Kansas City, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa
Kansas City, St. Joseph, South Eastern Nebraska and South Western Iowa have some very interesting sights to see. You might not hear much about this area outside of the great BBQ ,but its worth visiting for many great reasons. Kansas City is know as the “City of Fountains” and you can see fountains and architecture throughout the city. You can visit the stunning National WWI Museum, the Hallmark Headquarters, Shop in the Crown Center or catch a game at one of the many sport venues in the city. Nearby in Independence, Missouri you can visit the Harry S Truman Presidential Library. You can also take a day trip to St. Joseph, Missouri to see where Jesse James was killed and where the Pony Express was headquartered. You can continue in the Old West by going to the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center and museum in Nebraska City. In Iowa you can visit the Waubonsie State Park to hike and visit hills in Iowa. I have visited the area a few times the most recent being 2023.
Getting to Kansas City and Transportation
Other than driving into Kansas City or taking an Amtrak train into the city, flying into Kansas City International Airport is the way to get to the area. Most major airlines fly into Kansas City International airport and its central location in the country means its a relatively short flight to get to Kansas City. The airport is one of these easiest to transit through in my opinion. The airport is brand new and is very well done.. The best bet in Kansas city if you want to branch out of the downtown area is to get a rental car. Kansas City has a bus system and a limited downtown rail system. We used our rental car to see Kansas City and also visit St. Joseph, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.
National WWI Museum
The gem of Kansas City is the National WWI Museum. It is an extremely well done museum that has many artifacts from “The Great War”, recreations of the terrible trenches, and many interactive exhibits. You start by walking over a clear bridge over a field of poppies symbolizing those who died in WWI. The museum goes over the causes of the war, and chronicles each year of the war. Its a truly sobering museum going over a war you do not hear a lot about in comparison to other wars. While at the museum you can go to the top of the over 200 foot tall Liberty Tower to visit the open air observation deck and get a great view of downtown Kansas City. The architecture and the temporary exhibits in this 1920s built building are also something to see. This museum will take a few hours to visit and its worth every minute.
Hallmark Headquarters and Visitors Center
A short walk from the National WWI Museum is the Hallmark Headquarters and its visitors center. Its a free museum where you can learn about the cards and ornaments that have made Hallmark famous. It goes over the history of the Hallmark company and you can watch a video about the employees and company in the past and the now. You can even get a free Hallmark bow from the bow making machine. It is a nice museum that will take 30 minutes to an hour to go through.
Harry S Truman Presidential Library
Located around 20 minutes from downtown Kansas City you can visit the Harry S Truman Presidential Library. It was the first presidential library built and is the final resting place of the 33rd president. Truman was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Vice President when he died making Truman the President at the end of WWII. He decided to drop the Atomic bombs on Japan and also saw the beginning of the Cold War. He also was President during the Korean War. The museum chronicles his life before the politics, his time in office, what went on in the world as he was president and his time after office. You can also see some of the gifts he received from other nations. The Harry Truman and the First Lady are buried at the library. Truman is famous for his “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his desk and you can buy one at the gift shop. The ‘S’ in his name actually is just an S (he does not have a middle name). Its a great museum that shares the interesting times at the end of and right after WWII. It will take an hour or two to tour the museum. Its worth the short drive to Independence from Kansas City.
The Money Museum - Kansas City Federal Reserve
This museum is a quick walk from the Hallmark Center and the National WWI Museum. It is completely FREE to see exhibits about money in the US and around the world. There are collections of rare coins such as the Harry S Truman coin collection that is a collection of coins from the time of each president in the US. There are temporary exhibits they rotate through about currency and finances. The star of the visit is seeing coins and bills being minted at the reserve bank. You can also watch the automated (robots) sending bag after bag of money into a huge vault. On the way our you can get a bag of free money (that has been shredded due to age or defects). To get in you have to go through airport style security and no pictures are allowed of the money operations or the staff.
The National Toy and Miniatures Museum
Another great museum to visit in Kansas City is the National Toy and Miniatures museum. Since I was a kid I have always enjoyed collecting toys and miniatures. This museum has on the first floor a large collection of very detailed and intercut miniatures. You can see full rooms and buildings build in miniature to the greatest detail. There might be small newspapers on the kitchen table with eggs cooking on the stove or miniature musical instruments. There are ships and so much more. On the second floor you can go through a journey of toys on a timeline. Once I got to the 1980s to the 1990s I could see so many toys I had such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters and so much more. You can see the history of toys and go back further in time. It’s a museum that is well worth visiting in Kansas City while you are there.
The TWA Museum
Trans World Airlines was a historic airline in the United States that operated from the 1930s to 2001 when it was purchased by American Airlines. While the airline might not exist any longer, where its original headquarters was at the Kansas City Downtown Airport has a museum dedicated to the airline. At the museum you can sit in training cockpits of a wide variety of propeller and jet aircraft that is a relatively rare opportunity to see what it’s like in a real cockpit of historic planes no longer used. You also can see a history of the airline and see airplanes in the hanger that are historic TWA planes. You can go inside some of the planes. You can see seats from the airline from different eras and different service classes that you can try out. There is also a memorial of TWA Flight 800 that I remember as a kid watching on CNN what had happened during the tragedy. The fuel tank exploded destroying the plane that was heading from New York to Paris in 1996. After visiting the museum, they do have a very good gift shop with many historic items from the airline such as cutlery from first class and other items used in flight. It is another unique and great museum to visit.
St. Joseph, Missouri
After spending time in Kansas City we took a day trip that included the historic city of St. Joseph along the Missouri River. The city is famous for being the home and death site for outlaw Jesse James and the headquarters and starting point for The Pony Express. We spent quite a bit of time in this small city visiting the several great museums there. We visited the Jesse James Home Museum where he was killed. He was straightening a picture when a man shot him from behind. You can still see the bullet hole in the wall from the bullet that killed him. Its a small house and museum but an interesting one. We also went to The Pony Express Museum located in the stables where the riders started their journey delivering the mail across the West. Its a great museum that has a replica of a way station, the history of the short lived Pony Express and exhibits on the dangers and routes the riders took. We also went to one of the best Western museums in the country called the Patee House Museum. Its in an 1800s built former hotel. You can see a train, the Pony Express headquarters, cowboys, guns and many other artifacts from the Old West. It will take an hour or so to walk through. All three museums are well worth the one hour drive North from Kansas City. There are also quite a few hotel options if you want to spend the night as we did for one night.
In 2023 we visited St. Joseph again and visited the Pony Express Museum and the Patee House Museum once again but we also headed to a very unique complex of museums that include the Glore Psychiatric Museum. The Glore Psychiatric Museum is located in an actual former asylum that treated the mentally ill. There you can tour the morgue and see treatment rooms where brutal methods were used in the past. The museum tells the story of mental health and its treatments over the years and how it has greatly improved in recent years. It goes over the type of ailments one can have from mild to severe. It’s a great museum that strives for greater awareness when it comes to mental health. Also located in the same building is a Doll Museum, Native American Museum and African American History. It’s a great place to visit and a very unique museum complex especially the Glore Museum. Being the MidWest we got into a very strong storm that was severe. Thankfully we got into the Patee House Museum but were drenched heading into it. We have souvenir T-Shirts from the museum as we changed after the heavy rain and lightning.
Waubonsie State Park, Iowa
Located in the far South West corner of Iowa is the Waubonsie State Park. It is part of the Loess Hills Land form that comes from ancient silk from glacier runoff. The hills are an interesting sight in what is mainly flat plains in Iowa. You can see the endless plains of Iowa and farmland from the hills. We spent a little time hiking in the quiet and pretty forest a top the hill and ready about the unique land form. There were few people there and the park was unmanned so its a nice area to get away from it all. We drove through quite a few farming areas and a very small town that was very desolate on a Sunday (as expected). After a short visit to Iowa we heads over to Nebraska.
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitors Center, Nebraska City, Nebraska
After quick stop in Iowa we wanted to stop by Nebraska (we want to go to all 50 states and have made it to 46 so far) and go see something interesting in the state. We went just over the border to Nebraska City to see the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitors Center. It is a nice facility near where Lewis and Clark stopped to camp as they explored the West. The center has a trail where you can see an Earth Lodge replica of a Plains Indian tribe, see the plant life and animal and get a view of the Missouri River. In the visitors center there are exhibits about the boats used, the animals they encountered and some history about Lewis and Clark and their explorations. There are interactive exhibits and exhibits for kids. Its a nice small center and worth stopping by if you are in the Nebraska City area. It will take about an hour to go through.
Other attractions and tips for Kansas City and the area
There are many other things to do in Kansas City and the general area. In Kansas City one thing to do is try one of the many great Kansas City BBQ places like we did while we were there. There are other museums and attractions in the Kansas City area from art and science museums and great sports teams to watch. Like many cities you can visit breweries in the area as well. There area unique museum such as the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. Check out the many fountains in the city as well. There are other sites to explore as well. If we went back we would try out some of these other items. A stop inside Union Station to see beautiful architecture is something nice to do while in the downtown area. If you want to drive South the City of Fort Scott, Kansas is neat with the well preserved Fort Scott National Historic Site where you can visit an old frontier fort. The Civil War Battlefield of Mine Creek is near by Fort Scott. We visited both sites on a previous trip to the area many years ago. Kansas City is a great place to go and easy to navigate. Give it a shot and visit!
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