Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas
After leaving Colorado, we crossed the state line into Kansas. We traveled a dirt road to get to our stopover for the night at Soldier's Memorial County Park (free) in Goodland, Kansas. There were a couple of local people, but we were the only overnighters. We took a long walk and followed a trail. There was a farmer tending his field on the hill. We wondered if that farmer is native to Kansas and, if not, what may have brought him to Kansas. The walk, together with the trail, was lengthy. We made dinner and settled in for a peaceful night's sleep, glad to be off the beaten track.
The next day we headed east on I-70 and drove for about 3 hours. We stopped for the night at Lucas Park Campground in Lucas, Kansas. We chose site 9 (free off season). We relaxed in our camping chairs, talking for a couple hours, looking out at the lake. We made chicken fajitas with Anaheim peppers and onions for dinner, and we watched an episode of Neighborhood on Paramount. When we prepared for bed, I opened the window by our bed. HUGE MISTAKE! We had miniscule bugs come through the screen. We had over a hundred bugs come through the screen in a matter of minutes. The weird thing is, we have never had bugs come through our screen before, and have not had them since! They were tiny. We quickly closed the window and started killing bugs. We were at it for a while. 😣 And here is a hack: Roll a lint roller across the camper ceiling.🪄Magic. We finally finished and laid down in bed. Out of nowhere, the wind picked up! Where was the wind when all the bugs were around?😩 Just saying. Anyway, the 29 mph consistent wind rocked our camper with 52 mph gusts! We went from an extremely relaxed afternoon to a not-so-relaxed evening!
The next day we left our lakeside campspot and headed back toward I-70. The road to and from the campground was pretty. We stopped at a Walmart to get some necessities.
Then we planned a stop in Wamego, Kansas, home of the Oz Museum. We chose not to do the museum as it was over our budget, but we did browse the Gift Shop. We purchased three Christmas presents for our daughter, Rory, who adores The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. We bought an Escape the Ordinary t-shirt, a yellow wooden sign "There's No Place Like Home," and a sticker "Don't Make Me Break Out My Flying Monkeys." Lol. We also purchased a really neat Oz postcard, writing on it the fun fact that Wicked the Broadway Musical premiered the year she was born in 2003. Needless to say, she LOVED it!
We walked around the town of Wamego. We walked the "Yellow Brick Road," which was an enchanting alleyway with murals painted by local artists depicting characters and scenes from the Wizard of Oz. Some of the stores and restaurants in town at that time had Oz-themed names, like Toto's TacOZ!, The Emerald Door, and The Local Witch Gift Shop. "Totos Around Town" features 19 life-size Toto statues scattered around town that are custom-designed by artists, community members, and student groups. There is also a large mural of the Wicked Witch of the West reaching for the ruby slippers.
If you have read any of my previous posts, then you know there is some history coming your way . . . .
In the original book of 1900, the slippers were silver. For the 1939 film, it was decided that the slippers would be ruby-colored to contrast with the yellow brick road. The ruby slippers were covered in over 2,300 glass sequins!
There are only four original pairs worn by Judy Garland that are known to exist today: Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the remaining two are in private collections. The "close-up pair," used when Dorothy clicks her heels together to go home, was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005 and recovered in 2018 by the FBI. Following their recovery, they were sold at a historic auction for $28 million, moving them into one of the private collections. The other pair in private collections was originally won by a schoolgirl named Roberta Bauman in 1940 through an MGM promotional contest. She sold them at an auction 48 years later for $150,000 to a private collector named Anthony Landini. Landini famously displayed them at Disney's Holleywood Studios (then the Disney-MGM Studios) inside the Great Movie Ride attraction from 1989 - 2000. They were then auctioned again to another private collector, David Elkouby and have remained out of the public's eye ever since. And there is actually a fifth pair with genie-styled toes and painted soles. This pair did not make it on screen as they were used for costume tests. They were owned by Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds until 2011 when they were sold to a private collector.
Although the Oz Museum in Wampego does not possess an original pair of ruby slippers, they display a replica covered in over 3,500 Swarovski crystal rhinestones. In addition, the Oz Museum has over 25,000 artifacts dedicated to the franchise.
It was a really great experience, and, it is now on our daughter's bucket list!
Oz Museum
511 Road to Oz Highway (Lincoln Avenue)
Wamego, Kansas 66547
So there you have it! A little bit of fun and history from Kansas!
Stay tuned! My next post involves some very dark skies, a tornado, and a Gypsy Queen!
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