Day 5: Happy Birthday in Hannibal!

Today there was almost no driving. We got the hotel room for two nights.  We spent the day seeing the town!

First, and foremost, it is Lon's birthday! I packed his happy birthday shirt for him to wear. It is now in the pile of stuff to get mailed home.
He loves his DS and all the stuff he got from Auntie Theresa. I saved it for him so he would have something wonderful to open on his birthday.

This frosty mug of rootbeer spins around next to the Dinette. They really have wonderful food. Started 70 years ago!

Sheriff Lon. He got the sheriff's pin at the Jesse James house.

After a wonderful breakfast of pancakes for Lon, and eggs and hasbrowns for me, we were off to Mark Twain's boyhood home museum complex! It has 7 buildings in all. The only one not open is the Becky Thatcher house and it is under renovation.
The docent asked Lon if it was his birthday today. He said it was. His ticket to get into the museum was free.  How nice is that?

Building one is the interpretive center.  I know I have been putting in histories of the various things we see, however, this is Mark Twain stuff.

Inside Mark Twain's boy hood home.  Lon was having fun. He was a bit concerned now that he has his DS he would never ever be able to play it. We had a chat about it. His games are for the evening when all the stuff of the day is over.  If the DS ever interferes with going out and doing something, the DS is mine.  Seeing and Doing are more important.

 Lon wanted to know how Tom Sawyer did that. It would be a useful skill to have,

Two blocks down is the Mark Twain Museum. Great place.

Blowing the steam boat whistle

Comparing ship dioramas.

 After the museum, Lon wanted to go on the Trolley Tour. Those can be lots of fun, so we paid our ticket and had to wait only about 10 minutes. We had the characters of Becky and Tom on our trolley. Becky gave Lon a frog. A plastic bendy stretchy frog

The Tom and Huck statue.  The first statue ever made of fictional characters, or so the tour guide said. 

We drove up to an overlook in Riverview park.  She stopped the trolley, letting us out to take photos. 

Lon and the Mark Twain Statue. 

Watching the Mighty Mississippi.

The Trolley Tour took us out to the Mark Twain Caves. Not something that was ever on my list. Lon wanted to go. We walked up to the hotel, got the car and went out there. At 1:45pm it was 98 degrees.  The caves are supposed to be 58 all year long.  I am terrified of caves.  But it was Lon's birthday so we went.  

Lon passed the sign that said no refunds after this point. We really were going to do this. 

Just inside. They have lights on, sort of. 

Lon would pat my arm every so often and tell me I was doing fine. 

Off to the side of our path

Last photo of the inside of the cave. When it was lit up it was not so bad. I tried hard not to think of the 50 feet of earth above my head.

On our way back to town, we stopped at Lover's Leap. To get a good photo and to see if I could find cell service. One out of two.

Lon had the option of going back to the hotel room or going up to see the lighthouse before we went on our dinner cruise.  Lon chose the light house. We are less than half way up the 247 steps. This is the old Mark Twain bridge. It not longer pans the Mississippi.
History:
January 9, 2001
HANNIBAL, Mo. -- In an instant, a big chunk of one of this historic town's most prominent landmarks came crashing down. A 300-foot span of the old Mark Twain Memorial Bridge was imploded Monday morning. The span took months to build in the mid-1930s, but came down in seconds. The 64-year-old, two-lane bridge closed in September when a new, four-lane bridge opened a few hundred yards upriver.

Not a working aid to navigation. And it was closed off at the top of the stairs. We got a workout in the heat today!

We stopped for ice cream at Becky Thatcher's. Lon got Birthday cake, and I found the charm for Hannibal. Huck and Tom just like the statue.

On our way to the river cruise. Aboard the Mark Twain. While we were waiting for the train to pass, the Captain of our vessel was also there. He asked Lon to come up to the wheel house after dinner.

Our table. In the middle of the first floor dinning room

Our vessel

Having fun exploring the ship

Out the window.

Lon liked his dessert. The lady behind him gave Lon her dessert too, since she did not want a brownie. Lon was not so impressed with the food. He had a baked potato and some rolls. The food was not so great for me either. But everyone else seemed to like it alot. It was fun, and not so much about the food we decided

Lon's big surprise! He got to drive the boat! He took it very seriously. He did a good job keeping the ship between the navigational becons.

Happy boy

watching the shore glide by

Sunset on the Mississippi

After dinner, Lon wanted to stroll through town again. Nothing was open but Chocolaterie Stam. Of course we stopped in for some birthday cake gelato. He also got a few chocolates he ate on the way back to the hotel room. We really can not travel with chocolates in the car. They become soup.

I think Lon had a good day today. I had fun today too.


Time to move on in the morning.