We had a nice visit with my cousin, Arnold Parr, last week. Arnold stayed with us for five nights. Arnold and I share a great grandmother on the Finish side of our family tree.
Every year, Arnold leaves his home in New Zealand around April and travels the US and Canada visiting family and pursuing his hobby of doing genealogical research. Arnold spent several weeks in England doing research before coming this year. Arnold has a son and family in British Columbia so his visits usually start and end there each year. By the way, Arnold is missing winter in New Zealand during his summer visits here.
As Arnold made his way from B. C. to Oregon and then on to Denver, he traveled along the old Oregon Trail and he developed an interest in the trails and western US history. With Independence being the starting point for the three main western trails ( Santa Fe, California, and Oregon), it is a great place to learn more and actually see the old homes and business buildings that existed during the heyday of the trails. We toured the city and visited the National Trails Museum. Although it is not large, the museum was professionally done and very interesting.
Arnold at the 1879 Chicago & Alton train depot. The completion of the transcontinental railroad lead to the end of the wagon trains as a method to go west.
The above photo is high resolution so you can click on it to enlarge it and read the information on the map.
