Wichita to Mount Nebo State Park Road Trip Guide

Haysville, KS, is a suburban town of Wichita and only a 20-minute drive from the city center. To make your first stop right outside the city might seem premature, but the town has too much to offer to just drive by. The district is small and often overshadowed by Wichita, but those who miss it make a mistake, considering that Haysville has a rich history and a lot of stories to tell.

Often dubbed as the Peach Capital of Kansas, Haysville is where the world’s first Batwing Gas Station was established in 1954. At the time, this district was just a small farming community and this gas station was futuristic and full of possibilities.

If you’re with kids, head to the Riggs Park, Plagens-Carpenter Park, or the Pear Tree Park to stretch a bit, enjoy the quietness of the town, stock up, and hit the road again. If you’re hungry, we’d also suggest trying the famous El Mexico Café situated between Haysville and Wichita.

When you are on a road trip with kids, you can never skip out on an opportunity to have some fun in the water. Fortunately, on your way to Mount Nebo State Park, you’ll come across Sun N Fun Waterpark in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The family-friendly waterpark offers numerous activities for the kids and the parents to enjoy and create cherished memories together.

The wave pool allows you to enjoy swimming in over 200,000 gallons of water, keeping you cool in the summers. The twisting River Coaster ride gives you an adrenaline rush, you’ll crave again and again. Then there’s the Blue Banana body slide, the Challenger slide, and the Twister slide that will make you feel like a kid again.

When you are physically tired but want to spend more time in the water, head to the Lazy River where you can take a slow and relaxing ride down the slow stream of water, almost as if you are floating.

Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK, houses an exquisite collection of historic art as well as contemporary modern art. This rich collection isn’t the only attention-grabbing thing about the Philbrook Museum of Art; the building used for this collection is a work of art itself.

The structure called the Philbrook Villa was once home to oilman Waite Phillip and Genevieve Phillips and had all the grandeur and opulence of the 1920s architect. When the structure was passed onto the city of Tulsa, it was restored to its original beauty in order to house over 8,500 works of art including the handworks and artifacts of the Native Americans.

Even after you have admired all of the artworks and the structure, the museum has more for you. The museum is surrounded by formal and informal gardens, a part of these manicured gardens was also inspired by the Italian gardens, Villa Lante style.

Clayton House is a little-known gem in Fort Smith, which makes it all the more fun to explore. Here, you can completely immerse yourself in history and find yourself in a different day and time as you walk through the authentic Victorian-era home open to the public.

The house was built in 1852 by Mr. Sutton, way before William Henry Harrison Clayton purchased it in 1882 and relocated his family so that he could support the restoration of peace and justice to the Indian Territory. Clayton renovated the house and gave it a Victorian Gothic Italianate style.

Between the time Sutton abandoned the house due to the Civil War and Clayton purchased it, it was used as a Union Army Hospital. As a result, the house is immersed in ghost stories and many paranormal activities have been reported by the working staff at the museum.