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ROAD TRIP
Eastern Kansas: There Are Times When You Feel Like You're Not in Kansas Anymore
Despite the state's straitlaced reputation, things have been known to get delightfully strange amid the sunflowers--and it doesn't take a twister to do it
  |   June 2006 issue

I'm too freaked out for bed, and the only place open after midnight is Al's Bar & Grill, a cavernous dive decorated with a collection of wheelchairs. The bartenders' T-shirts relay important information: Tomorrow, Al's will hold its eighth-annual Testicle Festival.

Lodging


Erika Nelson with her traveling art exhibit (Morgan & Owens)

  • Midland Hotel 414 26th St., Wilson, 785/658-2284, midland-hotel.com, from $65, sandwich $6
  • Food

  • Hays House 112 W. Main St., Council Grove, 620/767-5911, fried chicken $6
  • Aldrich Apothecary 115-119 W. Main St., Council Grove, 620/767-6731, ice-cream soda $2.50
  • Activities

  • Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Hwy. 177, 620/273-8494, nps.gov/tapr, free, tours $5
  • Nightlife

  • Al's Bar & Grill 2419 Ave. E, Wilson, 785/658-3363, all-you-can-eat bull testicles $14 (at festival only; in 2006, May 28)
  • Day 3: Wilson to Nickerson

    As far as I can tell, everything in Kansas shuts down on Sunday mornings, so we spend the first part of the day relaxing in the sun, watching people fish in Wilson Lake, which locals know as "the clearest lake in Kansas."


    Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
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