I must do one more Kansas post before I’m done with the state for now. I must. I know you’re thinking, Beth, get over your obsession with this incredibly flat, dull state. So here’s a newsflash: Eastern Colorado is flatter than Kansas. It takes all the strength of mind I have to drive through eastern Colorado without screaming the entire way just to stay awake. Without a frost to turn the ground silver, or some great clouds, driving eastern Colorado along I-70 is a snooze.
Western Kansas is also flatter than the rest of Kansas, but at least it has Goodland and a giant reproduction of a Van Gogh painting by Canadian artist Cameron Cross.
And Colby.
I last left you after a whirlwind tour through the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby. When I was done photographing Barbies, and they had turned off the lights again, I asked for some dinner recommendations. First they offered some of the fast food joints along the highway, but when I persisted, they mentioned a new place in downtown Colby: Mabel’s.
The day I ate dinner, Mabel’s had been open two days. My server said they had been packed for lunch. And it’s no wonder. In the four blocks that radiate outward from the center of downtown, you can find B Hive Bar & Grill, Salads and Subs, two jewelry stores, three furniture stores, a hospice, Wings upon the Prairie (social services), Stock Realty and Auction, and an art gallery. Perhaps Colby is a kind of urban hub in western Kansas.
Downtown Colby needs Mabel’s, and I needed dinner, so everyone was happy. I ordered the Indian taco, which was good, if a bit different from what I’ve had in the Four Corners area. 
It came on a fried flour tortilla instead of frybread, the beans were refried, not whole, and I’m pretty sure the salsa was Pace. The tortilla was crispy on the outside and soft inside, and I liked the radishes and purple cabbage. (If I had taken this photo after Saturday’s food photography class, I would have rearranged the lettuce so that you could actually see the ground beef.) The server told me that was the first Indian taco they’d served. I guess the standard American fare on the menu is more popular.
My server was a good saleswoman, convincing me to order coconut cream pie, which had very, very fluffy meringue. 
As you can see, the cream was a bit runny, and the crust was a little hard, but I liked it because it was not too sweet. Apparently the cook makes everything in Mabel’s from scratch but has no dessert plates.
Mabel’s is definitely worth checking out. I wish the owners the best of luck, and I hope that downtown Colby sprouts more locally owned restaurants.
The Stone Chapel, as the first one is nicknamed, is lined with rectangular pressboard interiors dating from the 1940s. The main museum fills every inch of the newer church, including an activity area for kids in the balcony with a tiny one-room schoolhouse and a 125-year-old wooden rocking horse. If you think schools are full of mayhem these days, imagine being in school with people of all ages, some of whom are copying their lessons while others recite at the front of the room.
instead of a house, where different classes of items could inhabit separate rooms. But the room made up as a saloon (perhaps an entryway or side altar in the 1922 church?) intrigued me, as did the exhibit of clocks built by Justus Bissing, Jr., a prominent local citizen. One clock took 7 kinds of wood. Bissing’s brother, Peter, invented a musical instrument called the dulcette, a combination of piano and harp that is one of several musical instruments featured here.
History buffs will enjoy the exhibits on the Volga Germans, who were invited by Catherine the Great to settle in Russia (hence their name) but left when the government reneged on its promise that they would never be drafted. Volga Germans built the Cathedral of the Plains in Victoria, Kansas, east of Hays.
The Sternberg Museum looks square on the outside, but inside the exhibits fit into two large circles, on the second and third floors. Halfway ’round the second-floor circle, I entered miscellany: Egyptian jewelry, a shrunken head, Indian artifacts, a coal-oil lamp, Russian peasant shoes for men and women, a Japanese toothbrush, and furniture and guns and swords and a dire wolf skeleton. Beyond that, I crept through the gallery of pissed-off stuffed animals, some of whom seemed to be guarding their territory. Still.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex turned its head when I walked by, startling me. 
On a second pass, I noticed a small dinosaur chewing. Finally I explored the Discovery Room, designed, liked the rest of the museum, for the kid in all of us. I especially liked Howie the Iguana, one of several animals in aquariums.
next door to Lb. Brewing Company in downtown Hays. I thought Gella’s menu was pretty amazing. It has local German dishes such as sauerkraut soup and smothered bierock (like a calzone), as well as pork pibil tacos and sunflower seed pesto and wild-caught Pacific salmon cakes. I ordered the latter, along with macaroni and cheese and creamed spinach. The spinach was silky and tasted of bacon and onions, the mac was just fine, and the salmon cakes were crisp with a mild flavor. The leftovers made a hearty lunch the next day.
Although I was the only woman in the brewery for most of dinner and felt a bit uncomfortable, I didn’t mind too much because my waitress was so good. And even though I’m not much of a beer drinker, I was entranced by the tall iced beer stein she carried to another table. I tried a 75 cent sample of the amber, but the sample I really liked was the oatmeal stout, which was perfect with the chocolate mousse topped with 1.5 inches of whipped cream in a champagne glass.
When I think of Dwight David Eisenhower, I think first of termination and relocation, the Indian policy that was designed to move Indians from the reservation into urban life. It affected (afflicted?) a few tribes and was generally considered a failure by the 1960s, but I don’t believe the policy was reversed until the 1970s.
Pancho Villa was raiding along the border. About 3 years earlier he had graduated from West Point, which he attended to get a free education and where he got lots of demerits.
which remind me of my grandmother, Dode. There’s the fact that Mamie attended a finishing school in Denver.
in part because of a work-related trip he took across the United States after World War I. He said then that the roads needed improvement.
Although Abilene’s downtown is smaller and less nice than Salina’s just a few miles to the west, it seems more real. 
It has more shops that cater to people’s everyday needs instead of a bunch of cutesy tourist traps.
is that it puts the Brown Palace in Denver to shame. Perhaps the crazy patterns motivated the couple next to me to blather all through my lunch. Finally I got up to take pictures in self-defense.
The bread was toasted and had a slightly sweet flavor, as did the celery seed dressing on the salad. If you want a light(er) meal, I recommend the Kirby House. There aren’t too many other places to eat in Abilene: the Brookville Hotel, near the Holiday Inn Express north of I-70, has been serving family-style chicken since 1915, and Mr. K’s Farmhouse offers such entrees as chicken fried steak, stir-fry, pan-fried catfish, and jumbo fantail shrimp.
I had mixed feelings about this museum, mostly because of the annoying video that played endlessly while I was trying to enjoy the exhibits in the central hall.
and find your favorite racer in the hall of fame.