Now on to our adventures.
April 16, 2009 We noticed the outdoors getting greener by the time we hit Indianapolis. These trees may even be all green by the time we head home; they all have that “tell-tale” hint of green now. The sky is so very blue.
We stopped at Vandalia, Illinois, the site of the Lincoln Museum and Illinois 3rd statehouse because Vandalia was the first capitol of Illinois, And where Lincoln served his first 2 terms in the House of Representatives. It was there that the “Long Nine” got a resolution passed move the capitol of Illinois to Springfield. Ya wouldn’t believe Why the group of gentlemen that Lincoln worked with in this endeavor were called the “Long Nine”…because they were all over 6 ft. tall! (which was tall for that time in history).
That was Lincoln’s first thing he worked on in the House. The Statehouse in the Vandalia is beautifully preserved. It was only used as a Capitol for 3 years, then it was the Supreme Court for another 10 years, then a school for 100 yrs. Stayed at Timber Trail Campground, about 1 hr. outside of St. Louis. Gorgeous place, mostly full of seasonal campers; has 2 ponds stocked with all kinds of fish. Chris had 2 poles but no reels….so no fish. Traveled all over Alaska last year and never got cold. I FROZE last night in southern Illinois. Go figure. April 17, 2009
The day today turned out very nice & warm; got up to 77 degrees. Totally loved that. It took us a bit over an hour to get to Cahokia Mounds, about 5 minutes outside of St. Louis, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. Cahokia Mounds is the largest urban civilization in North America, north of Mexico. It had the Mississipian civilization there from about 800 AD to 1400 AD. At it’s peak there were about 20,000 people living there; had a division of labor (ie. Farmers, hunters, those who made tools, builders, etc.) There was a very nice interpretive center; then the mounds. They were awesome.
There is one mound, Monks Mound, that is the largest man-made mound. Of course, I’ve never seen a pyramid, but it seems every bit as big. The above picture doesn't do it justice. It just shows one side where the steps go up....but it doesn't show the vastness of the top of it. The base covers 14 acres, it’s 100 ft. tall, and contains 22 million cubic feet of earth and was built and enlarged several times over 300 years. It was the center of their culture. It was so big that in the 1800’s some guy had a whole farm on top of it…it’s like 10 acres on top. People carrying dirt in baskets brought all the dirt there.
Then after we had done loads of walking around and UP the mounds we headed off down the road to see the St. Louis Arch. Although I lived in St. Louis while the arch was being built, and have driven past it crossing the Mississippi, I have never been in the plaza outside, nor in the museum under it. It was wonderful.
I couldn’t see the excitement about going to the top in a little trolley, but Chris did. It is 630 feet tall and has little windows at the top where you can see for miles. Above is a self portrait of Chris....he took it at the top of the arch. And I wasn't there to tell him to "SMILE!"
Chris took this picture out of one of the windows of the arch...at the top
I was totally awed by the hugeness of the arch: it’s taller than the sculptures of Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, and on and on. The museum had lots of stuff on the Lewis & Clark expedition, because St. Louis was kind of the gathering and launching place for their adventures. The arch is even called something like the “Monument to Westward Expansion.” It was a stop on our trip to Branson that was well worth taking a few hours to soak in the majesty of American ingenuity.
Then….yes, then it was time for another highlight of a stop in St. Louis: a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. This is another tribute to our immigrant past, since the German immigrants in the middle of the 19th century loved their lager beer. And it took a German, Anheuser, to make something better than in the “old country”. They were so successful that they recreated themselves during prohibition to be able to survive selling soap, non-alcaholic drinks, etc. But MY highlight was seeing the Clydesdale horses. The whole team was not there, but just seeing the magnificence of one huge animal…6 ft. tall at the shoulders and 2000#, was enough to satisfy me.
This is the stable for the Busch clydsdales....and they do live like kings. If I ever won the lottery....(but one HAS TO PLAY THE LOTTERY IN ORDER TO WIN :-( I would have a whole herd of clydsdales....I just love them.
After the long tour we rested in the hospitality room, sipping on some free samples of beer. About that time we needed it, too! Lots of walking....
By that time it was 5 o’clock and time to look for a camp site, but we wanted to get out of the Friday night St. Louis traffic and headed west. We went about 50 miles or so, and saw a welcoming sign of “camp” Wal-Mart. We pulled off and then saw a sign for a state park 3 miles down the road. We decided to go and see what was there. Sure, it was only 3 miles down the road to the entrance of the park, but it had to be 6-10 miles in to the campground on the Merrimac River….up and down and around hills, seeing signs that said “impassible in times of high water”. I figured if we got a deluge overnight we would probably be stranded on some island. But it turned out to be a beautiful rustic camp. We were ready for bed!
The day today turned out very nice & warm; got up to 77 degrees. Totally loved that. It took us a bit over an hour to get to Cahokia Mounds, about 5 minutes outside of St. Louis, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. Cahokia Mounds is the largest urban civilization in North America, north of Mexico. It had the Mississipian civilization there from about 800 AD to 1400 AD. At it’s peak there were about 20,000 people living there; had a division of labor (ie. Farmers, hunters, those who made tools, builders, etc.) There was a very nice interpretive center; then the mounds. They were awesome.
There is one mound, Monks Mound, that is the largest man-made mound. Of course, I’ve never seen a pyramid, but it seems every bit as big. The above picture doesn't do it justice. It just shows one side where the steps go up....but it doesn't show the vastness of the top of it. The base covers 14 acres, it’s 100 ft. tall, and contains 22 million cubic feet of earth and was built and enlarged several times over 300 years. It was the center of their culture. It was so big that in the 1800’s some guy had a whole farm on top of it…it’s like 10 acres on top. People carrying dirt in baskets brought all the dirt there.
Then after we had done loads of walking around and UP the mounds we headed off down the road to see the St. Louis Arch. Although I lived in St. Louis while the arch was being built, and have driven past it crossing the Mississippi, I have never been in the plaza outside, nor in the museum under it. It was wonderful.
I couldn’t see the excitement about going to the top in a little trolley, but Chris did. It is 630 feet tall and has little windows at the top where you can see for miles. Above is a self portrait of Chris....he took it at the top of the arch. And I wasn't there to tell him to "SMILE!"
Chris took this picture out of one of the windows of the arch...at the top
I was totally awed by the hugeness of the arch: it’s taller than the sculptures of Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, and on and on. The museum had lots of stuff on the Lewis & Clark expedition, because St. Louis was kind of the gathering and launching place for their adventures. The arch is even called something like the “Monument to Westward Expansion.” It was a stop on our trip to Branson that was well worth taking a few hours to soak in the majesty of American ingenuity. Then….yes, then it was time for another highlight of a stop in St. Louis: a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. This is another tribute to our immigrant past, since the German immigrants in the middle of the 19th century loved their lager beer. And it took a German, Anheuser, to make something better than in the “old country”. They were so successful that they recreated themselves during prohibition to be able to survive selling soap, non-alcaholic drinks, etc. But MY highlight was seeing the Clydesdale horses. The whole team was not there, but just seeing the magnificence of one huge animal…6 ft. tall at the shoulders and 2000#, was enough to satisfy me.
This is the stable for the Busch clydsdales....and they do live like kings. If I ever won the lottery....(but one HAS TO PLAY THE LOTTERY IN ORDER TO WIN :-( I would have a whole herd of clydsdales....I just love them.
After the long tour we rested in the hospitality room, sipping on some free samples of beer. About that time we needed it, too! Lots of walking....
By that time it was 5 o’clock and time to look for a camp site, but we wanted to get out of the Friday night St. Louis traffic and headed west. We went about 50 miles or so, and saw a welcoming sign of “camp” Wal-Mart. We pulled off and then saw a sign for a state park 3 miles down the road. We decided to go and see what was there. Sure, it was only 3 miles down the road to the entrance of the park, but it had to be 6-10 miles in to the campground on the Merrimac River….up and down and around hills, seeing signs that said “impassible in times of high water”. I figured if we got a deluge overnight we would probably be stranded on some island. But it turned out to be a beautiful rustic camp. We were ready for bed! On Saturday, April 18, we just traveled 4 hours to Branson....found our wonderful campground that is nestled in the Ozarks overlooking Branson. Tomorrow we will go to Mass in town and then adventure around town.
Sorry these posts are all at the same time....but I'v been having some problems connecting to the internet. But I'm on now....so until we connect again....
No comments:
Post a Comment