Day 13
We went to bed far too late last night. While I was busy updating accounts, blog etc. the kids were watching "Freaky Friday". It was nearly midnight before we turned out the lights.
I woke up this morning thinking we had overslept breakfast (which was from 6.00 - 9.00 a.m.), only to find it was 6:18 a.m. I dozed off again to let the kids sleep longer. We all got up at about 8.40 a.m. for a fairly unexciting breakfast. After re-arranging the car and packing up, we left the hotel at 10.30 a.m. and went to the Kit Carson Co. Carousel. Rachel and Helen rode on the carousel and we all took a quick look at the museum. The kids were fairly unimpressed but I appreciated the artwork and craftwork of this 1905 menagerie carousel, the 6th one built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. It is the most intact, original carousel in the country and the Wurlitzer Military Band Organ that played the music was fantastic.
After the carousel the kids just wanted to leave Colorado and head into Kansas. I had to bribe them with McDonalds McFlurries to get them to visit Old Town. Thankfully it worked because we all enjoyed going around the reconstructed, early 1900s town. It consisted of over 20 buildings including a barber shop, a saloon, a general store and a sod house. Most of the buildings were original (some were replicas) and all of them were fully furnished with artifacts from the period. In the saloon we saw a can-can show.
After lunch at McDonalds we got on the road and headed for Kansas. We had gone 13 miles when I realised I didn't have my glasses and couldn't find them. We had to return to McDonalds to get them.
We got to Hays at about 6.30 p.m. Mountain Time but have now crossed into Central Time so we've moved forward an hour.
We've got a room in a very nice Best Western for only $7 more than we paid last night.
P.S. Forgot to mention that I saw lots of oil pumpjacks in Kansas—more than I saw in Texas.