Hesston College alumni and friends are invited to take part in a relaxing day of art, commerce, history, cuisine, architecture, culture and more at the college’s annual Explore Kansas! trip, Saturday, June 2. The 2018 excursion will venture slightly beyond the state lines with stops at destinations in both northern Kansas and southern Nebraska.

With charter bus service by Village Tours, the trip will depart at 6:45 a.m. from the Hesston College Main Street parking lot. Breakfast items will be served upon arrival at the first city destination.

The first destination of the day will be Concordia, Kan., where the group will visit the longest sculpted brick mural in the U.S. at the Cloud County Museum Annex and the National Orphan Train Complex, a 75-year history of the movement that took 250,000 east coast city orphans to rural communities across the country. The group will also see or hear about other National Register of Historic Places in Concordia with history and stories shared by historian John Sharp.

Traveling north, the next destination will be Republic, Kan., at the Pawnee Indian Village Historic Site. The museum tells the story of an original 1700’s earthen village lodge site for the indigenous Central Plains tribe.

The group will cross into Nebraska for lunch at a state fast-food staple, Runza, in Fairbury, which serves the classic cabbage sandwich also commonly known as bierocks.

The third stop of the day will be the National Homestead Monument in Beatrice, Neb., which honors the Homestead Act of 1862 that turned over 270 million acres of land for pioneers to have “a chance.” Spend the afternoon with docent/video presentations, stroll the Freeman Homestead tallgrass prairie and tour the monument and education centers.

The day’s adventures will end with dinner at another famous Nebraska restaurant, Valentino’s, where the group will enjoy an Italian buffet meal and hear the story of how the restaurant chain got its start in 1957.

The cost for the trip is $95 per person. Reservations are encouraged as soon as possible, and no later than Friday, May 25, as space is limited. No refunds will be made past the May 25 cutoff date.

Contact Alumni Relations at 620-327-8147 to reserve a spot. See a complete itinerary.