SD goes to Kansas

We're all in Kansas for the week- well, Sunny didn't come, but the two-legged family members made the trip!

Not too much going on that's horse-related, but yesterday we did visit Ft. Larned. It's a national historic site that has living history events on designated weekends. This weekend we were lucky enough to catch a blacksmith working, a cook, and various other folks wandering about in period dress.

We visited early enough in the morning that it was (only) in the 80's, and there weren't too many people yet. Just as we were getting ready to leave, I spotted a horse trailer and the kids (we had H & M's cousin E along, too) found the horses a few minutes later.
A very nice gentleman in cavalry garb introduced us to his two mounts, a Spanish Mustang (American Heritage horse) - representing what the Native Americans would have ridden, and what looked like a 2-year-old Thoroughbred (cross?) which would have been similar to cavalry mounts of the time. Both were shiny and bright-eyed, but I was glad to see that the American Heritage horse was gelded - he rather resembled a Dachshund! Cute gelding, but definitely fugly stallion material, as you can see.It was too dark in where the blacksmith was for the pictures to come out well. We asked, and were informed that by the 1880s horseshoes where mainly mass produced, not handmade, but I did get a picture of the saddlery where tack would have been mended.

If you're in the Larned, KS area, I'd highly recommend visiting during one of the living history weekends - the reenactors were great, very friendly and knowledgeable, and the hands-on aspect was fun for us as well as the kids.
We then headed further southeast to Pawnee Rock. A natural rock formation sticking up above the flatness that is Kansas, Native Americans used it as a lookout point for bison herds and wagon trains. Later, stone was taken by locals for building purposes, so the platform was built to demonstrate the height and vantage point that the site would have offered. The view from on top was gorgeous!After that, we headed for Greensburg - it was really amazing how much clean-up has been accomplished. I have some pictures, but I think I'll let them speak for themselves.