Day Trips: Single Day Getaways

Kansas is home to plenty of amazing state and county parks.
Here are a few within a two-hour drive from Wichita:

• Kanopolis Lake: Kansas' first state park, Kanopolis features over 30 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. There are also bountiful opportunities for fishing, hunting, and photography. Kanopolis is only an hour-and-a-half drive Northwest of Wichita near Marquette, Kansas.
• Elk City: A compact park packed with hiking and biking trails along the east shore of the Elk City Reservoir. Elk City is right at a two hour drive from Wichita, located just north of Independence, Kansas.
• Marion Reservoir: A popular boating destination, the reservoir boasts 9.6 square miles of water and is only an hour and 15 minutes away.
• Cheney Lake: Just a short drive west of Wichita, you can find hiking trails, campgrounds and areas for both swimming and boating. Cheney lake is considered one of the top sailing lakes in the United States.
• El Dorado Lake: Just northeast of Wichita, El Dorado lake features campgrounds, hiking trails, swimming and boating areas, and some pretty good fishing spots. 
• Great Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge: The nearest body of saltwater to Kansas is the Gulf of Mexico Right? Wrong! Oklahoma is home to the Great Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge, a saltwater reservoir and salt plain made from what was once an ocean that covered parts of the great plains. 

Take a trip to a new city. There are quite a few interesting and exciting cities within just a couple hours of Wichita.

Kansas City
KC straddles the border between Kansas and Missouri, and is only about a 3 hour drive from Wichita. 
Some things to do in KC are:

• Visit Union Station: featuring exhibits, movies, restaurants and a science center all tucked inside a historic train station.
• Catch a game: the Royals, Chiefs, and Sporting KC all call Kansas City home.
• Shop till you drop: Kansas City is home to some great shopping centers such as The Plaza, Zona Rosa and Legends, just to name a few.
• Worlds of Fun/Oceans of fun: This is your one-stop-shop for an amusement park and water park, a great place to escape this summer heat.
• National World War I Museum: The nation's only public museum dedicated to World War I, featuring a large collection of photos, weapons & more.

This is only scratching the surface of things to do in KC. Check out 360KC.com for more!

Oklahoma City
The largest city in Oklahoma and the state's capital, OKC features quite a few cool attractions.
Some thins to do in OKC are:

• Visit Bricktown: an entertainment district just east of downtown Oklahoma City. Bricktown is a converted warehouse district that now features restaurants, hotels, clubs, sports, tourist attractions & more
• Watch a Thunder game (No, the other Thunder): OKC is home to the Thunder professional basketball team (not to be confused with our Thunder Hockey team.)
• Oklahoma City National Memorial: a beautiful tribute and museum dedicated to those who lost there lives in the 1995 bombings. 
• Frontier City: A western-themed amusement park located towards the northeast part of the city.

Topeka
Our state's capital is only a two hour drive from Wichita. There, much of our state's history lies waiting to be discovered.
Here are a few things to do in Topeka:

• Visit the Capital: This is the place where all Kansas laws are made. Featuring historic tours of the building and the dome, the capital is a great place to learn about our history as a state.
• The Kansas Museum of History: Here you will learn the story of Kansas from the earliest civilizations to the recent past.

Hutchinson
Commonly referred to "Hutch," this city lies just an hour Northwest of Wichita along K-96. The "Salt City" has a few pretty interesting things to do.
Check out these things to do in Hutchinson:

• The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center: This museum takes visitors on a journey from the Earth to the Moon, and beyond. 
• Strataca: The underground museum resides 650 feet underground, inside of a working salt mine. Note that a strict 4+ age minimum is enforced.
  

Kansas is also home to some great unique attractions.

• Worlds Largest Ball of Twine: What else would you expect to find here? It's just over two and half hours away in Cawker City. We recommend stopping by a couple of the next things on our list along your way.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home - Located in Abilene, this museum commemorates the  only United States President to come from Kansas. 
• Center of the Continental United States: Only 30 minutes north of Cawker, Kansas (about three hours total from Wichita) you can stand smack dab in the middle of the United States.
• Coronado Heights Castle: The castle was built in 1930's by the Works Progress Administration, but it sits upon a 300 foot promontory about an hour and half north of here. Legend has it that this hill is where Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up his search for the seven cities of gold and returned to Mexico.
• Big Brutus Electric Mining Shovel- About two and a half hours away in West Mineral, this is truly a sight to see!
• The Big Well and Largest Meteorite: Both located just outside of Greensburg, the big well is the largest hand dug well and the largest pallasite meteorite ever found, weighing in at 1,000 pounds.