Saturday Adventure!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  Wowzers, did we ever have an adventure this morning!  We all piled into the HR-V while it was still dark and drove down to the town of Council Grove!

   

Council Grove is a small town steeped in history! The town itself is named for the Council Oak, a tree under which a council of U.S. commissioners and the chiefs of the Great and Little Osage tribes negotiated a treaty in 1825. The treaty granted the Americans and Hispanics right of way on the Santa Fe Trail - through Osage territory - in exchange for a payment to the Osage. The tree itself was destroyed by a storm several years ago, but the stump remains under a protective canopy. Council Grove served as the last opportunity for Santa Fe Trail travelers headed West to pick up supplies for their journey. 

There are tons of historic things all over town. Here is a shot of us by a memorial to WWII soldiers from Council Grove:

   

We found a park with cool things in it like this train engine!

"All aboard!!!"
"Good one, Ragnar!!!"

It's not a real train engine, but Mom wouldn't let us climb on the real one. Something about my feety-feet getting stuck in the metal grating. What.  A.  Killjoy! 

We walked through town until we found the Flint Hills Nature Trail and explored that for a couple miles:

"Crossroad!!!"
"I wonder where the road goes?!?"

The trail is a former railway line (rail to trail) that stretches 117 miles. We didn't walk the whole thing.  We did check out the road it crosses:

   

Back in town ... this is a statue called the Madonna Of The Trail:

   

It's dedicated to the spirit of the pioneer women in the US. Being named after a strong woman myself, I salute these brave frontierswomen!!! 

We also found a statue called Guardian Of The Grove, a depiction of a Kaw warrior:

   

The statue contains a lot of symbols important to the Kaw (also known as Kanza) Indian Tribe whose last Kansas home was located in Council Grove. Kansas was named for the Kanza Indians! 

We also found a beautiful river walk along the Neosha River:

"I love this!"
"Look, Mags - a bridge!!!"

Yes, there was a bridge across the river, and YES, we got to cross it!!! A definite highlight! 

The downtown area is really quaint, packed full of historical, interesting buildings:

 

In case you ever wondered how big (or not) the covered wagons were that the settlers used to cross the prairie:

 

Yeah. That would make for quite the long journey! Before we left town, we ran into a Kansas celebrity and stopped to pose for a photo with him:

Ragnar, the Tin Man, and me!!!

He seened a bit stiff. I think he needed that infamous oil can there at his feet! 

What an AWESOME adventure! Thanks for coming along with us! 

Yours sincerely, 
Margaret Thatcher