A South Central Kansas Road trip
Family vacations take flight at an aviation museum in Wichita and space museum in Hutchinson; things get wild at a world-class zoo and wildlife park.
Begin your adventure among the massive cypress, oaks and Japanese maple trees at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. Then head north to Wichita, the state's largest city. Converted brick warehouses line the streets of the city's Old Town, a popular shopping and entertainment district. It's easy to spend an entire afternoon checking out the district's 100-plus restaurants, shops, bars and galleries.
Wichita is to airplanes as Detroit is to automobiles. The area has been home to the Boeing Company, Cessna, Raytheon and Bombardier Aerospace's Learjet division. Explore this aerodynamic history at the Kansas Aviation Museum. More museums line the Arkansas River (designated a National Water Trail in 2016). The Mid-America All-Indian Center, the Wichita Art Museum and the Kansas African American Museum line the waterway.