Dodge City Days was held July 30 through August 8 in Dodge City, Kansas. If you're not familiar with the famous Dodge City, it's a historic cow town that was the home to famous cowboys like Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Big Nose Kate and Wyatt Earp (who my dad was named after!).
I love history and Wakefield is really getting into it also! So we had some great fun learning all about this town and it's history!
Although Dodge City Days is a 10-day event with a few events each day, the big events are on the weekends. Unfortunately the only time we could get away was a Wednesday-Friday. Except for the rodeo each night, they really didn't have any specific events that we could go to those days. We aren't really rodeo people and our 2 1/2 year old would DEFINITELY not sit through a rodeo! So we made the most of what Dodge City had to offer without the events of Dodge City Days.
When we arrived we drove around to check the town out. I remember seeing a tourist attraction called the Home of Stone when I was researching Dodge City. We found the sign pointing to that direction and with an exploring attitude, we headed that way.
On first examination, it looked like many of the limestone homes around our area. But this happens to be the only limestone home in Dodge City! This is also the oldest home in Dodge City, built in 1882.
We won't go in to all the history of this stately home, but you can check it out here. A nice period-dressed woman (who happened to be a teacher on summer break!), gave us a tour through the house in which Wakefield was so interested in! This boy is going to have a love of history like his momma!
They were so sweet and the house is all as it was 100 years ago. It really was a neat treat to walk through this house! We highly recommend this stop if ever in Dodge!
Once we checked into the hotel, we spent the afternoon at the Long Branch Lagoon (a play on the Long Branch Saloon!). This water park was AMAZING for a town the size of Dodge!
A wave pool, several slides, a toddler area (shown above), a very long lazy river and so much more! This was such a treat and the kids thought they were on the best vacation ever! Another great stop in Dodge!
The next day was the highlight of our trip when we went to the Boot Hill Museum! The "cowboy" that welcomed us as we arrived said the big indoor museum and gift shop that we entered into was just opened in May of 2021, and it was very nice! The indoor museum area was very interactive and so many interesting tidbits that happened right in this town!
After the indoor museum, the have a replica of the actual downtown of Dodge City from the 1800's! At "high noon," they have a "shoot out" in front of old west downtown area. It was fast, loud and FUN! The actors do great work and make it very entertaining! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of this because Dayne was not a fan of the loud gun shot sounds so we were busy holding her ears and assuring her no one was actually getting shot!
However, Dayne DID love the Can Can Dancer Lessons! Our girl is not shy and ran right up to the Can Can Dancer who promptly put a little skirt on her and they went on stage to do their dance. I think we're going to have a performer on our hands!
The museum "downtown" also has a homemade fudge, an old time ice cream parlor, the Long Branch Saloon (where you can actually belly up to the bar and have a beer!), and a little sandwich restaurant. So feel free to visit over lunch! If you pay extra, they have a show and meal that I heard is really great!
Besides the Home of Stone, the Lagoon and Boot Hill Museum, we stopped at a great coffee shop, a local brewery and distillery, but we will talk about those in another post!
We stayed 2 nights in Dodge, but honestly we could have stayed one, getting there at lunch one day and leaving in the afternoon on the next day. We loved our time in Dodge and we would go back for these neat attractions, but we were disappointed in their downtown area. Besides the brewery, coffee shop and distillery, there were many service type businesses, like insurance and lawyers. So not a lot of shopping businesses for tourists who come to Dodge. It seemed a little run down also, but we heard from some locals they are working on this area. And we always give grace because these things take time.
We hope you'll check out Dodge and give us your favorite things about the town! Stay tuned for a post about our eating and drinking in Dodge City!