Adventures at Mahaffee's

My First Wife and I decided to take an early morning walk this morning. We drove all the way to Olathe, Kansas to walk near the old Mahaffee Stage Coach Stop. It's still there. Beautiful place. The monument below commemorates the 150th birthday of the city of Olathe. "Olathe" is the Shawnee Indian word for beautiful. And surely it is a beautiful part of Kansas.

So what did we see?


"Going West on the Santa Fe Trail." It still means a lot to the Heart of America. I took lots of pictures.You can click each photo for a look at some of the detail.


"Careful, ma'am. Lemme hep ya." The little girl on the far left is holding a doll. Click the picture to see it up close and personal.

There's a bird's nest right behind the mother and baby. Oddly, something we never saw when we were standing right next to it.


The young couple up on top are black. Prejudice reigned, even in the free state of Kansas. Did you know that the first battle of the American Civil War was fought in Kansas? Do you know why? Well, over slavery of course.





These horses are almost alive. The attention to detail on them... You almost want to pet them. Note how they stand out from the wall and the rest of the mural.


Two blocks away is this barn. Well over a hundred years old. Those living horses pull the famous Overland Stage Coach. Really. It's a tourist place where you can take a short stage coach ride after a tour of all the houses and out-buildings. I'll post pictures from there someday.


I named this photo "Into the Beauty." This is a magnificent trail and the approach to these three trees is stunning.


Remember The Village Blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree? I think this is it. The shadow on the ground is 50 feet across. This is as close as I could get and still show the whole thing.


There's a railroad overpass close to the walking trail. This photo shows only part of the railing. I'd say it's about 80 feet across with horses and oxen, wagons, foliage and people. I took about a dozen pictures to get the whole thing. Again, this art commemorates the Santa Fe Trail. It's beautiful.




Red-winged black birds. And a friend coming by to visit, I guess. That lower bird has about 1/4 of an inch to go before lighting on one of those reeds.

Olathe is beautiful.