Where to Get Away from the Noise in Wichita

The Air Capital is generally a quiet place in the early hours of the day.

There are one thousand four hundred and forty-four minutes in a day. By the time you hit the snooze button five or six repetitions, you could have been out on your porch, listening to the complete absence of the daily hustle, and taking in the muted city before others have awoken.

People with enormous amounts of discipline do this and head to a work out facility to find their Zen. If you are not cut from that type of cloth, I feel a simple, calm, thirty minutes in possession of a beverage with powerful levels of caffeine, before the rest of the world starts nagging, can adequately accomplish finding some meaningful meditation time.

This town has some unique spots, and a few places that are an oasis from the concrete and steel. A couple of my favorites are the Great Plains Nature Center and Sedgwick County Park. Traversing the trails at Sedgwick County Park, and enjoying the fresh air, is sure to be an adventure in stopping to smell the...cottonwoods? ...also within the boundaries of Wichita.

One of the neatest things about Wichita is an ever-increasing abundance of local businesses that serve coffee. These places exude character, and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit, while maintaining a heck of a lot of local charm. I have been to the Tabletop Java Stop a few times and it is rather keen. You can play board games, tabletop games, or just have coffee and pastry while you are taking in the quiet. Reverie Coffee recently changed locations, and they have always been a hushed place that I could go to simply create, read, or relax. There are several places locally you can go, and take in your surroundings, while escaping noise in Wichita.

Just Outside the City: With an abbreviated drive to any of the points on the compass it is easy to get to a place of solitude. Go west to Lake Afton Observatory, find a country road headed north on a starry night, or head to one of the surrounding lakes. You would be amazed at how quickly you can get out of Wichita, and enjoy the relaxing effect of not being in the city. You can easily head out once you fill up with a little gasoline, and maybe a snack. You can always be back into the thick of things in no time.

Take the day off. Use a day of vacation. Use that accrued PTO (paid time off) and take in a day movie. I highly suggest taking the day off, gathering up your children, and heading to a local theater for a weekday show. I have great memories of having had the theater completely to ourselves! Go to one of the local bookstores in the middle of the day where silence abounds. Have a patio brunch on a Tuesday while everyone is at work. Schedule a massage. It can be much more rejuvenating than you think.

In coming up with ideas for this piece, I have come to one solid conclusion: quiet can be found where ever and whenever you make the time and effort for it. These are but a few suggestions as to how you can achieve some serenity, and escape the noise of the city. I hope you find it useful, or at least a solid starting point for your expedition into the quietude. I will leave you with this quote as I do exactly the same for myself:

“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.” - Norton Juster