We left St. Louis to travel the river road after lunch on Sunday. Matt's mom and step-dad drove to St. Louis in a van rented for the trip and once they arrived, we finished our packing and loaded up the vehicle. We took the river road instead of a direct route to see the river towns and what they've become. For the most part, it was a testament to the death of small town America. Some of the towns were "quaint", but most were run down and largely abandoned. You could tell they had once had a hay day, but it felt a little bit like driving through Radiator Springs. :)
We pulled into Hannibal late afternoon. One of the draws to the hotel we stayed at was the pool and as expected, Charlotte wasted no time begging us to let her play in the "puddle" with her turtle. Happy to oblige, Daddy and Papa joined her for a swim before dinner. They had a great time!
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| Waiting for the tour to begin |
The next we woke up, enjoyed our free breakfast and headed out to the caves. They. Were. Awesome. I really enjoyed that part of the trip and it was definitely my favorite activity in Hannibal, probably the entire trip! There are two caves at the
Mark Twain Cave Complex, the Mark Twain Cave and the Cameron Cave. The Mark Twain Cave is the oldest show cave in America, with it's first tour in 1886. It is most likely the cave that inspired the cave scene with Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. The Cameron Cave is the newest, just recently opened to the public. This cave is in essentially the same condition as it was when it was discovered in 1925, so when you tour it, you have to bring a lantern to light your way. It was so cool to go through that cave. Audrey slept through a good portion of that tour, so Daddy carried her while I helped Charlotte through the cave. Our tour guide, who was really great, told me that Charlotte was by far the youngest person he'd taken through the cave. I was pretty darn proud of her. :)
Just like everything in Hannibal, the cave complex had many links to Mark Twain. The Cameron Cave was especially neat because there was NO Twain connection. It was discovered long after Twain had left, leaving the town with no chance to link the two. Bummer. We just saw the cave in all it's natural glory- no trails, no guard rails, no lighting. It was really, really, neat. The Mark Twain was still cool, just in a different way. The tour guide (who was not as good as the Cameron guide) and his spiel were all about Twain- how the cave influenced Twain's writings, how Twain probably played there as a boy, etc. etc. I wasn't quite Twained out at this point. So it didn't seem as bad. We even took some time to take pictures of ourselves as Tom and Becky.
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| Charlotte crawling through a small passage way. Our guide claimed that he wasn't really allowed to let us do it, but since we were the only ones on the tour, he'd break the rules. I'm not sure I believe him, but Charlotte had fun crawling through the tunnel. |
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| One of the cool formations in Cameron Cave |
The Mark Twain Cave had a very different feel to it. Since it has been a show cave for so long, there were a lot of things about it that were not present in the Cameron Cave. Lights being a big one, but also the signs of those who had been there before us. Before people were really into "preservation", visitors were encouraged to leave their name on the walls, many of them signed by placing candles against the rock and writing in their names with the soot. It was pretty neat. Some of them dated back in the late 1880s. Someone else had done a portrait of Mark Twain that was really cool. I wish I had artistic talent.
Audrey stayed awake for this tour, but Charlotte did not. She took a nice little nap while Papa pushed her through the cave. It worked out. It would not have been as easy if Charlotte had napped through Cameron Cave and Audrey through the Mark Twain Cave! A stroller was not an option in the Cameron Cave. Audrey had a nice time going through the cave.
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| A lovely little nap |
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| Audrey touching the walls. NOT OK. :) |
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| The cutest little spelunker I ever did see. |
We had lunch at a quirky little place on Main Street called Abbey Rose. It was amazing. Kirk had a french onion soup that smelled divine and my chicken salad sandwich with an orzo salad was awesome. Matt's burger was probably one of the best I had ever had. Who knew such a culinary find existed in Hannibal, MO?
Dinner was at another great restaurant, but the hours were weird. Apparently Hannibal is dead in the beginning of the week (we couldn't find an open restaurant for dinner our first night and had to settle for a decidedly mediocre dinner at a diner across from the hotel), so the restaurant hours of the pizza place we went to, Brick Oven, were tough to figure out. We were able to get a table for dinner, but they only had a limited menu. The pizza was good, though, and Audrey was a fan.
After dinner we strolled around town, checking out the (limited) sights. Armed with multiple straws and Gramma's hand, Charlotte explored the streets of Hannibal. That night a group of locals were playing on the street. Apparently they have a set performance/practice once a week and whoever wants to come and play, shows up. It was entertaining and we had some ice cream while enjoying the music.
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| Enjoying her first fruit roll up |
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| Main street. It really was a pretty town, just a little run down. |
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| Riding one of the many quarter rides that lined the streets and other Hannibal attractions. I love this picture of the girls. |
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| After dinner, we went to Lover's Leap to check out the view. It was pretty amazing to watch the sunset over the river town. Lovely. |
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| Audrey made a new friend. This woman played with her for a good 15 minutes while we were there. She is such a charmer. |
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| Tuckered out after a long, fun day! |
We pulled into Hannibal late afternoon. One of the draws to the hotel we stayed at was the pool and as expected, Charlotte wasted no time begging us to let her play in the "puddle" with her turtle. Happy to oblige, Daddy and Papa joined her for a swim before dinner. They had a great time!
Just like everything in Hannibal, the cave complex had many links to Mark Twain. The Cameron Cave was especially neat because there was NO Twain connection. It was discovered long after Twain had left, leaving the town with no chance to link the two. Bummer. We just saw the cave in all it's natural glory- no trails, no guard rails, no lighting. It was really, really, neat. The Mark Twain was still cool, just in a different way. The tour guide (who was not as good as the Cameron guide) and his spiel were all about Twain- how the cave influenced Twain's writings, how Twain probably played there as a boy, etc. etc. I wasn't quite Twained out at this point. So it didn't seem as bad. We even took some time to take pictures of ourselves as Tom and Becky.
The Mark Twain Cave had a very different feel to it. Since it has been a show cave for so long, there were a lot of things about it that were not present in the Cameron Cave. Lights being a big one, but also the signs of those who had been there before us. Before people were really into "preservation", visitors were encouraged to leave their name on the walls, many of them signed by placing candles against the rock and writing in their names with the soot. It was pretty neat. Some of them dated back in the late 1880s. Someone else had done a portrait of Mark Twain that was really cool. I wish I had artistic talent.
Dinner was at another great restaurant, but the hours were weird. Apparently Hannibal is dead in the beginning of the week (we couldn't find an open restaurant for dinner our first night and had to settle for a decidedly mediocre dinner at a diner across from the hotel), so the restaurant hours of the pizza place we went to, Brick Oven, were tough to figure out. We were able to get a table for dinner, but they only had a limited menu. The pizza was good, though, and Audrey was a fan.
After dinner we strolled around town, checking out the (limited) sights. Armed with multiple straws and Gramma's hand, Charlotte explored the streets of Hannibal. That night a group of locals were playing on the street. Apparently they have a set performance/practice once a week and whoever wants to come and play, shows up. It was entertaining and we had some ice cream while enjoying the music.
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