We are making our way across Missouri, and today's travel took us right into the heart of the state. When Missouri was shopping for a home for their capitol, they wanted a central location, high on the bluffs over the Missouri River. Such a town didn't exist, so a new city was born right around the new state capitol. We are in Jefferson City, the state capitol of Missouri, where all our pictures today will be covered with scaffolding and plastic because of a comprehensive refurbishing plan.
This is actually the third state capitol building. After the first two burned down, the Missouri legislature approved this stone and steel structure that has stood the test of time. Now in need of a face-lift, we though it was interesting to see that the only thing visible from this side was the city's namesake--a statue of Thomas Jefferson. The bad news is we couldn't see the grand staircase and the majestic entrance that usually surrounds President Jefferson.
The good news is that the refurbishing is only happening outside. The inside of the capitol looks good, and the rotunda is too tall to be captured in one picture.
We enjoy state capitol tours, because we always learn so much about the culture and history of the state. For example, we see that the state has deep roots in Christianity with the rotunda decorated with "LORD GOD OF HOSTS BE WITH US YET, LEST WE FORGET." We also learned that while the state wanted grand murals decorating that rotunda, they wouldn't pay to bring a European artist all the way to Jefferson City. So these unusually-shaped murals were painted on canvas in Europe, and then attached to the walls.
That same thrifty mind-set is in use today. This huge room is the chamber of the House of Representatives. Since they are recessed this time of the year, this expansive room is not lighted, even though there are tour groups entering every thirty minutes. This is the second-largest of all the state capitols, so saving a little on the lighting bill is good fiscal policy.
Murals adorn many of the walls in this huge capitol building. Our tour guide invited us to sit in the House of Representatives waiting room, where this mural encircled the room. This larger-than-life mural was the work of Thomas Hart Benton, a very famous artist that also just happens to be a native Missourian. Our guide pointed out the different historical events that the mural depicts, and how those events affected Missouri. There is a mistake in this section of the mural, and Mark spotted it right away. We'll give you a few minutes to spot it yourself.
The picture above is less than a quarter of the mural that encircles the large room. Mr. Benton used real people as models for this picture painted in 1936. Our tour guide mentioned that the little boy on the ground visited the capitol not long ago. He is now 91. The baby getting his diaper changed is a local, and is now 83.
We know you are still wondering what the mistake in the mural is. But in the meantime, our tour of Jefferson City continues. Lewis and Clark followed the Missouri River on their expedition to the west, so they are immortalized on this bluff overlooking the river.
We are surprised to see that some of the bright-colored annual flowers are still blooming here. But we have to say that the bright-colored fall leaves are prettiest right now.
Just down the street from the capitol is the governor's mansion, all decorated in fall finery like pumpkins and mums.
We enjoy visiting state capitols and mansions, but Tripadvisor says that the #1 thing to visit in Jefferson City is neither of those. It is the prison! The Missouri State Penitentiary was in the business of incarcerating maximum security prisoners from 1836 until 2004. With that long history, it has many stories to tell. We got a peek at some of the stories when we walked through the museum housed in the warden's old home across the street. We didn't take the 2-3 hour tour of the prison, but it really gets good reviews.
Our motor home is parked at the Cracker Barrel in Columbia, Missouri. So after our tour of Jefferson City we made a stop for a hike on our way back to Columbia. We are in the Rock Bridge State Park, where we hiked to--you guessed it--the rock bridge. That big rock ledge behind Denisa is the opening to a cave with an exit on the other side that bridges to another section of the park.
We really like Missouri State Parks because they don't charge admission fees, making this quick hike a cheap possibility. The board walk took us down many stairs to the opening of yet another cave.
If we would have had more time (and the required three light sources for each person) Mark would have loved to go spelunking through this cave system.
This underground cave runs for 6.5 miles in this area. A river runs through the cave, making it necessary to swim or canoe through many sections. There are also sections like this one, where the cave roof has collapsed allowing some light in. It looks like quite an adventure!
It was an interesting park, and a beautiful place for a hike on a cloudy day. We had lots of stairs and changes in elevation, as we can see Denisa high up on the rocks from where Mark was standing near the caves.
Have you figured out the mistake in the mural at the state capitol? Since you have been so patient, we reward you with the tale of the mistaken tail. The tour guide pointed out the old plow, that the artist originally intended to be pulled by an oxen. But when he changed it to a mule, he forgot to change the back end of the animal. That is definitely not a mule's tail! And that's the end of our tale of the tail we saw during our trip to Missouri's state capitol.
We just traveled through Illinois--"The Land of Lincoln." We have now determined that eastern Missouri must be "The Land of Mark Twain." On this edge of the state, we spent the day in Hannibal, Missouri, to explore all things Twain.
We bought groupon tickets for the Mark Twain Museum, which includes his boyhood home. The picture above is the kitchen of the two-story white house where a little boy named Samuel Clemens spent most of his youth. The picture below is the outside of young Samuel's boyhood home.
That ornery little boy had a knack for getting in trouble, but then finding his way out of it. Samuel Clemens's pen name would become Mark Twain, and his childhood would become fodder for the antics of a character named Tom Sawyer. A display in the museum reminds us of the day that Tom Sawyer's punishment was white-washing the fence, but he manged to talk his young friends into doing the work for him.
A statue in town reminds us of the two mischievous boys with ties to Hannibal. That's Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn on that pedestal beside Mark.
Our museum ticket also took us to the homes of two of Samuel Clemens's friends when he grew up in Hannibal. They also would become characters in Mark Twain's books. We went to Huck Finn's house . . .
as well as Becky Thatcher's house. In celebration of the success of Tom Sawyer's adventures, this entire section of town has been restored to the way it looked when Samuel Clemens was a boy back in the mid-1800s.
Of course the author changed all of his characters' names. In fact, he changed his own name when he started writing. After a time on a Mississippi River Boat named "Alonzo Child," Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain.
We never knew where that new name came from, but we learned about it in one of the museums in Hannibal. Because the Mississippi River has tricky shallow areas, a leadsman is assigned to the front of the boat holding a long rope with a lead weight attached.
The rope had knots tied in it at regular intervals, so the leadsman could tell how deep the water was according to how many knots were under water. If two knots were under water, that was two fathoms or a "mark twain." So it was a good thing when the captain heard the leadsman sing out, "Mark Twain!" because that meant the river was deep enough to handle the bow of the river boat safely. We learned something new today!
After great success with Mark Twain's books, his publishing company sent Norman Rockwell to Hannibal, to get a feel for the town. His assignment was to paint pictures to illustrate the reprint of the book "Tom Sawyer." The picture below is Norman Rockwell's version of that white-washed fence chapter.
Before he died, Mr. Rockwell donated these priceless originals (in both pencil and oil) to the museum in Hannibal. He knew this city would take care of them since they love all things about Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain.
For example, this city built a lighthouse at the top of the hill overlooking Hannibal in honor of Mark Twain.
We walked up all 244 steps to get to the lighthouse. As proof of our accomplishment, we have the refrigerator magnets provided by the Hannibal visitor's center for hardy visitors like us.
Our walk to the lighthouse took us high above the Mississippi River, for this view of the Mark Twain Bridge. Did we mention that this town loves their favorite author?
For shoppers, this little town also offers a nicely restored historic downtown where every store front offers another shopping experience.
We ate at the Mark Twain Diner, home of the tenderloin sandwich that far exceeds the bun!
In the last blog we showed the flood gates that are protecting this downtown section of town. When we got to the fringes of town, we saw that the flooding waters of the Mississippi River are covering lots of real estate. For example, at the sports complex they are thinking of adding water polo, and taking basketball from the list of sports available here.
We found out that Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) was actually born in a little two-room shack 15 miles from Hannibal.
The little shack was moved to the nearby state park, so it could be carefully preserved.
This building was actually built around the little shack, and the Mark Twain Memorial Shrine also includes a museum.
The museum includes bits of memorabilia from the Clemens family. One interesting piece was this button string from Mrs. Clemens. Young women of the 1800's collected pretty buttons and threaded them onto a string. Legend has it that after collecting 99 buttons, her love would appear.
Wait! Did we make a wrong turn? Aren't we in Missouri?!?
The only turn we made was to arrive at the tiny town of Florida. The marker below is actually in Forida, Missouri, the location of the little shack where Mark Twain was born before it was moved to its new site at the shrine.
After a long day of touring all things about Mark Twain, we headed back to our camp site at Mark Twain Landing Campground, just down the road from Mark Twain Lake and around the bend from Mark Twain Cave. Yes, this part of Missouri loves Mark Twain!
After five days in Springfield, we're moving two hours west for our next destination. On the way, we crossed over the wide Mississippi River.
At six feet above flood stage, the Mississippi is even wider than usual. These trees do not like to have their feet wet, but the river is over its banks.
We could also see that the water was almost up to the railroad bridge that normally sits high above the river.
The Mississippi River is the dividing point between Illinois and Missouri, so after crossing that swollen river we were welcomed into a new state.
The little city just across the state line is Hannibal, Missouri. Dubbed as "America's Hometown," its river-side park is under water. We also see that the railroad crossing is under water, so we're guessing that there won't be any trains going across that Mississippi River bridge any time soon.
That extra water would be spilling into the streets of Hannibal if it weren't for them installing these temporary flood gates.
Mark had to climb on top of that wall and speculate how they get those heavy steel plates placed into that cement opening before the river gets too high. Normally this is a street where cars drive to the river side park.
We're heading about twenty miles further into Missouri to our camping spot at Mark Twain Landing. This is another half-price Passport America campground that we use in our travels across the country. It's a beautiful blue-sky day as we check out our new campground.
We're just a few miles from the dam that forms the Mark Twain Lake. The trees around the lake are showing some good fall color.
We're taking advantage of the nice weather to take a hike at the lake. Have we mentioned how pretty the leaves and the blue sky are today?
We aren't alone on this walk. Besides the usual squirrels and birds, this deer stood perfectly still and watched as we took a walk through her woods.
After we saw the deer, this butterfly lit on Mark's cap and decided to just hitch-hike for a while.
Seeing the detail of that little butterfly reminds us that we are wandering His wonders again today. The wildlife on this trail certainly were friendly!
This time of year Denisa enjoys picking up pretty leaves on a hike through the forest. Just like we take pictures of the sea shells we collect on the beach, we had to take a picture of some of the red and yellow leaves today. Then we are content to leave them, because we just don't have room for these treasures in the motor home.
Have we mentioned how blessed we feel as we wander God's wonders? I think we're going to like it here in Missouri!
