In my area there are quite a few sights to see if you're a flyer although most of them aren't too spectacular if you're just driving by.

One small town a little east of Wichita used to have a grass strip, sort of a flat space on the top of the hill where the town sat, where a tradition was established that pilots should all land there, taxi down main street, park in front of the hotel and have lunch. Occasionally a group would plan an excursion with a half dozen (small) planes all arriving together. The tradition was quashed when "the town" decided they had grown too much and blocked the road off. (I think the leap in population was from the former 9 citizens to perhaps 11 or 12.)

For several decades, local pilots have also been known to fly visitors 30 or 40 miles north to "prove how civilized we are" by showing the town with two water towers, one labeled "HOT" and the other "COLD" - supposedly originally labeled by local kids as a Halloween prank, but the citizens liked it so they kept them that way. My own observation on this custom was that another 30 miles north and they could show the visitors the buffalo and elk herds at the Maxwell game preserve to show them that we also remembered some of our traditions; but I don't think many took the hint.

A small (grass again) air strip on the southwest side of Wichita achieved a widespread reputation after an unknown pilot apparently encountered a cow on the runway. Within a few months, since no one removed the cow, locals began referring to the strip as "Dead Cow International" and the name stuck to the extent that some flight charts showed it as the official name of the strip for several decades.

In the late 40s and well into the 50s, the "official" reports were that there were 10 or 11 (depending on which official reported) airfields within one ten mile radius, roughly centered on the Beech field here. The count omitted the few farmers that mowed a strip in the pasture when they wanted to go somewhere, and hoped they'd get back before the grass got too tall to land; but so far as I was aware there were only a handful of those "impromptu" strips at any given time.

The smaller fields have mostly been abandoned or turned into other uses, but nearby towns have created their own fields that are out from under the commercial traffic and much better suited to small planes. A "private" field named as Jabara Airport after a local military fellow has a very nice strip very close to a mile long. (The old Beech strip was less than a half mile.) Augusta, about 30 miles east has a very nice "port" and a helicopter rental service. Wellington, about 50 miles south has a good airport and for a small town has a whole bunch of airplane associated manufacturers/sellers. Both Hutchinson and Newton (around 30 - 50 miles?) have pretty good airports with low enough traffic for casual/recreational fliers.

Salina - a former AF Base about 70 miles north, has at least one strip close to 2 miles long (2 ft thick concrete) if any of ya wanna visit us in your C5 or Superguppy. (For some, 70 miles might seem like a long way, but it's 2 trips to the grocery store for lots of us here, or one trip for some.)

John