Introduction
In June 2007, we embarked on an exciting Midwest USA journey full of adventure and learning.   Mark had a business trip scheduled for Waterloo, Iowa and we decided to tag along and explore along the way.  Our goal is to introduce the kids to each of the 50 states so what better time than now to visit the Heartland!   We visited various cities in the states of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota -- including 3 National Historic sites.   A journal of each location visited is detailed below accompanied by pictures. Click here to see a map of our route.

St. Louis, named for King Louis IX of France, lies on the banks of the Mississippi River and was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The Lewis and Clark Expedition left the St. Louis area in May 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1805, and returned in September 1806. Both Lewis and Clark lived in St. Louis after the expedition. The city is called "Gateway to the West" for the many people who moved west through St. Louis via the Missouri River and other wagon trails. The steamboat era began in St. Louis in 1817 and signified significant progress in river trade, as steam power permitted much more efficient and dependable river transportation. Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats and transformed St. Louis into a bustling boom town, commercial center, and inland port. By the 1830's, it was common to see over 150 steamboats at the St. Louis levee at one time. By the 1850's, St. Louis had become the largest U. S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York. Today, St. Louis is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with a population of 2,796,368. Two events at the beginning of the 20th century, the 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games (the first ever held in the United States) are of particular pride to St. Louisans.

Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota.  It lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities, these two cities form the core of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.2 million residents. Once a hub for timber milling, and flour milling, Minneapolis is the primary business center in the vast expanse between Chicago and Seattle. The name Minneapolis is attributed to the city's first schoolmaster, who combined Minnehaha and mini, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city.  The Minneapolis park system has been called the best-designed, best-financed and best-maintained in America. The city's Chain of Lakes is connected by bike, running, and walking paths and used for swimming, fishing, picnics, boating, and ice skating. Site of the 53-foot (16 m) Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Park is one of the city's oldest and most popular parks, receiving over 500,000 visitors each year. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow named Hiawatha's wife Minnehaha for the Minneapolis waterfall in his The Song of Hiawatha, a best selling and often-parodied 19th century poem.

Kansas City, MO (Population 444,965) is situated at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers and sits opposite Kansas City, Kansas. It is the most populous city in Missouri, the seventh largest city in the Midwest, and the 40th most populous city in the United States.   Kansas City is famous for having more boulevards and avenues in any city in the world except Paris and more fountains than any city except Rome.  The city houses The Liberty Memorial, America's National World War I Memorial, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004; as well as The National World War I Museum.

Independence (Population 113,288) was founded on March 29, 1827 and quickly became an important frontier town because it was the farthest point westward on the Missouri River where steamboats or other cargo boats could travel due to the convergence of the Kansas River with the Missouri River approximately six miles west of the city, near the current Kansas-Missouri border.  President Harry S. Truman grew up in Independence and in 1922 was elected judge of the County Court of Jackson County, Missouri. Although he was defeated for reelection in 1924, he won back the office in 1926 and was reelected in 1930. Truman performed his duties in this office diligently, and won personal acclaim for several popular public works projects, including an extensive series of fine roads for the growing use of the automobiles, building of a new County Court building in Independence, and a series of 12 Madonna of the Trail monuments to pioneer women dedicated across the country in 1928 and 1929. He later returned to the city after two terms as President. His wife, First Lady Bess Truman, was born and raised in Independence.