Dodge City, Kansas

March 28, 2013

We left Hobart, Oklahoma around 8:30 am and headed up Highway 83. As we got farther north the land changed from flatland to some valleys. Passed over a river called the Canadian River so of course-being the good Canadian I am -  I had to take a picture.

 

It is a beautiful river. Nice to see water when so many of the smaller rivers and creeks are dry.

 Most of Kansas was very flat and since it is winter time things are mostly gray. We took the 270 over to the 283 and crossed the state line into  Kansas around noon.   One more state behind us on our road home.

 We arrived in Dodge City and found the Boot Hill Casino off Highway 283 on Highway 50 , just on the west side  of town  where we could park for free. Free is always a good price for us and we will take free any time we can.  We took the car and went downtown to check out the famous Dodge City.

Dodge City  is a very  interesting place. We went to the Boot Hill Museum and given that we only had 1 ½ hours before they closed and the museum and grounds were massive, I did a speed tour and took pictures  of all the things I wanted to read and did not have time to  so I could read them later. Part of the complex included  The Plains of the People  Museum.  One could easily spend at least half a day in there. It is mostly about the history of the Indians in that area and the early settlers. There were stories( sometimes on audio) of the way the Indians way of life changed when the white man came. There were many stories of the buffalo hunts such as the one below.

The buffalo were huge as you can see on the right. 

By the way, in the US the Indians from all tribes are referred to as Indians whereas in Canada we call them First Nations people. 

 There are many scenes of the old days such as the gunfight scene below.

There were far too many exhibits to even begin to cover on this blog.

 On the museum grounds is a replica of the original Front Street. 

 Nearly all the stores were open so we could go through them and see what the inside of those places looked like in years gone by.

Boot Hill Cemetery

I walked up the hill to the Boot Hill Cemetery. 

Some of the grave  markers were quite amusing. 

This one was my personal favorite.

 We drove to the downtown area and took a picture of the Long Horn  who is famous in this area.

When we returned to the MH we decided to go into the Casino to have something to eat. We found out if we got  a Players Card that we could get $10.00 put on the card to gamble with. I put my card in and won zero. Anna put hers in and ended up with $500.00.   She was pretty happy.  She wants to use the money for gas money home. After putting in a couple dollars I decided to put in $5.00 and  after going up and down for a very long time I ended up winning 30.00.  I quit while I was ahead.

We then found out that we could get compt for a free buffet so we had prime rib and crab leg buffet-it was 19.99 each and we were given a 49.00 comp . It was delicious. I love crab and I would be embarrassed to tell you how many crab legs I ate. They were so good. Before we left I asked if we could get compt for breakfast. The fellow gave me a 30.00 certificate for breakfast good for the next three days.  We returned to the MH very happy.

It was a super day. But then again, to those of us who are pretending to be retired every day is a  super day. 

Keep warm.

Quote for the day: 

Wonder where there is no path. You lay a path in walking.

A. Machado