You'll remember from our last blog entry our intent to spend the time up until the Christmas holiday exploring cities in the middle of the country (allowing Jeannette's broken toe time to heal). We also wanted to stay ahead of the really cold temperatures that occur in the northern Midwest during the fall and winter.
Thus, after just a couple of days in Sioux Falls, South Dakota getting the Ciaowagen ready for the road again, we headed south to Omaha, Nebraska, a city neither of us had visited before.
Omaha sits on the Missouri River, which runs north-south at that point, close to the border with Iowa. It's a city whose early growth was spawned by the transcontinental railroad boom, and it's still the headquarters of the Union Pacific, one of the largest rail carriers around. Some of the history is traced in the Durham Museum, based in the old Omaha passenger station. In the main waiting room, they've added statues to bring back the feeling of the station's heyday.
You could also tour some trains down in the lower level. Because it was close to Halloween, they were decorated for the holiday! Most passengers were on multi-day journeys, it was interesting to note there were no showers. I guess that unlike traveling by plane, they could open the windows if it got too bad.
We also visited Omaha's Joslyn art museum, with a collection started by a local wealthy family that includes both older paintings and modern art.
We took a local guided tour one day, and learned that Omaha is currently home to 7 billionaires. The most famous is Warren Buffett. We drove by his house, which is in a nice neighborhood but fairly modest for one of the wealthiest people in the country - he's lived there for over 50 years.
We also spent an entire day at Omaha's beautiful and educational zoo. We particularly liked how they grouped together some species that live together in the wild.
During our stay, the temperature dropped and snow flurries flew ...
...so after a week in Omaha, we headed south to the Kansas City, Missouri.
The interstate followed along the Missouri, which had significant flooding over the summer. Many of the farm fields and some of the side roads are still flooded and will be for a while longer. Some farm buildings sat on islands in a vast lake. There was even an exit to an interstate that was completely submerged. The only evidence of the roadway were large signs sticking out of the water indicating distances to various cities - no guardrails, no jersey walls were even visible in the water. The farmers here lost the crops they were about to harvest and were not able to plant their second crop of the season.
In the KC area, we stayed at a campground in nearby Independence, boyhood home of Harry Truman - the "buck stops here" president. Unfortunately, the Truman Presidential Library is closed for a year for renovations, so we were unable to visit it.
Independence was one of the jumping-off points for pioneers heading west on the Oregon and Sante Fe trails. It was also a way point for the Mormons on their journey to Salt Lake City.
One of the things we had not known before was the Mormans have splintered into a few groups, and Independence was the place where that happened. Very close to our campground was the international headquarters and temple of the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," also known as the "Community of Christ." They have a daily prayer for peace and we decided to join in and we got a private tour of the impressive church built to resemble the curves of a nautilus shell. The have diverged quite a bit from their Morman roots - no "retroactive" baptism, no young elders following us around evangelizing, and no restrictions on who could enter their sanctuary, to name a few.
We enjoyed our week in Kansas City. The city is experiencing a revival with many of the old factories and warehouse being converted to loft apartments. The population is growing and the average age of those moving to the city is just 26!
Every city has standard museums (e.g., art, science) so we skipped those and visited some KC-unique ones instead.
The city is home to the National World War I Museum and Memorial, which sits high on a hill overlooking the city. The exhibits were information-rich.
Another very interesting museum was about the Steamboat Arabia, which sank in the Missouri before the Civil War. Because of the shifting course of the river, it was rediscovered in the 1980s forty feet below a farmer's field. Five locals independently financed the excavation. Much of the cargo (mostly trade goods destined for towns upstream) was recovered and provides great insights into daily life in the mid-1800s. On display were the everyday goods that people of that era used - building and farming tools, household goods, medicines, perfumes and shoes of every description, and even bolts of fabric that survived.
Finally, we spent a day at the fascinating National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. The toy displays took us back to our youth, but the most impressive part of the collection for us was the fine-art miniatures. Think dollhouse furniture but with exquisite craftsmanship that replicates the construction and functionality of the life-sized pieces on which they're based, including wooden violins and pianos, and fully functioning dressers. The most amazing miniature was a 4" high reproduction of an elaborate roll-top desk from the Palace of Versailles that features the many secret compartments and even the locking mechanism of the full-size original.
We took in a Kansas City Symphony concert one evening at the beautiful and modernistic Kaufmann Center... the program was first rate and the concert hall provided excellent acoustics in a concert hall that felt intimate.
...rode scooters along the Missouri...
...ate lots of BBQ (for which KC is aptly famous), and enjoyed some live jazz.
After a week exploring Kansas City, it was time to continue south, and we headed down into the Ozarks area of Missouri. More about that in our next blog post!
Interesting about the Mormons. Always enjoy your posts.