How to End Up in "Little Sweden", and What to Do When You Get There

1. Meet a friendly and interesting couple volunteering at a booksale in Salina

2. Get invited to their house to evaluate a rare 1st Printing of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

3. Browse their entire book collection, enjoy their lively conversation and appreciate their unique interior design style

4. Receive from them a flyer for the upcoming Lester Raymer art auction at the Red Barn Studio in Lindsborg, Kansas, home of legendary Prairie Printmaker Birger Sandzen

5. Decide to pull off Highway I-135 on the way back to Wichita to finally visit the town called "Little Sweden"

6. Find the town library, still open at 6:30pm, and run by the knowledgeable Karen Olson, who explains that your last name (Strom) was a military name in Sweden, and how most of the residents of Lindsborg have original Sandzen art in their homes. If poor Birger needed a new set of tires, he gave the mechanic original art instead of cash

7. Get a tour of the Lindsborg Library, or Bibliotek, with an original Raymer painting done for an art class at Wichita State, and home to a unique Swedish/Norwegian heritage reading room

8. Explore the large in-house library bookstore, and find a few rare, but appropriately high priced gems to buy and feature on your website

9. Stroll the quaint 4 block Main Street and discover the Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess, a shoe shop that specializes in clogs and wooden shoes, and a toy store that is going out of business, which makes you nostalgic, if not a little sad for its forthcoming exit from the town

10. Stop for a bite to eat at The Cookery, and indulge your adventurous taste buds with the authentic Swedish sampler, which consists of Swedish Meatballs (yum), Ham, and Pickled Herring (no thanks next time)

11. Leave the town at dusk with a full stomach, a car filled with books, and a desire to return in the Spring with a bicycle to explore some of the nearby backroads and art galleries