Oh wow... looking back, Hannah and I have not been very "productive" on writing for the blog this year! We have been so busy with settling things in our daily life, and days becomes weeks and soon weeks becomes months. And, I am just now catching up with writing about the trip we took last month (in August), showing how slow we are with updating everyone with what we have been up to.
Early last month (August), I had to go to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas (not New York) for a meeting. I was then toying with the idea that maybe Hannah and I could take a long weekend and get away. We did a quick research, and both of us decided that we could camp at the Tuttle Creek State Park (to save money on accommodation), tour the small college town (Manhattan) and do a long run at the Konza Prairie.
I always had the impression that Kansas is flat and has boring landscape. Hannah and I were preparing to drive across waves and waves of flat corn fields for the 9-hr drive from Chicago to Manhattan. However, to our delight, it wasn't boring at all! In fact, it wasn't even totally flat, and the landscape is more interesting than that when we were driving through Indiana :) As we were approaching Manhattan, the maps app directed us off the main highway to take the backroad, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The road was going up and down, and we felt like we were in the ocean! Manhattan shapes like a bowl, surrounded by the Flint Hills on all four sides, and as we approached the city, it was nice to see some rolling hills as well.
It turned out to be quite an adventure looking for the campsite. This was because part of the reservoir was closed for renovation, and we had to drive around it. The directions on the maps app wasn't very clear, and neither were the road signs. After making a few wrong turns, we finally reached the campground, Tuttle Creek State Park. As we went around the campground, scouting where was the most secluded campsite (we really liked to be AWAY from people!), we were delighted to find that most of the people there were RV-camping, and we were the only ones camping in our tents! We chose a site as far away from everyone, and set-up our tent! The water level was very low because Kansas was experiencing quite a severe drought this year, and it was interesting to see some of the dead trees poking out of the water. Nevertheless, all these didn't matter to the dogs, as Lilith and Jet headed straight for the water the moment they got out of the car :) Hannah and I agreed to let them run around a bit to reward them for being good dogs, enduring the 9-hr drive. Hannah prepared dinner, and we enjoyed the beautiful sunset as we chowed down our food.
Next day, I had a couple of meetings at Kansas State University. We left the dogs at the dog kennel, Hannah wandered around the campus and surrounding areas as I went about my business. Most of my meetings were in the morning, and by lunch time, I was done with official matters. I joined Hannah and am glad to find her before she melted away under the super hot sun! We wandered around town a bit, and decided that we need to have lunch before my afternoon meeting. We picked out a restaurant in Aggieville, the oldest shopping district in Kansas (http://www.aggieville.org/), and were pleasantly surprised on how cheap our lunch was! I think we spend about $20 for two lunches and two beers, which is almost unheard of in Chicago.
The next day we were up early in the morning, and ready for our long run. Dogs were still at the kennel because we wanted to run in the Konza Prairie, which do not allow any pets in the area. We were still training for our race, so we had to meet our running target this week. There is a 10-km loop around the prairie, and so we thought it would then be easy to just run five rounds, and complete our 50km training run for the weekend :) It was a lovely run, and one thing we noticed is the low humidity. Although the sun was baking hot, we could cool off in the shade, and our shirt would be dry within minutes! It was nice not to deal with the high humidity we experience in Chicago. After the run, as like always, we set-up our folding chairs by the side of the track to enjoy our hard-earned beer. :)
Until next time, Konza.
Until next time, Konza.
