Day Two-Independence to Omaha

We slept in a little bit this morning since it was Sunday and most everything we wanted to see didn’t open till 11 or 12..  Scott went for a run and then we headed off to Dunkin Donuts…a road trip tradition.  They do have excellent coffee I must say.

After donuts we went down to find Independence Square and Harry Truman’s house.  Again, Aunt Christie gave us great advice.  We found his very quaint, modest house and then drove the path that he used to walk from his home to his office at the Truman Presidential library every day after he was President. 

The library didn’t open till noon so we decided to take in another popular Independence sight before lunch….Jesus’ arrival destination.

Did you know that when Jesus comes back, that he is arriving in Independence, Missouri??  Had no idea!  Apparently Independence was at one time the headquarters of the LDS-Mormon Church.  Read the marker below…

However, from what I read this is not a widely held belief by all Mormons, just a certain sect. Joseph Smith didn’t write it down like he did his other visits from Jesus so it doesn’t count.

Evidently Jesus was very specific that it was to be this tract of land and even gave dimensions.  Then, when the Mormons were run out of Missouri and settled in Utah, the land became property of the state and was then sold to a Church of Christ who built their church adjacent to the property.  They still own it to this day and refuse to sell it back to the LDS church. 

Don’t act shocked that we went here.  You know this was something I totally had to check out!

Comments from the kids were hilarious when we tried to explain!  Thomas said, “Cool, maybe He’ll come today while we’re there.  Good thing I brought my camera..”  Someone has to Capture the Rapture right?!

 So we hung out for a bit waiting for Jesus, but when He didn’t arrive by 11:15 we had to leave to meet Nana for lunch.

Waiitin' for Jesus!

Christie’s mom, who has always been like another grandparent to my kids, has moved back to Independence to care for her mom and since we miss her, we met up for some Kansas City BBQ and a quick visit!

Next it was back to the library!  When Harry Truman left office he had no Secret Service detail, no pension and no job.  At that time most past presidents sold many of their papers and gifts to support themselves.  Harry Truman didn’t want that and chose to donate all of his papers and memorabilia as a Presidential Library.  He actually worked there the 17 years after it was built.  In fact, his office was there and they left everything exactly as it was the last day he came to work there in 1972.  They enclosed the area behind his office and what was once the window behind his desk that overlooked the courtyard is now how you see inside his office.  VERY cool!

We learned a lot about Truman and his life in Missouri and as President. An exact replica of the Oval Office during his administration...

Truman was a voracious reader.  This was my favorite quote in the library.

THE pen that the Germans used to sign surrender papers!

Truman coined this phrase and this sat on his desk during his Presidency!

 Grace was griping about how she didn’t want to see the library, museums are boring, why couldn’t we just go etc…..typical adolescent excitement over anything educational.  Until….she realized that she and Harry Truman have the same birthday.  Now he’s her favorite President. 

In fact, once we got back in the car we had to look up and write down the names of all the Presidents and their birthdays in order to find out if Mandy shared a birthday with any of them.  You will be relieved to know that Mandy and James Madison have the same birthday.  (Whew.  I’m sure WWIII would have started and it would have been my fault if Grace had a presidents birthday and she didn’t.)

We paid our respects to Bess and Harry and then decided it was probably time to get on the road to Nebraska... 

Of course we did stop for ice cream…

Come on, who can pass up a giant pink ice cream cone?!?

And, we made a slight 3 mile detour to the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center.  Yes, I am a history teacher, but my education here is sorely lacking.  Anything having to do with exploration and Indians...not my cup of tea.  I know they explored the West and had something to do with Sacajawea. Of course, I learned that from Night at the Museum, not college.   Sadly, we arrived exactly 12 minutes after the visitor center closed for the day so I guess I’ll have to look it up on Wikipedia so I can appear to be knowledgeable to the children.  We just got out of the car and ran around for a little while just to get a break from the car.  

It was here that we all got back in the car and Thomas wasn’t moving fast enough so Scott throws the car in drive and pretends to drive off without him.  Boy can run pretty fast…about 15 mph.

And, in case you were wishing you were a Milder so you could be a part of all this family fun, I’ll share with you the new road trip bumper sticker that Grace found and Scott purchased and stuck ON MY CAR!

Classy right? Cannot tell you how many people pass us laughing hysterically.  Then, today while Scott was getting gas (no pun intended) the man filling up behind him asks, “Lettin’ the car air out a bit?”  

Don’t you know when we roll up in liberal, tree hugging Seattle in our big SUV with the Bucee beaver bobble head on the dash and that on the back we will just be livin’ up to all kinds of Texas stereotypes!  

Mandy pretty much summed us up today when she asked me to look at a picture she had drawn…

I assumed it was us and she replies…:”Oh it’s not us.  It’s a nice normal family.”

Blessings from Omaha,

Leslie