Places, Earth
Missouri, 2025
Missouri, 2025
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Places, Earth
Missouri, 2025 |
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Day One: Traveling is Such Fun My wife's father was still fading since our visit a year ago and she wanted to see him again. Last year we took a relaxing drive, two and a half days each way. This time she insisted on stressful flying. We finally got out of the house a half hour late. Parking at the Fly-away was so full, I dropped my wife off by loading and had to park in the farthest corner. She was getting on the bus when I caught up. The bus ride gave me a chance to catch my breath. Then fun at Security but we managed to get through, I think with all our stuff. Fortunately we only had to trudge our way to Gate 23 of 28. No wait, half way there, I received a text, Gate 28. Finally we were sitting and waiting and able to relax. We were scheduled for 9:30 and departed the gate about 9:25 and took off about 9:33. We looped around and headed east. On the back of the seat in front of me was a video screen with various options. Most of the way I watched the trip tracker which showed where we were, speed, altitude, and other fun information. I expected to fly east through the middle of Kansas, so I was surprised when we curved north over Nebraska. We set wheels to runway at 2:18 pm CDT and taxied to the terminal. A quick restroom stop and a long walk to the rental car bus stop. We drove away in the rental car, heading south. We stopped for a sub sandwich in a town with a peculiar name, Peculiar, Missouri. We arrived at our hotel about 7:00 PM, unloaded, and left for the in-laws. We visited for an hour or so and returned to our room for a well deserved sleep. Day Two, Caving We arose, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed out. After visiting with my wife's family for an hour, I left her there and drove to Smallen Cave, Civil War Cave. The tour is about a half mile and ventures into the cave. The cave slowly climbs upward as the ceiling slowly drops downward and the walls narrow. Toward the back, the cave is only about thirty feet below the parking lot. Because the cave is moist and sunlight can reach inside, there is moss on some of the stalactites. There are carvings in various places around the cave and in one spot, a circle marks where, on the first day of winter, sunlight reflects off the water and touches the wall. They do offer wild tours for experienced cavers that go deeper into the cave another two miles The tour starts with a smaller cave that was once used to keep food cold for an earlier family. The tour lasts about an hour. We visited until late afternoon and returned to our room for a quiet evening. Day Three: Titanic Wonder World We slept well and got ready. We visited with my wife's family about an hour and then left for Branson. We had visited a year earlier and wanted to see the Titanic and upside-down museums. We started with Titanic Museum Attraction. A path winds through two floors of exhibits, artifacts, photos, and information. We all know there were not enough lifeboats, not everyone realizes that most of the life boats were not full and some capsized. We had a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a and drove a few blocks to Wonder Works. We were a little disappointed, it was expensive and some of the exhibits weren't working or we couldn't figure how they worked. We explored the three floors for an hour and a half and continued on. My wife's friend, who showed us around town last year, was working at the fish hatchery and we stopped by for a quick visit and tour of the hatchery. The hatchery raises Rainbow and Brown Trout. We visited with the in-laws for the evening and returned to the hotel. After dark, as I walked to the motel office, I noticed something I never see in California, fireflies. Day Four: Cave Two, Aquarium One. We arose, got ready, and left. I spent a half hour visiting with the in-laws and left for Crystal Cave. This was a more difficult tour, yet prettier than the cave two days earlier. We descended steps carved in the native stone and then past formations. It is a wet cave and areas were waist deep a few weeks earlier. The ceilings were covered with soda straws, ribbons, and all the usual formations. There were several places where we had to crouch down very low for distances. The tour lasted an hours and was informative and enjoyable. I returned to the in-laws for lunch and then I took my wife to Bass Pro Shop. My wife was impressed with the size of the store and then we proceeded to the Aquarium. Watching the fish was very relaxing and the jellyfish even more. The path winds through, up and down, through dozens of exhibits, most with live animals. Once through the Aquarium, we walked through the Photo Gallery with many beautiful nature and animal photographs. My wife sat out as I quickly walked through the History of Bass Pro Shop exhibit and a Motor Sports gallery, both of which I missed three years ago. We returned to my wife's parents' home for a final visit before heading home the next morning. We returned to the motel and started packing. We settled in for the night. Day Five: A Disney Day We got ready and checked out. We drove north on US Highway 65 for almost three hours. Just as we left the main highway at US 24, my wife announced she needed a restroom and the phone took us in circles for half an hour before we found one. We then continued on our way, eventually finding road 5 and got back on course. As I did three years ago, I crossed the railroad tracks on Santa Fe Street and there to the left was the Walt Disney Home Town Museum in the old railroad depot in Marceline. First, we continued to Main Street and enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Los Chimas Mexican Restaurant. We both ordered Fajitas. We took a few photo of the buildings that inspired Main Street at Disneyland. We spent about two and a half hours exploring the small in area but large in exhibits of the Walt Disney Home Town Museum. Walt only lived here a few years, but credited it for some of his happiest times and it is believed that Main Street at Disneyland was influenced by this town and many of his early barnyard cartoons were inspired by the Disney farm. The 10,000 square foot, two-story building is divided into several spaces covering aspect of the Disney story such as his parents, other family and relatives, the town Marceline and Disney related developments that were drops after Walt's death. There were exhibits related to his time in school, letters, Disneyland memorabilia, even an Autopia car and an Autopia station stands nearby in a park. The staff/volunteers were very nice and I bought several buttons (the only thing I could fit in my suitcase). We took a quick drive through the city park named for Disney and then headed to Kansas City. I was getting a little drowsy and while taking a short rest in a convenience store/gas station parking lot, some employees became concerned for us and checked in and gave us two cups of cold water. They were very nice. We needed gas anyway, and then continued on the last hour. We checked into our hotel and went for dinner. My wife had commented that she had never been to a Whataburger and I found one just a mile from the hotel. My wife got a Avocado Bacon Burger and I got a Chicken Burger. I don't like relying on the phone for directions, but I didn't know the area. Half way back to the room, my phone battery ran out. We used my wife's phone to get us back. Five minutes after we reentered the hotel, rain started pouring down with thunder and lightning. We enjoyed our meal in the room. The storm lasted only about fifteen minutes. We hung out in the room the rest of the evening. Day Six: Home It only took about 20 minutes to reach our only destination before the airport. We arrived at Steamboat Arabia Museum about a half hour before opening and got oriented. At 10:00 AM, the doors opened and we poured in. As we proceeded down the ramp, there were four video screens with the story of the Arabia and its recovery. The first space has the largest piece of the wreckage, the stern. Next is a theater followed by displays and displays of recovered objects. Arabia was transporting goods inland to settlers and was loaded with large numbers of good for sale. There are shelves of restored china, boots, clothing, construction materials, nails, door knobs, other hardware, tools, jewelry, buttons, food, and more, all recovered from the wreck site. The engine, boilers, and wheel are arranged about as they were on the boat. Toward the back is the conservation area. Individually, the objects are valuable, as a collection, they are priceless. We then drove to the airport, hunted down the rental car return, said goodbye to Ren-tall, our car for six days, and dragged ourselves to the rental car shuttle, check-in, security, long corridors to our gate, always the last one, stopping for lunch along the way. We finally had an hour to rest before boarding. We took off a few minutes early and landed at 4:59. The flight went smoothly and I listened to music and monitored flight progress on the screen on the back of the seat ahead. It encouraged me to see the Colorado River. Familiar sights passing below told me that we were almost home. After deplaning and visiting a restroom, we struggled to the Fly-away bus which arrived only a few minutes later. It was evening commute so it took a while to get back into the Valley. Then get the car at the far corner of the lot, and drive home to our 4-footed family. |
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