Oct 20 - Hallmark Visitors Center and Kansas Capitol

We had decided to go through Kansas City, Missouri, and see the Hallmark Visitors Center, based on some literature we had found earlier in the week. The ride was relatively short (50 miles) and the Center provides free parking. When we started on the tour we saw displays of greeting cards from the 20’s forward. We also saw a display of Hallmark’s collectable Christmas ornaments. James found the birthday card that he wants for next year and he met another friend (he doesn’t know what Maxine thinks about men!) Then we got to the area where the employees of Hallmark designed and made Christmas trees for Mr. & Mrs. Hall the last 17 years of his life. Each tree had a theme and each one was beautiful in its own way. Then we moved into the area where people were demonstrating making the dies for cards and then running the various machines that would cut the cards and the ones that would apply foil to the cards. We also saw a machine making bows and it gave each one of us a bow. We went into an area where various TV commercials were replayed. They brought tears to our eyes. We saw demonstrations of producing Crayola crayons and Silly Putty (both products of Hallmark.) As we were leaving we learned that the building next door was for children. It is called Kaleidoscope and provides hand on art activities for children free of charge. We also learned that the Hall family owned the entire Crown Center which had a 3 story mall with stores owned by the Hall’s. There was also a Westin Hotel and a Hyatt Regency, both owned by the Hall family. This was really an upscale development and we really enjoyed it. As we left Kansas City we headed to Topeka, Kansas, to tour the state capitol. We were not surprised to find it was under renovation and much of it was closed. We had a private tour that was very interesting. We learned that the legislature did not like the paintings in the hall (including one depicting John Brown in a very menacing way – it scared children. There was a significant debate about whether to pay for the paintings. Finally, the legislature paid for the work completed and fired the painter. This painting “Tragic Prelude” became famous for its depiction of the prelude to the Civil War. There are four statues in the rotunda of Kansas natives that have made a significant impact. One of these is Amelia Earhart, the first woman to attempt to fly around the world. (Interesting that a movie is coming out this week about her life.) The senate and representative chambers have been completely renovated to the initial period of the building. The senate is especially beautiful. The columns in this area are copper and the black box-like part at the back is where the heat was initially generated for the room. These have been converted to heat/cooling vents. The workers are currently working on the rotunda and still must renovate the State Library area. All renovation is being carefully done to bring the capitol back to its original structure. The official governor’s office has been renovated and we were able to get our picture made behind the desk. This is the office used for official acts such as signing acts into law and meeting with the press. We also learned that part of the renovation included removing much of the limestone underneath the capitol to provide a parking lot and additional offices. There are tunnels under the capitol faced out with limestone (this is also the area used as a tornado shelter.) We left Topeka headed to El Dorado, Kansas for the night. The weather was beautiful with temperatures near 80 by late afternoon. We saw another beautiful sunset on the road to El Dorado. After a mix-up at Holiday Inn Express we finally checked in about 7 p.m., after a long, but interesting day.