The streets of Wichita reverted back more than a century as the Kansas Livestock Association helped celebrate the state's 150th birthday by driving 30 magnificent Longhorn steers in the Kansas Sunflower Parade. The herd is crossing the Arkansas River on the Douglas Street Bridge. Wichita, Kansas. October 8, 2011.
The Arkansas River in downtown Wichita is usually a six-foot-deep, bank-to-bank waterway, thanks to a dam just downstream. For the six months preceding this photo, the dam has been undergoing re-construction, so the Arkansas has resumed its "prairie river" configuration. Hundreds of cottonwood saplings have sprouted and grown eight feet in one summer. October 8, 2011.
College Hill Park Bridge in Snow
Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. February 8, 2010.
Great Plains Nature Center Dawn
The Great Plains Nature Center, at 29th N and Woodlawn in Wichita, Kansas, is a cooperative partnership between the City of Wichita Department of Parks and Recreation, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to the exhibits in the Koch Habitat Hall, the Center is home to 282-acre Chisholm Creek Park. Sedgwick County, Kansas. March 9, 2005.
As a loyal Kansan, I'm not too fond of those too-clever "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!" jokes, usually coming from folks who treat my state as fly-over country. Nonetheless, I couldn't resist the L. Frank Baum-inspired title for this shot. The photo is also testimony for keeping one's camera handy. While driving down Wichita's Main Street to my office, I passed these wind-sculpted yellow leaves covering the brick sidewalk. Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. November 13, 2002.