HAPPY KANSAS DAY!
Growing up in Kansas is probably the second coolest thing a person can do in a lifetime. Mainly because in grade school you likely had to dress up as pioneers and churned butter to celebrate Kansas Day. So, in honor of this special day in history I'm going to share some Kansas Fun Facts with you that I got from this site (some editorializing may take place on my list though).
Only acceptable state nickname: Sunflower State
State flower: Sunflower
State tree: Cottonwood
State reptile: Ornate Box Turtle (I gotta be honest, I feel like box turtle is a real stretch. What about the garter snake? There was probably a vote way-back-when — when all of these things were being decided — and the group felt having a snake as the state reptile would hurt tourism.)
State bird: Western Meadowlark
State animal: Buffalo
State song: "Home on the Range" (In grade school we performed this one play, probably called Home on the Range, that had this song in it. So I can sing this for any of you if you need me to.)
State motto: Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)
Sadly, my fun fact source site and I disagree on what makes the state famous and famous people from the state. Seriously, did anybody know that Charles Curtis was 1. a vice president and 2. from Kansas? I mean, if you are super bored, educate yourself with this wikipedia link on him and then let me know if this gets a famous Kansan vote or not.
Not to 'suade your vote any, but I've driven through and around Topeka lots of times and never seen a sign boasting "Home of former Vice President Charles Curtis." If the votes come in famous though, I'll contact Governor Brownback tout de suite to remedy this grave oversight.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
now that i am a kansian(?) i am grateful for this post, who knew the state reptile was a turtle? i didn't think turtles would live in kansas. good to know! ;)
ReplyDeletevery informative blog, eg. i learned not only about a former vp and questionably famous kansan, but also the french phrase tout de suite. cheers!
ReplyDeleteps, after perusing the wikipedia article, my vote goes to 'famous', even though i'd never heard of charles curtis before and probably won't remember him a week from now. but i think he was overshadowed even more than most VPs by serving under the only known cross-dressing president, so i want to give him his own special kudos outside of your kansas-facts site. it seems the right thing to do.
pps, who makes your list of famous kansans?