Kansas is tall grass country, and the Flint Hills area features America’s last huge expanse of undulating grasslands at Tallgrass National Preserve. The cattle towns of Kansas have died out, replaced by manufacturing centers in Wichita, where 70 percent of America’s general aviation aircraft are built, and Kansas City, a hub of automotive manufacturing. But the buffalo still roam here, having made a comeback on small ranches and refuges that have boosted their populations to over 6,000 head. The landscape here is hilly, with the limestone based Smoky Hills in Central Kansas, the Flint Hills in the East and the mesas and buttes of the Gypsum Hills in the south central region. The limestone deposits are the result of a huge inland sea that once existed in this landlocked state. Geological landmarks such as the Monument Rocks and Chalk Rock Towers present stunning monoliths rising from the Kansan horizon. Working ranches such as Equine Eagles in Independence and Farmyard Lodge in Concordia, welcome visitors to experience cowboy life. In Topeka, the Sisters of Charity founded the St. Francis Health Center in 1909. It’s come a long way since those early days when the Sisters kept patients warm under quilts they crafted from fabric scraps. Today the hospital is a premier facility that prides itself on its cutting edge innovations and state of the art equipment.