Still in the Past

July 27, 2026

On July 15, we made it to Hutchinson, Kansas, for the late afternoon. We got a late lunch or early dinner, checked into a hotel, and crashed.

The morning of July 16, we headed to the Stataca, Kansas Underground Salt Museum. The Stataca is an active salt mine. It was a fantastic place to visit. At the top of the mine is a visitor center with displays.

When it was time to take the elevator 600 feet underground, they split us into groups to fit into the elevator. Down, down we went.

Once down, we waited in an area next to the elevator. When all the people in the tour arrived, there was a speech about the mine with some Dad jokes tossed in. We were told there was a self-guided tour and there was no hurry. They told us the “Dark Ride” was every 20 minutes.

We spent over three and a half hours in the mine. They did an excellent job of setting up the tour. I am having a hard time trying to pick what to show.

The salt mine is huge.

Here are some pictures of salt and mining exhibits.

Bruce and I trying out an old style mining cart.

After the mining exhibits, we toured the storage area.

Do you remember the Cold War?

Computer equipment was also in place during the Cold War.

We saw employees riding around on these trikes.

I did not take any pictures that came out well enough to share while on the “Dark Ride.” It was a lot of fun.

On the way back to the elevator, we stopped to use a pickaxe.

Apparently, I didn’t hold the pickaxe correctly!!

When we made it back to the elevator, we had to wait until enough people had joined us to ride the elevator up, up.

We spent a very enjoyable 3 1/2 hours in the museum. Then it was back onto Hwy 50 again.

More on our trip to Colorado in my next post.