For those of you who placed bets that we'd only make it a week, we actually survived week #1 in Missouri and are on our way to Iowa! It was a great week of getting used to our new home, trying to set new routines & exploring the area. We set up camp at a KOA RV park in Eureka, MO (just west of St. Louis). We had a nice end spot with lots of privacy & front row to the train tracks (yes, we heard them ALL night!)
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| Our little home hiding in the trees |
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| Natalie & Alayna exploring the camp site |
We kicked off our Missouri week with a stop at the pride of St. Louis... Anheuser Busch Brewery, where we found the tour to be quite interesting (and where ONE of us enjoyed the free samples... we'll let you guess who). Of course the Arch was a must see & the girls earned their first National Park Jr. Ranger badge of the trip. While here, we loved learning about the Lewis & Clark expedition... Did you know:
-That their expedition took 863 days, covered 7,689 miles & cost over $38,000?
-That when available, each man ate up to 9 pounds of meat per day? Their favorites were elk, beaver tail & buffalo, but when game wasn't available they would resort to eating dogs.
-That the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the U.S. & that the 868,000 square miles were purchased for only $.03 an acre?
-That many illnesses & injuries occurred during the trip (especially accidental ax & knife cuts, mosquito bites & intestinal upsets), but that of the approximate 35 people on the journey, only one man died?
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| The girls with Tom & Huck In preparation to our next stop, we read together The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. We were able to tour Hannibal, MO (boyhood home of Mark Twain) in a few hours. A few museums, a hike up to the lighthouse dedicated in honor of Twain, pretty views of the Mississippi River, a look at Tom's famous white-washed fence & a purchase of some Huckleberry syrup completed our visit.  |
Jeanne's favorite stop was to a Lavender farm we found in Eureka. The beautiful ponds & landscape made for a great photo session...and the smell of lavender...mmmm! We picked our own bouquet & enjoyed a glass of lavender lemonade.
We also enjoyed a 1/2 day visit to Grant's Farm... a mini zoo on 300+ gorgeous acres owned by the Busch family.
Our trip here couldn't have been complete without catching a Cardinal's game & it just so happened that the Royals were in town! Our Kauffman stadium is much nicer, but nothing beats the downtown location & spectacular views from the Busch stadium. Unfortunately, the Royals lost 4-5:(
A few early morning runs, a trip to the mall for haircuts, a day at Six Flags and yummy smoked & grilled dinners wrapped up our visit to Missouri. We are quickly realizing how little we'll see of each state when we only have a week!
We're loving all of your comments and suggestions! We're off to Iowa... watch for the "Iowa in Review" in a few days & possible random posts in between:)
