Travel blogger makes visit to Safari Museum

A regional travel blogger made Chanute part of a family tour of southeast Kansas this week.

Freelance writer Kim Reiner researched sites in Allen, Neosho, Cherokee, Bourbon and Crawford counties on Monday and Tuesday. Her website “Oh, My! Omaha” at ohmyomaha.com attracts 59,000 visitors a month, reaching up to 70,000 during the summer as families plan vacations. She has 26,000 followers on Facebook, 4,900 on Twitter and 4,700 on Pinterest.

Other stops included downtown Humboldt and Big Brutus. 

The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum piqued the interest of all of Kim’s family. Her son Henry is into history and museums and is the type who reads all the signs, she said. For older daughter Charlotte, a hit location is anything that has to do with animals, and her husband Kevin is interested in video and filmmaking.

“This hits it all,” Kim said.

Kim has wanted to be a travel writer since she was in college. She went into newspaper reporting and became an arts and entertainment editor for the Daily Nonpariel in Council Bluffs, Iowa. When it came time for a change, she did not want to give up being in the loop.

Although hyper-focused in Omaha, Neb., about half of the website includes travel destinations in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and South Dakota and she has another blog, “Let’s Go Iowa.” She launched the website in 2013, and said she takes six to ten road trips a year.

“I write about places people can easily drive to,” Reiner said, and tries to keep families in mind.

Week-long road trips include Chicago, Alabama or Yellowstone National Park. 

“There are some nomadic families,” she said.

For trips closer to home, she tries to plan three- to four-day weekends when the children are out of school.

“We’re normal people who travel on the weekends,” Reiner said.

She has relatives in Wichita, but has not been to southeast Kansas as much. She had been looking forward to the trip since a summer tour of small towns with unique things.

The website gets more visitors by finding places that are hidden gems.

The family saw a documentary about the Johnsons, which gave them insight into what they could look forward to.

“Osa’s a badass,” Reiner said.

Humboldt has the feel of a New England town square, she said, and feels like it is on the verge of growing. They were in Kansas City Sunday.