Day 10: Independence, Missouri

The first part of our day we spent visiting the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. The museum there had been recently modernized, and it was very well done. 

The iconic desk plaque.

The replica Truman Oval Office. 

That large globe in the photo above was a present to Truman from Eisenhower at the end of WWII. I'm a little fascinated by it. I'm assuming Eisenhower "liberated it" from some Nazi headquarters and brought it over from Europe on a military transport. But from where did the Nazis get it? Was this beautiful and valuable piece originally stolen from wealthy Jews? What other pieces of European culture made it back to the US, "procured" by members of our military/government? I have a feeling the average person who sees such things does not naturally generate such questions. But I have a fascination for the stories and people behind historical objects. And of course my musings are directly related to our family WWII studies this past spring, which included the documentary The Rape of Europa, and the movies Monuments Men and Woman in Gold.

The museum had sections on Truman's childhood, his presidency and policies made--everything you would expect, all well-done.

A menu from an average day at the White House. The kind of thing that makes me geek out. Martha Washington's Crabmeat Soup?! Now I want to dive into the culinary history of the White House. And taste that soup. 

So much to discuss with the kids just from this one display!

There was also a special exhibit going on at the museum that particularly excited me: Truman and WWI. 

Example of the museum's creative, interactive, informative displays: these images show different sides of the same "box," built so each of the stacked thirds turn, which allows silly kids to miss-match and then match-up the bodies of the figures shown. 

Did you know Harry S. Truman was the only US President to ever serve in combat in a war? A little eerie how that experience may have prepared him for someday being Commander in Chief.

We learned an important lesson at this museum--always take a few minutes when you get there to look at a map of the big picture, so you can wisely choose how to spend your time, especially if you are short on time. We only spent a few hours in the morning at the museum, and after we left I found out there had been a whole section we never saw on the Cold War! Shucks.

But we still had a good time and probably gleaned as much history as the kids' brains could hold. 

After a picnic lunch on the Truman museum grounds, we headed to our afternoon stop--the little National Frontier Trails Museum, also in Independence. 

This was a museum we had found years ago on a road trip to the Midwest, and we thought it was worth visiting again, to help put our past family homeschool learning in context. How exciting to be in the starting place of the Lewis & Clark expedition, the Mormon Trail, and the Oregon, California & Santa Fe pioneer trails!  So much history packed into one little museum!

I'm not sure how much the kids got from the displays, though--they may have been a bit museum-ed out.  But it was still worth stopping and seeing again, and still a place I recommend. 

Loading their wagon. If you go overweight a light comes on. Such a great hands-on exercise in the obstacles the pioneers faced from the very beginning of their journey.

They figured out how to beat the scale by careful arrangement of the goods. Sorry, kids, that's not how it worked back in the day.

That night we didn't have to drive far--only to St. Louis. We stayed in East St. Louis, IL at a casino campground directly across from the Gateway Arch, which was to be our family fun destination of the following day.

This day was also Happy's 13th birthday, and it was perfect timing--she had wanted to visit the Arch on this road trip in homage to her favorite book hero, Percy Jackson.