I tried to explain to a friend of mine who was born and bred in Oregon that the Kansas Flint Hills had a lot in common with the Pacific Ocean. Her eyes would invariably start to glaze over when ever I started in on the subject. 

Finally, I simply told her, “You’ll just have to see for yourself.” But, she never got the chance to make the trip.

So every time I get the chance to travel through the amazing grassland sea that is the Flint Hills, I always think I hear the sounds of the waves breaking on the shore.

The Flint Hills were part of a great shallow sea some 250 million years ago and as a result developed a wide swath of underground limestone. The prairie had too much rock to be fertile farm land and so was left for grazing. It was never really developed and now stands as the largest remaining tract of tallgrass prairie in the nation. I’m telling you, it’s worth a slot on your bucket list.

(I found this photo on a web site promoting a bill on recycling in Kansas; unfortunately there was no photo credit.)