Kansis CIty Trip
When I was younger I had kind of a list of places I wanted to go and wasn’t much interested in anywhere else. More all the time, I’m interested in EVERYWHERE. Kansas City can probably be summed up in these words: fountains, barbeque, rivers, trains and corporate headquarters. They also have the American Museum of Jazz, a WWI Museum and a beautiful plaza on the river. And all sorts of American coroporate headquarters, most notably Hallmark. The best part, though, is that it is a short distance from Liberty, Independence and Far West (unfortunately, we didn’t have quite enough time to make it up to Adam andi ahmon). The midwest (at least this river-rich area), is beautiful. Bright green with rolling hills and SO many trees. It would almost seduce me, until I would look out at the horizon and there was no sea and no mountains.
This is the basment (dungeon cell) of Liberty jail, with likenesses of the brethren who were imprisoned there for nearly 130 days. The ceiling was about 6ft high (each of the prisoners were over 6 ft tall) and the room was about 14 x 14 ft, with an uneven stone floor. the only ventilation is a small window (you can see the barred opening in the second photo) through the 4 ft wall. Reading about such conditions is one thing, but actually seeing what they lived in for nearly 6 months (including one of the coldest winters on record in Missouri) gave me a whole new appreciation for these men and their wives.
This is the wall of the jail (they have the building enclosed in a rotunda) and behind me on the wall, you can see writing. On the walls of the rotunda are etched excerpts from the sections of D&C the prophet received during his last 10 days of incarceration here (sections 121, 122, 123--beautiful and powerful passages of scripture).
This is what’s left of Far West--a monument and the cornerstones of a temple that the Saints never had time to build before the extermination order was signed. There was once a bustling town here of more than 150 homes and several stores. Now its a fenced lawn that is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Seriously--we had to take two lightly traveled state highways and a county road to get to it. The only other thing around for miles, other than an occasional house, is a Community of Chrsit church (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of JC of LDS) and a quite new Deseret Book.
This is Union Station, just across from our hotel. It was once the busiest station in the country. I could do a whole page of pics just of this building. Suffice it to say it is a beautiful example of old train stations in their hayday, with all the grandeur you’d expect. This one sample is a photo of one of the three large chandeliers hanging in the main terminal with the beautiful ceiling art behind it.
This group of monks was in Union Station all week raising money in order to help care for refugee monks from Tibet. They do this artwork entirely with sand. It was fascinating to watch.
This is the Liberty Wall and Tower (visible behind it, the square building is the WWI museum). The monument was erected just after WWI to honor the soldiers who served.