Hall Café in Dover. In town, call for a tour of more than a dozen stained glass church windows designed by Tiffany, at First Presbyterian Church.

• In Kansas’s northwest corner, drive through our state’s miniature Grand Canyon – Arikaree Breaks. Most of this amazing terrain lies in Kansas, with portions extending into Nebraska and Colorado. There are lots of gravel and dirt roads, so driving a car with good ground clearance is important.

• Visit Sweden without the plane fare when you visit Lindsborg, located in north central Kansas. Grab a sandwich in the restaurant that Mikhail Gorbachev visited, see the first U.S. location for an Anatoly Karpov chess school, and savor Swedish pancakes or a smörgas sandwich. 

• Kansas offers dozens of festivals. Operating in Independence for more than a week each fall, since 1919, the state’s largest annual festival is Neewollah (Halloween, spelled backwards). The 10-day Kansas State Fair has taken place each September, in Hutchinson, since 1913. And Wichita’s biggest annual party – Riverfest – offers nine days of music, entertainment, crafts and much more, every June, as it has since the 1970s.

For more great destinations and events check out my book, An Explorer’s Guide: Kansas. It’s available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in Downtown Overland Park at The Tasteful Olive or The Complete Traveler.

~Lisa Waterman Gray
Lisa is a veteran freelance writer with more than 3,000 published articles, news stories and reviews. Her areas of expertise include travel, food and restaurant, human interest, health and business writing.

Who is the quintessential Kansas author?

Posted: March 1, 2012

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From the rolling Flint Hills to the chalk pyramids of Monument Rocks, Kansas provides a rich landscape on which to paint a portrait of its beauty. Poets and writers of all backgrounds and histories have been inspired by the vast expanses of Kansas’ magnificence and the people who dwell within. They tell stories of life on the prairie, of a time of great conflict and fictional accounts of life in small towns. But who tells the best story about Kansas? Which author would you choose to represent this great state?

Is it Frank Baum, who painted a grand, magical picture of scarecrows, lions, witches and wizards in the Wizard of Oz? Or is it Truman Capote, who (while not himself a Kansan) has impressed on the collective memory an unforgettable image of our proud state? Forty five years later, Truman’s In Cold Blood, an account of the 1959 murder of a Holcomb, Kansas family is still taught in high schools. Some deny Baum and Capote, others firmly embrace them. Who would you choose?

You might prefer a more contemporary representative. Sara Paretsky, for instance, wrote Bleeding Kansas, which is about conflicts between farming families of the Kaw River Valley. Nancy Pickard, a current resident, has transitioned from mystery writer to author of Kansas stories. Several years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Pickard and she “admits that her love of Kansas and its literature propels her on a modern day mission to remind people of the beauty and importance of Kansas literature.” For Pickard, try her book The Scent of Rain and Lightning set in a small town in Western Kansas. But wait. Not too fast. Laura Moriarty knows that The Center of Everything is smack in the middle of Kansas. She has two small-town Kansas novels under her belt and is undoubtedly giving Pickard a run for her money.

Some might prefer a more literary character, like Langston Hughes. He certainly fits the bill as one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry. Don’t remember him?  He lived with his grandmother in Lawrence, KS as a child, and during the Harlem Renaissance became known as a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist.

What about Hutchinson-born William Stafford? He’s been called Kansas’ best known poet. In his poem Stories from Kansas he describes the rolling hills thus; “Carelessly the earth/Escapes, loping out from the/Timid little towns/Toward Colorado.”

Still not sold? No worries. The State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Center for the Book are available to assist in the search for the perfect Kansas read. Since 2006, they have coordinated the selection of fifteen titles that best represent books written by Kansans or written about Kansas. Here you’ll find gems for kids, teens and adults.

Favorites of mine include Susanna Pitzer’s wonderfully illustrated Not Afraid of Dogs in which Daniel overcomes his fear of dogs and learns that he does, in fact, actually like dogs. Matt Phelan scored a place on Booklist Magazines “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list for The Storm in the Barn set in Kansas during the dust bowl. Brad Sneed is author and Illustrator of Deputy Harvey and the Ant Cow Caper. Deputy Harvey earns a promotion by capturing the thieves responsible for Ant Hill’s dwindling Ant Cow herd.

Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen by Joe Drape not only made the 2010 Notable Book list, but has also been selected as the state-wide 2012 Kansas Reads title. Our Boys was “chosen by the State Librarian for its broad-based appeal that encourages and sustains spirited discussion about how small communities that expect to grow need something special, which can take many forms, including a high school football team.”

I can see that you, like me, are having a hard time choosing which author might best represent the spirit of Kansas. The competition is tough and growing tougher as new authors join the ranks. Therefore, we have no choice but to continue on our search. Who will become the quintessential Kansas author? Only time, and you dear reader, will tell. 

~Helen Hokanson
Helen works for the Johnson County Library and contributed this blog for the 2012 Overland Park Visitors Guide.

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