And the eHarmony fun begins!

Yesterday was full of adventures. First, I ventured over to Kansas to go to a 1950's all-electric house. This house was built to showcase all of the possibilities that electricity in the home could provide. I enjoyed seeing the house, but it was a little awkward because I was the only person on the tour!

Outside of the 1950's home

This pic is from the website. No, there were was not a live model present.

This was the best feature of the house- the TV was hidden behind a picture!

I then toured the Johnson County Museum, mainly because it was right there and it was free.

Going through the museum, it told the story of the county starting when the white settlers came and the Indians in the area had to choose between keeping their own lifestyle or becoming farmers and integrating with the whites. Of course, now we know how that turned out.

Spoiler alert: I kinda get on a soapbox about suburbs here so you may want to skip down a couple paragraphs.

Then, it went through the history of the county, all the way up to present day. The whole exhibit kinda made me sick to my stomach and reaffirmed why I don't like Johnson County. It was all about how Johnson County was "The Good Life." But in reality, it was only the good life for white, middle class and up, families. The white flight into suburbia in the quest for the "Good Life" has caused inner cities to crumble and the cities are just now turning it around. The entire county is nothing but a huge suburb, full of cookie-cutter houses and manicured lawns. They tried making it sound better by calling places like Overland Park "Edge Cities", which means it can function on its own, without the main city. OP does have places to live, work and be entertained. But, I guarantee that if they want more cultural entertainment and sports or anything that's original, they still have to commute into the city.

And I know that people move to the suburbs because of the schools. It's true, the KC public school system is terrible right now. But why do you think that is? Because all the people that pay a lot of taxes left the school district!

Anyways, I'll talk about more pleasant things now...

After the museum visit, I saw this structure and just had to know what it was for. This was a tribute to Chief Blackfish, who lived in this Kansas valley for 40 years, until he was forced to move to Oklahoma in 1870. His grandfather captured Daniel Boone in 1778. It's located on Blackfish Blvd in Shawnee Mission.

Then, I saw a sign for the Shawnee Indian Mission. So, I had to check it out! This mission is the reason that Kansas has a city called Shawnee Mission. This is where they taught and Christianized Indians in the 1880's.

Girls dormitory

Now, enough with the history lesson, let's get to the good stuff! I had my first eHarmony date last night!

So, I joined eHarmony a couple of weeks ago because I thought it would be a great way to meet some people here in my new city. And I'm not going to lie, I figured that I would be taken to some great restaurants! 

Last night, I met my first date, Steve, at Thai Place in Westport. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and had a great atmosphere, especially for a date. I ordered Thai Cashew Chicken. It was really good. It's about the only Thai dish that I like, since I can't eat spicy stuff, but I really like it! 

The conversation went very well. We found a lot to talk about. So, overall, I'd say for the first date, it actually wasn't too bad! The best part of the date, however, was the fact that I had spies there!

I convinced Bree and Jason to have their own date night at the same restaurant. They didn't need a lot of convincing because they wanted to check this guy out too. Well, much to my surprise, the host seated them at the table right next to us! I could barely contain myself! And of course, I could see Jason in my line of vision and had to fight the laughter the whole time!! 

Trying not to laugh!

Poor Steve had no idea what was going on! 

Here's your fountain updates:

No. 35- Wedgewood & 75th, Shawnee Mission

No. 36- Fairway Hills subdivision, Hauser & Blackfish, Shawnee Mission

No. 37- Antioch Park, 6501 Antioch Rd, Shawnee Mission

No. 38- Westwood Hills at State Line & 50th St. A sign said "Westwood Hills is the Most Beautiful Little City in Kansas."

No. 39- Notre Dame School at 39th & Gillham

Finally, to wrap up my history lesson from yesterday, I learned that in the 1900's, most of KC's millionaires lived on Troost, in between 26th and 32nd, in what was known as "Millionaire's Row." Unfortunately, much of Troost is very run down and is need of major help. Who was Troost? He was the first resident physician in Kansas City.

Here is what is at Troost and 31st today:

A really cool mural depicting the history on Troost.

Til next time...Laura