I could spend days on end, photographing the quiet beauty of this place. The splendor is completely different than other places I've lived...but once you discover it, the result is a profound sense of serenity and satisfaction.


1. An old hay barn on US 50. No longer used as such, it is actually occupied by residents.

2. This corn crop belongs to the man across the road from the back of my house. He brought me a basketful in August, and it was delicious :)

3. Cows grazing on US 50, near Stafford.

4. The edge of town, St. John....most of my sunset shots are taken from the center of this road, looking the opposite way.

5. Wildflowers and brush flourish on the quiet, deserted roads of St. John.

6. Railroads are an integral part of the Old West history. The freight running over these tracks 100 years ago was not all that different than it is now....cattle, grains, lumber.

7. The view of St. John's boundaries, from US 281. After sundown on this road, it is blacker than the ace of spades....there are no street lights. The only ways to get your bearings are by the tiny red flicker of the railroad caution lights, or the moon :)

8. The symmetry of Kansas is one of the first things I noticed....crop circles, patchwork farmlands.....I find it fascinating.

9. It is not unusual to see such isolated homesteads...this is US 281, heading out of St. John, towards Great Bend.

10. My "little house on the prairie".

1. The rolling hills of Larned....the drive through this area every Saturday was something I looked forward to almost as much as the visit itself.

2. So much of central Kansas is wide open, untouched; it's something you really appreciate after living in big cities.

3. Heading into the only "neighborhood" in St. John.

4. Rolls of hay/grass...this is a common sight all over this region.

5. Nothing like small town living; population 1,319 (as of last week).

6. "Oh, give me a ho-o-ome..." Buffalo grazing near US 56, towards Claflin.

7. The ever present wind of the prairie.

8. The quaint old town of Stafford, 10 minutes directly south of St. John.

9. All in a day's work, which probably started at 4 a.m.

10. Something about green...very soothing.

Beautiful pictures. I love your house! Everything looks so peaceful.

I'm going to save them all and set them up as my screensaver!!!

I need to get to Kansas!! I can almost hear the wheat and corn blowing in the wind.....

JJT

YOU HAVE A DARLING HOUSE! WHAT A BLESSING. THANKS FOR SHARING THESE BEAUTIFUL PICS.

I need to get to Kansas!! I can almost hear the wheat and corn blowing in the wind.....

JJTMe too! Now when was it again that I will have some vacation time off work again???

Love your house Susan, so very different from our houses here.

Sunrise and sunset are my favorite photo settings. The light changes by the minute, and you may even wait half an hour for the perfect colors....but it's well worth your patience.


1. Sunset over St. John.

2. To stand underneath that sky is an experience that can't be duplicated.

3. The end of another great day...the light reflects off the rails perfectly.

4. Sunrise, approximately 6:00 a.m. The mist rises slowly over the water, adding to the ethereal grace of the dawn.

5. US 50, sunrise in May.

6. A water tower stands alone against the morning sky in Stafford.

7. Sunset over a winter wheat crop, St. John.

8. The warmest shades....

I was just showing Mom these pictures and she said that when her dad, my grandfather, moved from St John to Western Washington, he did not like all the trees and the curvey roads!! He used to say, "Roads are supposed to be straight!"

Thank you!

JJT

1. US 56 into Claflin (an hour north of St. John)....such wide open space has a way of making you feel very small in the universe :)

2. Claflin is a really cool Old West town; the buildings have all been recently restored to their original turn-of-the-century appearance....this is the barber shop.

3. Storefronts along Main Street...note the small wagon in front of the feed store, and the "hitching posts" in front of the meat market.

4. You can almost picture the stagecoach rolling through these streets, as cowboys stop into the "Mercantile Shoppe" for supplies. The second floor of this building used to be a rooming house for migrant farm workers; now it is an insurance office.

5. The Woods & Adams Hotel/Saloon, still in operation today....and the Lux Theatre.

6. An old Mobil garage....there are no pumps anymore, but you can still get air in those red-topped tanks. From what I can tell, the building is now used by the hardware store across the street to store surplus lumber. I love the slogan painted on the store to the right, "Where the dollar does its duty..."

7. An idyllic August afternoon in St. John.

8. One of my neighbors, two roads over :D

9. My street....all the roads in St. John are either red brick, or dirt.

10. This is one of my favorite photos, and the road I walk my dog on every night....he's never gotten so much exercise in his life. I have never seen a single car on this road, either.

Wow....those sunsets are awesome!!! Love the pics!!! :)

Oh I love these photos - more, more, more please!!! I have always wanted to go to Kansas - your street and home are so beautiful- I do envy you and I love the way the old buildings have been restored. Thanks so much for letting me take a little trip :)

I agree, this has been a nice vacation in my head!!! It is so much different than my California. Your pictures are beautiful!!

Beautiful pics Sue, thanks for sharing :)

Phil

I love taking pictures myself. Those really captured the moments in time when you took them! :)

:clap: oooooooooo my gosh what wonderful pictures
thay are lovely thankyou for making my dull day in uk brighten up