11 of 40 Birthday Experiences! August 2023 - Wichita Kansas with the Runyans! Celebrating birthdays and more with a surprise weekend in the heart of the midwest. During one of the hottest weekends of the year (past years) ewww!
After letting Rick’s folks know that they need to pack an overnight bag and hustling them into their car - we drove first to breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading out of town. A few pit stops at the painted silos - one was painted like a coke bottle. Then on to another silo for a quick minute stop and far away photo. We continued into Wichita, Kansas - and to the Old Cowtown Museum: An open-air history museum dedicated to preserving and presenting local history through the 1800’s. There is everything from examples of the Native American Wichita tribe living and then forced migration in and out, as well as dirt road cowtown creation. It was hot but most of the buildings are air-conditioned. There is also so much to see - that you could easily spend a full day there. After we exhausted our day, we headed to dinner at a pub downtown. Then on to our great AirBNB for the night. Day Two started with breakfast at Hurts Donut and then on to the Arkansas river meeting point and the Keeper of the plains - a beautiful sculpture by Wichitan and Native American artist, Blackbear Bosin, to represent the sacred land. After that we made it to the Kansas Aviation Museum in the former Wichita Municipal Airport. Very cool to be able to explore aviation history as well as explore actual planes in different styles. Then a wonderful lunch at Old Mill Tasty Shop - including REAL MALTS! Before heading back to Rick’s parent’s home in Shawnee.
What started as 40 from august to august has expanded to the start of 2023 to August 2024. Due to other people planning things that we want to join… before August 2023. This is the celebration of “omg Kassie survived 40 years - we never thought it would happen.” Maybe the next 40, I’ll be more careful so it won’t be so surprising. 40 “experiences” have to be #1 unique, #2 require the day and night in the location to count, #3 that’s it.
-----------------------------------------------
Originally from Iowa (Kassie) and Kansas (Rick), we met in Kansas in 2005 and immediately found that we had so much in common - including our desire to someday see the world. We now live in NYC and quickly started catching up on travel after our first (just us) international trip to Iceland in 2015. We decided to start making videos for us and our family/friends to track our travels. Kassie is in Marketing, an Author (see her poetry + author videos), and Puppet Creator. Rick is an Engineer and Script Writer (see our current and coming puppet movies!)
YouTube Site: https://www.youtube.com/@KassieAndRick-ExploreManyPaths
Kassie's Author Site: https://www.kassiejrunyan.com/
Joint Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore_many_paths
Kassie's Magazine: https://www.opendoorpoetrymagazine.com/