&*^% Politicians!

Our plan this morning was to visit the Truman Presidential Library and Museum. So much for that plan.

So we went to Independence Square, in downtown Independence.  The square is dominated by the Courthouse,

and surrounded by historical sites.  There is the Marshall's office and jail from the early 1800's all the way up to the drugstore that Mr. Truman worked at before he became a county judge.

We stopped for a cup of coffee at Main Street Coffee on the east side of the square.  Donna ordered a "Dirty Chai Latte", which is a Chai Latte with a shot of espresso and pronounced it delicious.  I ordered an Aztec Emperor, which is a Cinnamon Mocha.  So-So.  Service was distinctly unfriendly.  We walked down the block to the confectionery and ogled the home-made fudge.  The proprietress was so nice and gave us much information on the history of the buildings in the area and shared some of her personal stories as well.

Her "ride" was parked outside.  She purchased the Breast Cancer scooter just months before her daughter died of the disease.  A sad story.

After trotting around the square, we drove into the older part of town to gander at the old houses, and happened upon this gem:

Which turned out to be a famous residence:

Then we returned to the Frontier Trails Museum that we had started to tour yesterday afternoon.  This particular museum focused on the various pioneer trails that started in Independence, and went west to Oregon, California, and Santa Fe.  This is a new approach to the westward movement, and it was fascinating to learn about the huge sacrifices made by those pioneers. We were particularly interested to see paintings of Independence at that time:

The first painting shows the wagon trains as they approached the Missouri River crossing near modern day Kansas City, after having left Independence Square.  The other painting shows the Square with all the hustle and bustle of thousands of emigrants preparing to head west.  Most interesting!

It was getting late in the day, so we bade farewell to the area with a fine meal of Kansas City beef.

One filet with baked potato, please, and one ribeye with a baked sweet potato (and yes, that IS cinnamon sugar and butter on the sweet potato).














Kansas beef never has failed to satisfy.  Of course, the last time we were here was in 1974, so maybe the memory isn't what it used to be....