I have been busy enjoying the beautifully HOT weather and a manageable work load for the last couple of weeks, so although I have lots to share, my photography lately hasn't been able to do justice to all the cool things I've been seeing and doing! I did a little exploring at the
Patee House Museum and Jesse James Home as well as sampled quite a few restaurants in the Kansas City and St. Joseph areas. Sprinkled in the last couple of weeks has also been some riding and eating time with my extended CVMA family and new friends. So, although I don't have a ton of pictures to post on all of those adventures, I do have some fun pics from another adventure.
 |
| City Market in Kansas City |
In a testament to the smallness of the world, I've reconnected with an old Navy buddy from my Spain days whose here for the same school as me. Kevin and his wife, Kristie, like to explore the local area as much as I do and invited me to tag along with them and their two kids for a festival in City Market this weekend. We ended the festival with a visit to a museum located right in the City Market. The
Arabia Steamboat Museum ended up being one of the coolest historic sites I've been to yet!
 |
| Parts of the steam engine...still functioning! |
Although most of us tend to only think of covered wagons moving people and goods around the wild west frontier of the 1800s, steamboats were actually critical modes of personal and commercial transportation up and down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. The journey may have been commonplace back then, but it certainly was not without peril. One of the casualties of that treacherous journey was the Steamboat Arabia.
 |
| Dishes, glasses and pots from the Steamboat Arabia |
In 1856, the Arabia sank 6 miles west of Kansas City when it struck a fallen tree sticking up from the bottom of the river. The steamboat was loaded with 130 passengers and 200 tons of winter supplies when she went down. Fortunately, all of the passengers made it off alive, but the supplies intended for settlers in 16 towns up the Missouri River sank with the ship, along with an unfortunate donkey :-(
 |
| Bolts of cloth, clothes and thousands of buttons (each cleaned individually!) |
Just like the Mississippi River before being damned and levied many years later, the seasonal changing flow of the Missouri River caused it to alter course over time. In 1987, a group of adventurous souls embarked on a treasure hunt fueled by tall tales, newspaper clippings and historical records, to find her. What used to be the resting place of the sunken Steamboat Arabia in the Missouri River in 1856 had become her grave 45 feet under agricultural land. In spite of harsh weather, limited excavation time and imperfect knowledge of fresh water artifact conservation, this group of explorers have painstakingly assembled an awe-inspiring collection of well-preserved treasure. It was fascinating to hear the story, in a movie and in-person from one of the discoverers, of how they managed to extract and preserve the wooden hull of the ship as well as fabrics, metals and glass that comprised the supplies once intended to help settlers get through a long winter.
 |
| Barrels of nails painstakingly excavated and preserved. |
The families who made the discovery, along with volunteers over the years, have all the items they've been able to preserve, so far, on display in the museum. Some of the uncovered treasure included still-edible jarred pickles and jars of perfume that could still be used today. There are many more items frozen in blocks of ice waiting to be thawed, cleaned and preserved (freezing them keeps the materials from deteriorating any further while waiting to be preserved). The museum even has a section where you can see the preservation process and handle some of the artifacts...great for kids and adults alike. Click on "Arabia Steamboat Museum" in the second paragraph of this post to access the hyperlink which will take you directly to the museum's website to read more about this interesting tale.
 |
| First two blobs are barrels of nails not yet preserved |
That's if for now...have a great week!
