Show-Me State Shows Us Some Sights

Welcome to Missouri!

We started out the morning with a picture text from Sandy's son, Paul. This is Sandy's grandson, Jonas--he fell out of a swing. We know that accidents are inevitable with little boys, but this picture hurts our feelings. He really doesn't look happy.

Then we headed to Bob Evans for breakfast. We first tried Bob Evans in Buffalo two years ago. Bob Evans is owned by the same people who own Mimi's restaurants. We love Bob Evans stuffed pancakes and their restaurant is very cute with a country look.

After breakfast we went sightseeing. First we visited the LDS church's Liberty Jail. Liberty Jail is where the prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and two other men spent several months. It was one of the most trying times of Joseph Smith's life. The conditions were horrible and their treatment was disgraceful. One of the guards eventually let the men escape because he knew they were incarcerated on false charges.

This is the upper room of the Liberty Jail where the jail keeper lived.

This is the bottom half of the jail where Joseph Smith and his three companions were held. The ceiling is six feet tall, and one of the men, Lyman Wight, was between 6' 4" and 6' 6" tall. For the many months these men were held in this jail, he was never able to stand up all the way.

This is one side of the Liberty Jail. The room where Joseph Smith and his companions were kept had only two small windows, one on each side, and both windows had bars.

This is a replica of the golden plates, which, after being translated by Joseph Smith, became know as The Book of Mormon.

We left the jail and headed to the presidential library of Harry S. Truman. We probably spent two hours there just going through both floors of the library. It was very interesting and we decided that we needed to tour other presidential libraries.

Replica of the Oval Office

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Globe by which President Truman stood for photo ops with dignitaries

President Truman's home in Independence, Missouri

This picture is blurry, but it goes with the marker below.

Signed in Blood: "This book contains the names of ? Chinese and North Koreans in Prisoner of War Camp #1. The POWs, who had all converted to Christianity, made anti-communist pledges and ? their names with thumb prints in their own blood. The book was presented to the Reverend Billy Graham, who, in turn, presented it to President Dwight Eisenhower on November 6, 1953."

One of President Truman's presidential cars.

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This marker goes with the guns above it. It says, "Grisello Torresola and Oscar Collazo carried these weapons in the attempted assassination of President Truman. Using the Luger pistol, Torresola mortally wounded White House Policeman Leslie Coffett, before being killed himself by Coffett in the ensuing gun battle."

President Truman's freemasonry items

Truman's presidential china

We also took the time to drive by the Kansas City Royals baseball stadium and the Reorganized LDS Church's headquarters and temple. They have no affiliation with the LDS church.

Kansas City Royals baseball stadium

Headquarters of Reorganized church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is now known as Church of Christ (no affiliation with the LDS church).

RLDS, Church of Christ, temple in Missouri

On Church of Christ property: "August 3, 1831, Joseph Smith, Jr., Prophet and Founder of the Church of Christ, with seven other Church leaders, dedicated this site for the Temple in the City of Zion, where this Church believes the Lord will come to His people in the Last Days."

Eternal flame at President Truman's library.

Statue of President Truman

Scary bridge alert -- Missouri River. Sandy was driving as we approached this bridge. There were a few moments of panic, but once we got up close to it, we could see that the river wasn't that wide at that point and that the bridge didn't rise too high above it. So the white knuckle driving was kept to a minimum. However, we have to cross the Mississippi River tomorrow. Stay tuned.

We ended the day at Maggie Moo's ice cream, which is conveniently located across the street from our hotel. Edie had Chocolate Better Batter and Sandy had Udderly Cream.

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Ines ~ The frozen custard we got yesterday only came in chocolate and vanilla. Guess which one of us got which flavor.