Wichita - KS
(July - August, 2002)
We left San Francisco around noon, and arrived in Wichita
around 7pm, after a connection in Dallas. We checked in at the Hyatt and went to
Oldtown, a very nice neighborhood of historic buildings and friendly faces.
Angélica, in front of the Hyatt and its man made waterfalls
Sunset, as seen from our room
On Sunday, I finally got to see Ms. Barbara Faust, host mother to a very good friend of
mine in that distant 1990-1991. What an incredible woman! She is so nice and always ready to help!
We had lunch together (Wendy's! Yay!!) and after my NASA workshop she took Angélica and I
to a Pow Wow. We arrived at the end, but we got to see some nice costumes.
Some of the winners of the Pow Wow.
At the Indian Center (where the Pow Wow was held) stands the famous "Keeper of the Plains",
sculpted by Blackbear Bosin.
The Keeper of the Plains
The Keeper and me...
From Monday til Thursday, I was busy with the International Planetarium Society conference
(the official reason for my trip!). Most of the lectures and meetings where at the Hyatt itself,
but we had special presentations almost every night, at Exploration Place, Wichita's science
center and planetarium.
Exploration Place ("heads")
And "tails"
Up close...
Exploration Place was really close to the Hyatt,
and we could walk from one place to the other fairly easily (despite the heat!).
The Hyatt, as seen from Exploration Place
Crossing the Arkansas River, between the Hyatt and Exploration Place
Exploration Park
As part of the conference, we spent a day in Hutchinson, at the Kansas Cosmoshpere.
At the Cosmosphere
To be an astronaut...
But fortunately, it was not only work, work, work...
In no particular order, we got to do some sigthseeing. Angélica went to all these
different places, thanks to Barbara. And she took us all to the Flint Hills
(where we could see how flat Kansas really is!) and the original Pizza Hut.
Pioneer women, at the Flint Hills
A very important landmark!
And we also did some walking around the hotel, mostly towards Oldtown. The main street
(Douglas) has all kinds of statues, and it is really fun to just take a walk!
Barbara says that at lunch time, people just sit by this statue,
take their shoes off and wet their feet.
This nice lady used to point at the North Star (Alpha Ursa Minoris, or Polaris),
but since 9-11, they moved it so she now points to the American flag.
Another lovely feature of Wichita is its fountains! So many and each one of them so beautiful!
Fountains near the Hyatt
On to Bartlesville
We really enjoyed our time in Wichita, mostly thanks to Barbara. (Thank you, Barbara!)
We left Wichita on Friday morning, after Mom and Dad (the Sotckers) picked us up.
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