From wide open prairies to vibrant small towns.

Kansas is full of outdoor adventures that won't empty your wallet.

We're sharing the best ones today.

It's fun on a budget.

On this episode of inspire.

Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Anne Goldsmith.

The Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.

♪ Hello and welcome to Inspire.

It's always a fun time sharing the table with my friend and Inspire sister Danielle Norwood.

And you, of course.

So whether you're hiking, floating, or just relaxing in the sun, Kansas provides wonderful experiences that you don't need to spend big to have a big adventure.

Today we're preparing for fun times in the Sunflower State without breaking the bank as we chat with our guests, Colby Sharples-Terry, who is PR Communications Manager from Kansas Tourism, thank you for joining us today and glad to have you back here with us, sister.

It's been two years I think so.

That's crazy.

Way too long.

I know.

So people are gearing up, you know, here we are in the midst of spring.

Summer is going to be here before we know it.

And maybe you know what certain things going on around us with the economy.

Our budgets are a little bit more limited.

Tell us about some fun things that we could look forward to doing here within our geographical boundaries this spring and summer.

Yes.

So I brought lots of good, free ideas for you and I love them.

So some of them might take a little bit of gas to get there.

But first off, one of my favorite state parks.

You know, if you're just visiting one of our 29 state parks, it's $5 for a vehicle pass.

Unless you have, you know, the yearly permit or, like me, I got one of the state park license plates so I can just boogie on it.

We have awesome state parks.

And it's quite a bucket list for a lot of people.

Even me.

You know, I do travel quite a bit.

I probably only been to half of the state parks, so there's so much good hiking you can hang out on.

Swim beaches, float.

You know, there's a lot of cool stuff to do.

And if you do want to camp, there's tent camping.

And if you're not a big tent camper, there's cabins.

There's your it's there's a lot of cool stuff to stay at.

It's just amazing the variety.

And people think, which I just it just drives me crazy when they say there's nothing to do in Kansas.

It's just flat land.

But get off and look at some rocks out of western Kansas.

So explain about those parks, please.

Yeah, so we do.

We have some great land formations and most of them are free to get in.

You know, a lot of people, Monument Rock, you know, with the famous keyhole, it's free, you know, it's on private property, but they open up the land up for visitors.

My favorite, which is Castle Rock Badlands.

It's free.

There's nobody out there.

There's been so many times I've been the only person out there.

Arikarre Breaks is really, really beautiful.

And now that's really in the far northwest corner of the state.

So a lot of people don't see it unless they're road tripping out that way.

But it's so cool and they're free.

Rock City Park is in Minneapolis.

And they have a small, entrance fee.

Same thing with mushroom Rock State Park.

So there's a lot of cool rocks to look at.

We're a rock family.

Normally when we go out, we come home with stuff in our pocket.

Yeah, little rock shelf.

But like, you're talking about the formations.

It's like when you're out there, you feel like you're going to see Clint Eastwood riding any minute.

You know, across.

Oh yeah.

Oh yes.

And, you know, I think a lot of times when like, people are like, there's nothing to see or do here.

Like we were told that growing up and then people just believed it.

And so, yeah, we don't have mountains, we don't have oceans, but we do have a lot of really cool stuff.

And that's the same for a lot of just us Midwest destinations.

You might have to drive a little bit or explore a little bit more, but there are some really cool things and a lot of cool small towns with stories that that are neat to learn about.

And they all have their festivals.

They do.

Yes.

It is going to be festival season.

So I brought some lists of some free festivals that are happening this summer.

Amelia Earhart Festival and Atchison.

I think it's July 19th this year and that's free to attend.

You know, you don't have to buy anything.

You're able to show up, walk around people watching is wonderful at any festival.

And then one of my bucket list events I haven't been to is Lindsborg's Mid-Summer festival coming up, for Summer Solstice in June.

It's free to attend that one.

And then, you know, just think about, like, how many, like, car shows.

There's a lot of county fairs that are free.

You know, if you're not doing the carnival part, you're able to go and experience things.

So when you're thinking about your budget, or a lot of people are trying to be, just conscious on spending, you don't have to buy something every time you go out and you're still able to experience things, talk with people, listen to music, and it's still a good time.

Well, you're talking about festivals.

Rodeo season is getting started because for my birthday, I'm going to the Flint Hills Rodeo.

Are you?

So I want to talk about -why you laughing at me?

I'm getting go there, and I'm looking forward to just being out in the fresh air and just seeing the different events.

Talk about some of the rodeos and some of those activities that, you know, families can get into.

Because it's not just about the adults, it's about the kids, too.

Oh, absolutely.

And a lot of counties, they have like their rodeo going on during their county fair.

So it's a big event.

You know, the Flint Hills one is wonderful.

And it's right next to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, which is another free attraction for people.

And then also in the Flint Hills, great architecture, you know, it costs besides gas.

You can drive around, you know, of course, people think of like Chase County Courthouse.

Oh, yeah, there's some beautiful limestone homes.

Like, that's one of my dreams is to live in a limestone house in the Flint Hills.

But, you know, there's stuff like that that people can look at.

But, yes, rodeos are so much fun.

Some have free rodeos, but also tickets are pretty reasonable.

And it's just a great All-American family night.

Be able to go do that.

So and sometimes the kids get involved.

Like with the mutton buster.

Yes.

It's my favorite part of the rodeo.

It's the cutest little helmets.

All the kids hold on to the sheep.

Mean, that's kind of cool.

It is really cool.

And then there's, like, Dodge City, you know, when it's their rodeo time, it's like almost like two weeks long.

So it's a long event.

So you're able to get down there and experience some stuff, see the rodeo, do some tourism attractions.

It's a big deal.

You know, I love the prairie and just seeing the grass, but not only the beautiful land mass but the waterways.

There's lots of waterfalls.

Who would think waterfalls is what it is and for a lot of them it is kind of a short season.

You know, it depends on the spring rains.

But yeah, just right there is, one of the most visited in, Cottonwood Falls is the Chase Lake Falls.

We actually have a great blog on our website, that are like the top waterfalls in Kansas.

And it's a tour.

We partnered with a photographer in Wichita, Mickey Shannon.

He's the one that really visited all these and photographed them, and it's one of our top website pages.

I mean, people love it, but it is a short window, you know?

But you just between spring.

But now is a perfect time to get out and start.

I got a birthday pictures taken by Cottonwood Falls.

So I'm like, all this stuff like I've been there this.

Yeah, it was there running when you were there was actually I mean, absolutely gorgeous.

And you can actually feel some of the spray from the falls where the actual, you know, fence is.

And it was just who knew in Kansas because again, we get this bad rap or a flyover state, nothing going on.

And it's like, have you really spent time here?

Because literally you can go from boundary to boundary, north, south, east, west, and there's something cool to do all without, you know, throughout the, the whole state.

So I just I'm really impressed.

I know I am too, and that's how we promote, like our six travel regions, you know, explore this one area, take a few days.

There's probably going to be waterfalls.

There's going to be free and free museums.

There's going to be great state parks.

There's probably going to be a cool event going on.

You really can dive into every part of Kansas and fall in love.

Okay.

So we're going to learn about those six areas.

So I think and you're saying, oh gosh, I hope that they're going to talk about them.

Yes, we are.

But for now, I hope you have been taking note of all the fabulous things Colby has told us already.

But coming up, school's out for Sunflower Summer and I had the opportunity to visit with Jordan Roemerman, deputy Director for Kansas Tourism, to talk about the Sunflower Summer app.

Here's a clip from that discussion.

Okay, I've got to confess I never knew about this sunflower app.

It is the Sunflower Summer app, and it's been around for five years.

Jordan Roemerman from Kansas.

Tourism is here and this has been something that has been so well received.

Please tell us about it.

Oh absolutely.

People love the Sunflower Summer program.

So it is a mobile app.

It is available on both Android and Apple devices.

So you can go download it now.

And basically it's an app that allows Kansas families to get into attractions across the state for free.

We're expecting over 220 attractions to participate this year.

We're still finalizing those numbers, but it's going to be a great season for the, the fifth, fifth summer.

Right in a row.

It sounds perfect.

And we were talking before we were on camera that there should be a little jingle like sunflower Summer or something like that, you know, be driving down the road, rocking out to the sunflower Summer jingle.

Yep.

And it's actually categories like, say, I want to go for a hike and there's a place that I can look search those out.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, we have all sorts of different types of attractions that participate in the program.

State parks are actually one area that that folks get a day pass for the state parks in their vehicle, for, for the program, so you can head to those state parks are a great one.

We also have things like zoos, museums, and historic sites.

We have live events like live, performing arts theaters.

We have live sporting events.

And so there are so many fun things to see and do across the state.

When you sign up for the Sunflower Summer app.

And what's the updating?

I mean, you updated every year with new attractions and some that might have been deleted, but how does that process work?

Yeah, so we work with attractions across the state.

The, since it's come to Kansas tourism, we have attractions apply for the program and so if they fit those eligibility criteria that we have in mind, we kind of review and we, we get them signed up for the app.

So you'll want to make sure that you look at the app each, each summer before you go, because things might have changed and updated.

We will be announcing those attractions sometime in June 2025.

So stay tuned for that.

They will be released at sunflower Summer org as soon as we have them available.

So head there.

We'll have a big map of everywhere in the state that's participating, and it'll be a good time for you to start planning those summer vacations.

And it looks like it's something easy to use.

We're going to show you just exactly how to use it in just a few minutes.

Stay there.

Budget friendly doesn't have to mean boring.

And Kansas.

It's all about big skies, bigger smiles, and unforgettable outdoor fun as we're learning from Colby Sharples-Terry, who's the PR and communications manager from Kansas Tourism.

Before we took our little break, you talked about the six regions or zones of Kansas.

Can you walk us through each one?

Yeah, absolutely.

So we do it by northwest, north, central, northeast.

And then the same for the south.

And so the northwest part kind of what we talked about, you know, the rock formations, kind of that rugged, untamed beauty of Kansas in North Central, we call it for the centered.

You got stuff like Eisenhower Museum, some really great state parks, great art scene between, you know, especially Salina.

Salina.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And, in northeast Kansas, you know, we got some of the bigger metros between, Lawrence and Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, and a lot of foodie attractions.

Eating your way through northeast Kansas is pretty great.

Southeast Kansas, that's when you get into, like, the Ozark Mountain plateau, you know, get through Rocky, I personally think that southeast Kansas is the most beautiful in the fall when those fall colors hit down there, lots of reds and oranges.

It's beautiful.

And also Kansas Route 66 is down in that corner.

South Center is our biggest region.

With our, I would say the biggest number of attractions, like when you're looking at places like Wichita or, Lindsborg.

There's just so much going on there.

And then southwest is, you know, for the wild.

That's where our wild, wild West history is.

But also a lot of important, cultures that we don't talk about and appreciate as much.

You know, Garden City has one of the best food scenes in Kansas with so many different cultures are just represented in that community.

So much great food and Dodge City with their, you know, Boot Hill Museum and distillery and all that great stuff.

So each region is super cool and there's a lot to see and do, and you can find that all out on your website.

Yes, you can have it broken out by region.

And you mentioned Route 66 and they're coming up on a major celebration.

They are.

It's exciting.

So in 2026 it'll be the 100th year.

And so lots of big stuff going on.

You know Kansas we have the smallest portion of Route 66.

We have 13 miles.

We claim it's a mighty it's a very mighty 13 miles.

You know, especially like with the attractions, like cars on the route.

Some people don't know that the Disney Pixar movie cars was inspired by a road trip.

And when, a couple of the writers or whoever was involved with the film were in southeast Kansas, the inspiration for Tow Mater, which was the tow truck, came from what's now cars on the route in, Baxter Springs.

So, that's why they have all that.

And also like in the show, I think the town was called Radiator Springs.

It was Baxter Springs.

So there's a lot of inspiration down in that area.

And it's a fun road trip.

Let's talk about something that's non-family related.

Okay.

What if you're a couple and you want a cool thing to do for like a fun date day or date night, what are some ideas in terms of free on a budget, limited budget, you know, around Kansas?

I would say I think a lot of people have even been tourist in their own cities.

It's very, you know, easy to live somewhere, get in your routines.

So if you're looking for, you know, if you want to stay super local, what I would do is I would like each of you have to pick a trail in a business you've never been to and, you know, hike it, walk it, and then just go visit that store.

You don't necessarily have to buy anything when you're in there.

But I think that would be super cool the way to, you know, see your community, a more in-depth and each month shake it up.

Maybe next time it's a different bookstore or a cafe or every month, pick something like, we haven't been here, let's go check this out.

And I know different communities have, like, these little game boards.

Yeah.

Where you can go and like, okay, I've been here and I could check that off and you could go through the game board and try all these different things that maybe you wouldn't think about trying.

But there's an incentive to actually clearing out the game board.

Yes, I love when communities do that.

They partner up and create those little scavenger hunts early.

Yeah, like get this here at this place and then go to this business and grab that.

I think that's a great idea.

And also when that brought up like board games, you know, there's a lot of coffee shops with you, all cafes that have like game nights and stuff like that.

That's free.

So you buy your latte and some even have cats in there, you know, enjoy that cafe.

You know, you were talking about staying in campsites or in yurts.

But what about tree houses?

Yes, I actually got to stay out quite a few last year.

So I've done Hidden Valley Wilderness Retreat, which is, Leavenworth area.

Okay.

And those are really cool.

I think they have like five, six, seven, I don't know.

And they're adding to their portfolio.

And they have a hot tub, which is really nice.

And the tree house outside, it's like if you sign up for a time slot to go sit in, it's a private type, tree house.

So if you just don't want to be out in the open hanging out with your girlfriends for your time, but, it's really cool.

I've also stayed at the tree house.

The barns at Timber Creek, which is down in Winfield.

They only have one tree house, and it was super cute.

And in the morning, I got to knock on the door.

They brought me my breakfast and this little picnic basket.

Oh, it was so cute.

And I was by myself, so just, like, open it up.

I felt the love, you know?

It was awesome.

It was, like, such a great surprise.

There's one down in South central Putnam Cattle Co, I believe has some tree houses.

I don't you have some on your bucket list?

Have I have I do I just, you know, I just love to go and be in nature and it is so soothing and calming and just can take you right away.

And it's so enriching to your mind and body and soul.

We know what the new trend is, is the wagon's staying is covered.

Staying in the covered wagons that have been converted with today's amenities.

So I'll be seeing in my first one here this summer, Isinglass Winery and Estates, which is kind of South Central there.

They have some covered wagons but electricity the in the wagon also.

And there's a few other places across Kansas that have those because they're made actually in Topeka.

A lot of them that they're getting are made from a manufacture here because I'm like, these are not the Conestoga.

So I'm thinking, okay, because you said like back in, like they look like House on the Prairie, I'm like, well, they look like yeah, but inside they're furnished with today's amenities.

Oh my God.

So that's exciting.

It is.

Well and glamping, which is more along my line.

Talk to us about some of the places that we can glamping.

Oh my gosh, there's, there's a lot now, you know.

Oh yeah.

There's so many.

I would have to check.

I would recommend people going to our agritourism part of our website because glamping is included in there.

Some place that I can think of, C2T Ranch out, a little north of Hays has some glamping, and that area is really cool.

And it's also a good time to visit in the spring, early summer because you can actually float.

They have a part of the river that runs through their property, and they'll float you down.

And cattle stock tanks, it's called tanking.

So you can go camping and go float down the river.

They'll drop you off and pick you up so you don't have to worry about dragging.

I'll have you carrying it.

But yeah, it's dependent on the water levels out there.

Man, there's so many places that offer glamping.

Now, I can't even.

I can't even name them all.

There's a lot.

So also yurts, -yurts you're basically camping.

So I just stayed in a yurt like last month, at at Horse Thief Reservoir in Jetmore.

And it was awesome.

It was really windy.

But I never felt like, structurally like it was just fine.

Like, I could hear some flapping, like, literally just flapping.

Yeah, yeah, it was structurally sound so.

Well.

And I love the fact that you go by yourself because some of us is like, can I really go without somebody?

But how's your experience?

It's been.

Yeah, I get for myself all the time.

Yeah.

I do, I do travel a lot by myself if I'm ever hiking by myself, you know, just a quick text to, you know, my mom, which she has my location.

Anyways, she calls me all the time.

I see your hobby, you know, you tell them where you're starting, where you going to be?

You know what time frame you should be done.

If they don't hear from you, they.

They know where you're at.

But, yeah, I do feel really comfortable about traveling in Kansas.

Their safety tips as a woman.

You know, I'm not posting on lives when I'm out.

I'm not posting and tagging stuff.

Why?

I'm out.

And that way, you know, they can't see, like, oh, she just posted that she's at this place.

You know, it's just a safety thing.

But also make sure you check the weather.

I'm really bad about that.

I just kind of wake up and just go on with my day and, you know, checking the weather to see if, like, storms, like, I've had people reach out like, hey, I heard you're going down there.

Did you see a snowstorm was coming?

I was like, sure didn't I like checking the weather and all those alerts.

I love it.

You're amazing.

We love Colby.

We thank you so much for being with us today, showing us the outdoor fun.

That's big stuff and lots of memories.

Easy on our budget.

It can be found right here in our great state of Kansas.

We continue this discussion with a focus on being home free in your home state.

More discussion on the sunflower Summer app w/ Jordan Roemerman of Kansas Tourism.

Let's take a look.

We're back with Jordan Roemerman from Kansas Tourism.

And we were talking about the Sunflower Summer app which is free.

We're going to find out more in June, but it actually kicks off in July for this year.

Yep.

So it's important for folks to remember the program this year will will run from July 12th through August 3rd.

So it'll be about three weeks for full weekends for for people to go out and explore for free, for free.

But just get to me.

How does one, find the app and how do we use it?

Yeah.

So, it's important to remember that this program is for Kansas residents only.

So if you have out-of-state family coming in town, you know, you can absolutely go with them, but they can't sign up for those free tickets.

So, it's for Kansas residents.

We really like to push the children.

You know, it's really for the kids getting out and exploring.

So it's, pre-K through grade 12 is for eligible children, and one adult can go, per per group.

So, things have changed a little bit for those eligibility this year.

Make sure that you go to Sunflower Summers org for the full program guidelines.

But you just sign up through the app.

We like to know how old the kiddos are.

We like to know where you're from and from there.

It's really easy on the day of just go on to the app and claim the ticket.

Now, one of our producers and directors has been with his family and just thinks it's amazing.

So you're following through step by step, tells you what kind of information is on there.

Yeah.

So, it displays all of the participating locations on there.

And so you can get on there, it'll tell you the opening and closing hours, it'll have photos.

It might even have some videos from the attraction.

And it just tells you a little bit about it.

So the program is really fantastic because we have big and small attractions all in one place.

So you know, you've got those those small local county museums, you know, right next to unique world class attractions like Strata or Exploration Place all in one app that you can get on explore.

If you know you're going to be in a community for a ball game or something like that, it's really easy to find sunflower Summer app locations.

To to go out in your downtime.

What's this done for Kansas tourism?

Oh, it's been incredible.

We have had such great grassroots support for the program.

People love it.

And so, you know, this program is really you know, we've we've really used it to, to to stimulate that local tourism economy.

And so, you know, these communities are seeing visitors that they never would have seen without the program.

You know, when you take the cost barrier, of admission tickets out of the equation for folks, they go to places that they never would have expected or never could have afforded.

And so you are getting people into places that they never would have gone without this program.

And it's been a huge impact for both those families, and the local community.

This is amazing.

You guys take advantage of this.

This is a free program.

Kansas tourism is you're going to find out more about it in June when you check the website.

And it starts in the middle of July.

So get out there and explore our great state of Kansas.

Thank you Jordan, this is wonderful to have you.

Thank you so much for having me on.

Betty Lou, I am so ready to jump in the car and get out and explore Kansas.

What did you take away from today's show?

I love that there's just so many possibilities.

And I'm thinking, okay, that's for this week, in the next week, in the next weekend.

But what I really loved was her talking about traveling as a single woman, which I do often, and the safety, yes, that she has.

She mentioned that she has an alarm, you know, that she puts on at a door if she needs it, and hiking with and carrying some kind of mechanism.

Well, let's keep it real people, she said.

Got a gun or knife and not so much because you're expecting some weird person to be along the trail.

But in terms of the wild animals that you could possibly experience, right, girl, that's all you.

That's your ministry.

Because I ain't going to be out where there's snakes and all that kind of stuff.

I was surprised when you said you like the rodeo.

I mean, I just didn't see that rodeo is a contained outdoor service where there's, you know, seating and everybody's just chilling.

And, yeah, you gotta be out there and animals know.

But this part of my birthday trip that my, sweetheart has got me.

So I'm excited to go because I've been to the rodeo right so long that I'm like, yes, this could be a fun thing that again, sometimes you gotta push up beyond your barriers.

So I was talking about staying in a Conestoga.

Yeah, it's about as pushing out as I'm going this summer.

But you know, it's so much fun.

And I love I love a good rodeo too.

And there's so many in small towns, you know, like out in western Kansas particularly, it seems like.

And of course, we've got, all the big stuff right here in Topeka.

Yeah.

People come to I just like the availability and that you can search online to find things out and or just get hop in the car, like you say, and just start driving and, you know, figure out where you are.

And then, you know, if you get somewhere, starts to get dark, find a place to stay and just do it.

Exactly.

And there's so many cute small towns around Kansas that you can have a great meal and just enjoy meeting new people.

So all of that's really exciting to me.

We got plans this summer year.

We're ready to go, but that is all the time that we have for today.

We hope you've been inspired by today's conversations and ideas.

As a reminder, you can watch this program again at watch.ktwu.org.

And if you are so inspired and we hope you are to learn more about our guest, find out about what's coming up on future shows and to get access to additional content.

Please be sure to visit us at our website at ktwu.org/inspire.

Inspiring women, inspiring all of us to get out there and make some memories on the Kansas Plains and inspiring you.

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We thank you very much for watching.

Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Anne Goldsmith, the Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation, and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.