Driving Across Kansas

In July I made the trek to Kansas to visit family.  I ended up spending a couple of days in Ottawa, a small town in America's bread basket, indistinguishable from many others like it across the midwest.  While there I did get the chance to visit the Old Depot Museum, a small museum in an old railroad depot that pays homage to small town America and the history of the surrounding area.  The museum consists of small rooms throughout the two buildings, each with a different theme or focus on a period of time.  One of the first rooms to really catch my eye, that had some flair to it, was this recreation of a 1950s era malt shop.

Across the hall from the "malt shop" was a recreation of an old country school house, complete with the American flag, bell, and an apple for the teacher.  You can't see it from this angle, but the room was complete with an old pot belly stove and rows of old wooden desk with ink wells.  

I spent a considerable amount of time exploring the building and taking photos, but ultimately it was these two rooms that I kept coming back to when looking through the day's photos...

On the way back to New Mexico I saw these old buildings as I passed through the outskirts of Strong City.  I don't know what they were used for - my guess would be grain storage - but I liked the look of them, once proud, still standing...

Later that day we passed through Ellinwood in central Kansas, and the main intersection in town was the setting for this building that caught my eye, with a weathervane and lightning rod perched on top. 

Looking down Ellinwood's North Main Street I saw these shocks of wheat, made of metal, mounted to the light poles.  This street, lined with utility poles sporting the shocks of wheat with the flag flying below, screamed small town Americana...

As I always do when driving through Kansas, I stopped in Liebenthal, population 102, where my parents were born and my mother was raised.  Over the years this small store has changed hands numerous times, and it appears to be waiting patiently for its next incarnation...

All photos taken with a Nikon D7000, and a Nikkor 16-85 DX VR lens

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