Wonders of Kansas
Posted on June 4, 2007 by Ching under Travel.
You’re all familiar with the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Then there are the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages which consists of the Stonehenge, the Colosseum, the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, the Great Wall of China, the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, Hagia Sophia, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other wonders that are sometimes mentioned include the Taj Mahal, the Cairo Citadel, Ely Cathedral, and Cluny Abbey.
Now there are modern wonders such as the Channel Tunnel, the CN Tower, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Itaipu Dam, the Delta Works, and the Panama Canal. However, the wonders that are most popular with tourists are the Giza Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Serengeti Migration, the Galapagos Islands, the Grand Canyon, and the Machu Picchu. There are natural wonders, underwater wonders, and the New Seven Wonders as proposed by the New Open World Corporation (NOWC).
In 2008, Kansas will announce its 8 wonders selected by popular vote at 8wonders.org.
The 24 finalists are as follows:
- Arikaree Breaks, Cheyenne County
- Ball of Twine, Cawker City
- Big Brutus, West Mineral
- Big Well, Greensburg
- Brookville Hotel, Abilene
- Chase County Courthouse, Cottonwood Falls
- Cheyenne Bottoms/Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Barton and Stafford Counties
- Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County
- Constitution Hall State Historic Site, Lecompton
- John Steuart Curry murals, State Capitol, Topeka
- Davis Memorial, Hiawatha
- Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene
- Fort Larned National Historic Site, Pawnee County
- Garden of Eden, Lucas
- Gypsum Hills Scenic Drive, Barber County
- Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson
- Kansas Underground Salt Museum, Hutchinson
- Keeper of the Plains, Wichita
- Lake Scott State Park, Scott County
- Monument Rocks/Castle Rock, Gove County
- Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site, Republic County
- St. Fidelis Church, (Cathedral of the Plains), Victoria
- St. Mary’s Church, St. Benedict
- Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (for the Flint Hills), Chase County
So if you ever hear of anyone complaining that there’s nothing to see or do in Kansas, be sure to inform them of the 24 wonders. I bet you probably didn’t even know these wonders existed.
Check them out and cast your vote. I will be doing the same (though I already have my favorites). I will share my top 8 if you guys share yours also. Anyway, public voting ends at midnight on December 31, 2007. Happy voting!
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Replies to "Wonders of Kansas"
Ching on June 5, 2007
Bill,
I don’t really have a links section in this blog, but I added the web site to the local links section of http://www.mkmvpa.org (Mid-Kansas Military Vehicle Preservation Association) which is another web site that I maintain.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful week!
Ching
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Bill Smith on June 5, 2007
It has been very interesting to have a Google Alert for Blogs on “Kansas Flint Hills!”
Yours came up today!
We now have a 22 county Flint Hills Tourism Coalition – this is the new website: http://www.kansasflinthills.travel/
Our web site is to promote the Kansas Flint Hills; and we are so happy to be in the 22 page color photo spread in National Geographic’s April Issue on the Kansas Flint Hills, as a distinctive landscape.
We would appreciate a link from your site, to ours, if you are willing to do so. THANKS!
Best wishes!
Bill 😉
I’ll be voting Flint Hills sites, of course!
Such as the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, for example.