The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Yeah, I never understood the point of the worlds largest frying pan or ball of yarn, not very exciting in my opinion. And I think anywhere in the world you can find something fascinating. One fun thing to do is to experience your own home city as a tourist. There's a lot to learn.

 

[chickisoup]

Yeah, I never understood the point of the worlds largest frying pan or ball of yarn, not very exciting in my opinion. And I think anywhere in the world you can find something fascinating. One fun thing to do is to experience your own home city as a tourist. There's a lot to learn.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, I would agree, HOWEVER, my hometown consists of a gas station, a country store, a post office, firehouse, one small cafe' and three bars, all within a a four block square. This being 15 miles away. Go another 30 miles either north or south and you get to the two big cities up here, each a county seat. In the last 10 years couple large chain stores gave up and left one or both BUT they both now have a Walmart! The biggest thing in these towns on a regular basis is the summer farmer markets on the weekends and the festivals geared to draw the tourists. In the winter? Nothing except the "big" one in November, deer season. After that it's just winter logging, ice fishing and dodging the crazy people from the south on their snowmobiles. The winters used to be such a wonderful time of peace and quiet for us and anything living in the woods until somebody figured out if you cut trails thru those peaceful woods, they (the crazy snowmobilers) will come. Good for the survival of the local businesses that were struggling to survive the long winters, bad for us "locals" and the wildlife fighting to survive the cold and the pregnant ones.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So true. I remember doing just that, finding all the small tourist attractions here.
Very interesting things.
*The Scott Joplin house, home of the famous ragtime composer
*Jefferson Barracks national cemetery, Burials from the War of Independence through the present and both Union and *Confederate burials from the Civil War.
*Sappington House museum, oldest brick home in Missouri (1808), even older than mine.
*Hawken House, of the Hawken riflesmiths.
*Grant's Farm, family home of the Busch family(think beer) originally the log home of Ulysses S. Grant which he hand hewed in 1855. 100 species of animals roam the grounds with camel rides and even kangaroos and elephants. It's the breeding stable of the world famous Anheuser Busch Clydesdales. There's a historic family collection of carriages, coaches, carts and sleighs from Europe and Asia. And for adults, free beer.
*Fort Belle Fontaine, first U.S. military installation west of the Mississippi River.
*Frank Lloyd Wright House
*DeMenil Mansion, home of the Oregon Trail explorer and guide.
*Daniel Boone's home, of the legendary hero, more like a fortress with a dozen historic buildings from the 1800s
More cemetaries
*Bellefontaine with graves of explorer William Clark, William Burroughs, Thomas Hart Benton, James Eads, Adolphus Busch and poet Sara Teasdale.
*Calvary with gravesites of Tennessee Williams, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and Dred Scott. Many architecturally significant private mausoleums and monuments, including that of the Nez Perce warriors that came to St. Louis in 1831 to visit William Clark.
*Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour, it changes from year to year and again - free beer.

Almost all that stuff is free too.

See what I did there Vehve?

 

[vehve]

Yeah, I suppose it requires a close by city that would actually attract tourists...

 

[vehve]

@ChickenCanoe Are you by any chance employed by the St. Louis tourism bureau?

 

[bamadude]

Did some1 say free beer?

 

[vehve]

It's like the corn with chickens, bama and free beer

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, I would agree, HOWEVER, my hometown consists of a gas station, a country store, a post office, firehouse, one small cafe' and three bars, all within a a four block square. This being 15 miles away. Go another 30 miles either north or south and you get to the two big cities up here, each a county seat. In the last 10 years couple large chain stores gave up and left one or both BUT they both now have a Walmart! The biggest thing in these towns on a regular basis is the summer farmer markets on the weekends and the festivals geared to draw the tourists. In the winter? Nothing except the "big" one in November, deer season. After that it's just winter logging, ice fishing and dodging the crazy people from the south on their snowmobiles. The winters used to be such a wonderful time of peace and quiet for us and anything living in the woods until somebody figured out if you cut trails thru those peaceful woods, they (the crazy snowmobilers) will come. Good for the survival of the local businesses that were struggling to survive the long winters, bad for us "locals".

Farmer's markets and ice fishing are great.

We have a similar problem to your snowmobilers, 4 wheelers and dirt bikes tearing up our beautiful crystal clear mountain streams. Some of the rivers like the Black are inundated to the point that the terrain looks more like a moonscape than an Ozark river.
Reporters from the Post did a lengthy story about it. They interviewed a biker that got water in his crankcase so he was changing his oil in the middle of the river. The reporter asked him if he thought he was damaging the environment. He said, "I don't see how".
Game wardens, sheriff's dept. and troopers sometimes raid the area giving tickets. An owner of a big motorcycle/4 wheeler dealership owns property along the river. After a raid they call all the bikers and tell them that they can wreak havoc on the river for the next few weeks because it will be that long before the law comes back.
A real bummer for us that enjoy a quiet float fishing trip. My wife continues to float that river with her friends every year. I refuse to float it. Fishing is terrible and I can't stand to see the damage to the terrain.

 

[Bunnylady]

 

[dsqard]

vehve one thing to remember is the size of this country though. Unless you are planning on a VERY long vacation or flying a TON doing both coasts in one vacation is probably not practical. If you figure on driving about 600 miles a day (and that is just driving, no time to see anything) it takes two days to get across Texas alone. If California really interests you, I would stick to one state for a vacation. If you are only in the states for less than a week, I would pick a part of California to see like northern or southern otherwise you are spending all your time driving and not really seeing much.