Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Some Time in Newton and a Wichita Restaurant Tradition

It had been a number of weeks since I had the chance to go out on a day trip due to the weather and other commitments. When the sun came out this past Saturday afternoon, I made a sudden decision to head out.

I didn't get too far from Wichita, and ended up at Newton for several hours. First, I had to make a stop at The Breadbasket. While it wasn't the time to enjoy a German meal, I did pick up some baked goods, namely some coffee cake and cinnamon rolls. The Breadbasket is open daily. See more at: 

 http://www.newtonbreadbasket.com/


Then, I went on to the beautiful Newton train station. I did not have the opportunity to go inside, but spent some time admiring the beauty of the architecture. This building is on the National Register of Historic Places. I marveled at the multi-colored bricks. Not only were the bricks several colors, but each brick itself was sometimes 2 or 3 colors.


Next, it was an old favorite of mine, the 1880 Santa Fe steam locomotive at Military Park at 7th and Oak. I enjoy the nostalgia associated with steam trains, and have visited this example a number of times. It's amazing all the interconnected parts work to propel these beasts at high speed. I took a number of photos of the parts of this locomotive.


Also, I went to Centennial Park at 12th and Kansas to see the Blue Sky Sculpture, which I hadn't seen before. This is an amazing free standing tile sculpture which blends in with the Kansas sky. What an impressive work by Phil Epp and others! I also noticed this theme on paintings on the water tower and some businesses downtown.

Next, I went to North Newton to visit the campus of Bethel College. I parked my vehicle and walked a bit along the sidewalks marvelling at the beautiful brick and limestone architecture. See my photo gallery link (below) for some the the views I noticed here.

I finished my journey to Newton by visiting the Chisholm Trail monument downtown and the Mennonite Farmer statue in Athletic Park, before heading back to Wichita.

I met some of my family for dinner at Savute's Italian Restaurant on north Broadway in Wichita. None of us had yet been to this institution which dates back to 1944. We all found the food to be excellent, the service very friendly and helpful, and had a great experience. My lasagna had plenty of melted cheese with great pasta and sweet Italian sausage. All of us agreed we would be back soon.

Savute's is open daily for dinner from 4:30 to 11:30 PM. Learn more about Savute's at the 360 Wichita page:


To see some of my favorite images from around Newton that I've taken on numerous visits, see my photo gallery:

Larry Hornbaker's Newton photo gallery