In July 2025, our family took a trip to Colorado. If you know Colorado, you know there is way too much to do! There is an overwhelming amount of choices-from outdoor adventures, to big city finds!
Many Kansans choose Colorado for their vacations, being neighbors and all! When we go to Colorado, we have three main “bucket list” items: outdoor adventures, brewery beers and good food, and a unique city attraction.
Stop what you’re doing! Because if you are a Kansas family with school-aged children, YOU MUST download the Sunflower Summer app now!
I’m not joking, it’s that good!
If you’ve used the Sunflower Summer app in the past, listen up, because a few things have changed.
First, this handy little app gets one adult (was two adults in the past) and multiple children in a household FREE into over 200 attractions around Kansas! A family can literally SAVE hundreds of dollars each trip they take!
Another change this year is a shortened time period. The past few years have been a whole summer worth of free attractions. This year, due to budget constraints, the Kansas Department of Commerce shortened it to three weeks: July 12-August 2. So it starts TOMORROW!
So get those apps out, plan a day trip or weekend vacation to your favorite spot, and get to saving!
Last year we spent a weekend in Wichita where we went to two attractions for free: The Exploration Place in Wichita (saved $62) and a Wichita Wind Surge semi-pro baseball game (saved $120).
In the past we’ve also used the app for the Big Well Museum in Greensburg (saved $28), Kiowa County Historical Museum, and Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City (saved $68).
This year, we plan to head to Hutchinson to go to the Cosmosphere, an international space museum (we’ll save $43.50) and Strataca, an underground salt museum (we’ll save $61).
As you can see, this is great savings for your summer trips! But sorry, this is only for Kansas residents. So out-of-state travelers will still have to pay full price. There are perks for living in the Sunflower State!
Where will you go to use the Sunflower Summer app?
When Wake was little (even before Dayne was born), we loved to instill the art of exploring within him! We encouraged him to find unique rocks, funny shaped leaves, and what shapes the clouds were making. Eventually we started to find fun paths and trails to keep his exploring nature fulfilled!
Here are five great exploring trails in our north central Kansas area that parents and kids will love alike! In no particular order:
Coronado Heights near Lindsborg, KS: If you haven’t gone to Coronado Heights yet, this is a must to explore with your family! No matter your kids’ age, they will love to explore this old “castle” with picnic areas and various trails winding around the property. It’s set atop a hill where you can see miles away. And your kids will love to climb the castle and to find an even better view on top!
So there you have it! If you have a little explorer like we do, please visit these great trails to keep exploring with your families!
What did we miss? What is your favorite trail and exploring place?
We’d like to highlight some great small towns we love in our Small Town Spotlight series! And first, it’s only fitting we highlight our OWN small town, Beloit, Kansas!
Mandy is the Tourism Director for Mitchell County, so it is her job to promote Beloit and other area towns, so she has a little knowledge in this area! We are great at exploring our own landscape! I always tell people, even if you have lived in a spot for years, there is always something new to see!
Beloit is a town of just under 4,000 people. We are known for our award-winning hospital and major agriculture manufacturers like Agco. But for travelers, we are probably best known for our outdoor recreation activities.
Hunting is our #1 outdoor activity, with world-renowned pheasant and deer hunting spaces. A hunter could find a number of hunting lodges and hunting guides in the area. But to be honest…we are not hunters.
For other outdoor recreation, we love our trails! The Solomon River Trail is the newest. It winds through trees right by our river and it makes you feel you are not right in the middle of town! You can bike this or walk on the gravel road right by the treescape.
Chautauqua Park also has a great asphalt walking path right along the river. But this park has other hidden gems, like free RV parking for up to 10 days, a popular 18-hole disc golf course, many shelters, fishing, a beautiful walking bridge over the river, and many more features. But one of Beloit’s biggest draws is the Chautauqua Swimming Pool, a large aquatic park featuring 4 slides, a lazy river, diving board, and kids area. Many families from around the area come to Beloit just to enjoy this pool!
Shopping, museums, historic attractions, and restaurants are also important commodities to Beloit. Some of our favorites are:
-S&S Drug, not just a pharmacy but a wonderful gift shop
-Lil’ Red Schoolhouse, a refurbished one-room schoolhouse decorated for the period
-Mitchell County Historical Society Museum, a rich history of the area including James Naismith’s couch (the inventor of basketball!)
-Plum Creek, a local steakhouse that also has great burgers!
If you and your family want to do some real exploring, go on a Beloit mural hunt! There are at least 9 unique and beautiful murals around the town! It’s definitely a scavenger hunt to find them all! Or count how many limestone buildings you can find. You’ll find over a dozen large, unique and beautiful buildings! Here are some of our favorites:
We hope you visit and enjoy Beloit! What town should we spotlight next?
The Fincham Family prides ourselves on finding the hidden gems of towns in the Midwest. Our hunts turn into treasures we love to share with you! We travel A LOT in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, so we tend to find our favorite small towns in these states, but we’d love to hear some of your ideas, also!
We can’t rank these special towns, so we just put them in alphabetical order!
Auburn(pop. 3,470)/Brownville(pop. 142), Nebraska Area
We first traveled to this area due to one of my best friends from college getting married. Her family happened to own what we lovingly referred to as “The Boat Hotel,” (actually called River Inn Resort) an actual floating ship anchored to the shoreline of the Missouri River with posh rooms to sleep in!
Not only was this a special place to stay, they do floating river dinners (Called the Spirit of Brownville) and a bar on the top deck! However, if you have bigger kids, you may need to get 2 rooms, as they only have 1 Queen bed in each of the rooms.
Auburn and Brownville are very historic, and they have many museums, art, shops and trails to explore! And don’t forget the Whiskey Run Creek winery! We also must urge you to visit The Lyceum, a hometown restaurant where you sit amongst books and a cozy fireplace! We read our kids books as we waited for our food!
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The Farmers Wife, a super cute decor retail shop in downtown Auburn, was so adorable! There was so much to look at-we could have stayed there for hours! Also, if you like a good thrift shop like we do, Auburn has one of the best we’ve been to, St. Francis Gift & Thrift Shop. It’s very organized, very clean, and easy to find what you are looking for. B even got some brand new Puma golf shirts and shorts with the tags still on! Definitely worth a stop.
Courtland, Kansas (pop. 294)
To know Courtland is to love Courtland. Don’t speed by Courtland on Hwy 36, this little town is a must stop! The first thing you’ll see on your way to Courtland is The Depot Market, the cutest little hometown market you’ll come across! They have fresh produce (grown right there!), baked goods, homemade ice cream, cheeses, candies, jams…the list goes on and on! They have a patio area to enjoy ice cream or a peach slush. You can walk around the farm and pick berries. They offer tractor rides at certain times of the year. They are just such a gem!
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As you turn south to head to Courtland (about a mile from Hwy 36), you’ll drive right into the heart of downtown Courtland. You’ll come across Soul Sisters Ceramics, an adorable decor and clothing retail store that also happens to have ceramics to paint! And this summer they opened Soul Sisters Scoops, an ice cream shop. You know we love ice cream!
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Some other things to note about Courtland: Check out Heartland Gamebirds, a posh hunting “lodge” downtown, pretty much in between the brewery and Soul Sisters! It’s gorgeous for ANYONE, not just hunters! And sometimes they pair with Irrigation Ales for a fancy dinner and beer night!
JenRus is a marketing agency that focuses on rural economic development and is in the heart of downtown Courtland as well. A very unique and special asset to this small town!
Dodge City, Kansas (pop. 27,788)
This is our biggest “city” of the list, but definitely worth a mention! Dodge City is in southwestern Kansas, a very desolate and rural part of Kansas. But once you get to Dodge, you won’t want to leave! The summer is prime time to visit Dodge. Their pool, Long Branch Lagoon, is epic with a wave pool, a lazy river, and Doc’s Plunge (a steep drop of a slide that takes you on a vertical wall)! And Dayne loved Fort Splash, the kids splash area. We all were very surprised with the quality of this pool and we all had a blast!
You can’t go to Dodge without going to Boot Hill Museum. You can spend several hours here and see a real shootout, learn how to be a Can Can girl (Dayne loved this!), eat at a real saloon, become a “deputy”, cool off in their indoor museum, and get locked in jail! The whole family really loved this museum!
And for the adults, visit the Boot Hill Distillery. The building alone is such a treat to walk around. It has been many things: a cemetery, a schoolhouse, a municipal building that included a jail. But now it’s a farm to cup distillery with a large outdoor courtyard full of games and patio furniture. Kids are welcome during the day. B and I got a drink and we gathered outside for some fun yard games!
Down the block from the distillery is Dodge City Brewing and Pizza. We had some great pizza here for the whole family while we enjoyed the downtown scene on their outdoor patio.
In the morning, we hit up Red Beard Coffee, a really unique coffee experience with a long line! This is where B found his favorite drink: The Burt Reynolds! He had no idea what he was getting but he liked the name! It’s a shot of espresso, with half root beer and half milk over ice! He likes a squirt of vanilla in it also!
Nebraska City, Nebraska (pop. 7,222)
We came across Nebraska City just as a drive thru stop, but decided to get out and stretch our legs by walking downtown. And wow, we were so impressed with the cool shops, art, and people!
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Make sure to stop by:
-The Keeping Room, a gorgeous old downtown building they restored into an upscale decor and clothing store! And they also have a wine bar and restaurant connected to it!
-Central Apple Market, a bakery, restaurant and wine bar.
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-The Fort, a massive western wear store. We are not cowboys by any means, but this was a cool store to look around! And the kids got these cute hats!
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After this random afternoon stop, we planned to make an overnight stop the next summer on our way to Iowa. Did you know Nebraska City is home of Arbor Day? Well, it is! And they have the Arbor Day Farms to celebrate! It’s a wonderful area with a winery, lodge, and tree adventure! It’s even hard to explain without actually seeing it! Webs and ladders all along a treescape that kids and adults can play in! You can stay in Lied Lodge right on the property, which has an indoor pool, spa, restaurant and many more amenities!
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Other things to check out in Nebraska City are museums, wineries, pumpkin patches (in the fall!) and cool air b&b’s!
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Panora, Iowa (pop. 1,091)
We have family in Panora, Iowa, that's how we know of this cute little town! Panora is the home of Lake Panorama, The largest man-made lake in Iowa, just outside of town. However, this lake is private and you need property on the lake (or know of someone with property on the lake) to use it. Driving or roaming around the lake, you can dream of the big extravagant houses that line the shoreline! But don’t fret, there is also an affordable but very nice hotel where you can live like a “Panorama Laker” for a weekend!
The Port Inn & Suites is a must if you are staying in Panora! All rooms have lake views and balconies to enjoy the view on! They feature fireplaces and very large rooms! In fact, the last time we stayed Dayne was a baby and her pack-n-play along with a stroller and other “baby musts” fit very easily inside the room.
The Port Inn also features an outdoor pool with lake views, and connected to The Port Restaurant, an upscale restaurant with lots of dock seating and tiki bar outside! They have free live music every weekend in the summer! You could vacation to Panora for the weekend and never have to leave the lake/hotel area!
BUT, if you go into town, you’ll find some cute hometown shops! First stop is Crafty’s Coffee and Gifts downtown Panora! You’ll find baked goods, light breakfast, and a cute gift shop filled with lake paraphernalia! Dayne loved the big donuts!
Across the street is a community room and library. Outside of it on the weekends you’ll often find flea markets and farmer’s markets. They have a small outdoor musical instrument park for kids!
Other shops and restaurants to see in Panora are: Lake Panorama National Golf Course, Bella Sorella shop, Middle Raccoon River Water Trail (beautiful!), and The Owl’s Nest Bar & Grill (try the nachos!).
There you go, 5 great small towns to stop at this summer! We hope you enjoy this list and let us know if you’ve been to any of these towns! And if you have recommendations, comment below!
As some of you may or may not know, we had a coffee shop and restaurant business that recently closed at the end of May. That was the end of a very soul-fulfilling chapter of lives, but what now?
B is a 6th grade school teacher, and both of the kids will be going into 1st and 7th grades, so they are all out for the summer! I continue to be a part-time tourism director for our county. I work from home, so all 4 of us are at home for the moment.
We started this blog many years ago (maybe 3?), because we love rural, and we love to make the most of traveling. On a teacher and business owner's salary, that meant getting creative! We taught the kids about exploring and appreciating new surroundings. How to love and be proud of where they are at. What a Kansan means and have love for their state.
But, life took a toll and Fincham Family Travels went on the backburner. But, we have opened time to put more into this blog, and we are going full force! Expect a couple blogs a week! And not just about where were traveling (because we won’t be going on vacation 2 a week!), but tips, traveling with children, where to go, what you may have missed, and creative and inspiring ideas for your own family.
You can also expect to catch us often on our Instagram and Facebook pages. Look for new reels, new lives, new stories, and more posts!
We also have a new website! This is our 3rd website (and hopefully our last), that caters to blogging and it’s free. If our little blog catches on, we’d love to add more features. But at this time, Blogger is fitting the bill. Please feel free to let us know what you’d like to see on the website, as it’s a work in progress. We are trying to capture a “main street” pic from all towns we visit to accumulate in one place.
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| WaKeeney, KS Main Street |
We are also adding a media kit for anyone interested in working with us. This, too, will also be continually changing. We don’t expect money from this endeavor, at least not right away. But we would love to work with anyone in a creative way-trades, shout outs, gift certificates, give-away collabs, etc. If you are interested, please take a look under “Contact Us” for all the details!
In short, we are BACK, baby! Our focus is and always will be affordable family rural traveling. We’re so excited to hit the road, with you in our back pockets, to share all the fun along the way! Thank you for following!
In July 2025, our family took a trip to Colorado. If you know Colorado, you know there is way too much to do! There is an overwhelming amoun...
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