Our "Hannibal" Trip

We took a total of over 400 pictures during our trip to Hannibal, Missouri this past week. Don't worry, I won't be posting them all here... only a few! Phew!!

Our "Hannibal" Trip actually included the towns of Florida and Lousianna as well. We have a habit of doing that. For instance, our "Pilot Knob" trip also included Ironton and Lesterville... and our "Fayette" trip included Rocheporte and Glasgow. 

Our first stop during Our "Hannibal" Trip was Florida, Missouri. It is about 45 minutes west of Hannibal and just so happens to be the birth place of Missouri's own Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain. There is a museum there that is pretty wonderful. The cabin in which he was born and spent his earliest childhood years living in is actually placed inside the museum. Originally situated less than a mile down the road from the museum, it was picked up and moved in full to the museum and built around to keep it in the best condition... and it is in very fabulous condition. Here's a photo of it:

It's kinda crazy that this house is in such great condition. You can't go inside it, but you can look through it and see how they lived. Also in the museum are many artifacts from Mark Twain's Connecticut home. His furniture was pretty lovely and of course I wanted it all. We came across a giant boat wheel and couldn't resist those typical tourist photos!

I thought they turned out pretty cute!

I had to kneel on a stool because I'm so short! After the museum, we went to Mark Twain Lake and found Clara's View Outlook. Let me tell ya, I wasn't expecting much. It was stinking hot and I was not looking forward to the walk to the lake. BUT, once we got to the water and the cool breeze from the lake hit me in the face I was all "Ahhhhhhh! I love this place!" ha ha It really was beautiful, and COOL!!! And considering it was a degree of 105, breeze was my kind of attraction. I was just standing there letting my hair blow in the wind coming off the water when Mark snapped this shot of me:

It turned out pretty good, considering I didn't even know it was being taken! Then, though, I had to do one smiling... of course...

After having our fill of the lake (sorta, we probably could have stayed there all day), and going by the original location of Mark Twain's childhood cabin, we drove into Hannibal.

The last time I was in Hannibal I was a fifth grader on a school field trip. At the last minute, the teachers informed us we didn't have enough parent volunteers to take the trip so I called my Nana to see if she could come. She couldn't because the priest was going to be visiting that day, so someone else got their parent or some other to come and THEY got to be the one to save the day. Ah, the downfall of being an Irish Catholic... ha ha... but seriously, that's what I remember most from that field trip. That, and when they turned the lights out in the cave... another story for another time. Anyways, Hannibal is waaaaayyyyy different when you are a kid. I was expecting a completely different place.

Hannibal is a sweet little town, and MUCH more than just Hill Street (the area where Samuel Clemens home is, and, I note, the only thing I thought existed in Hannibal when I was 10 years old). We settled down for a meal at The Brick Oven where we thoroughly enjoyed super yummy pizzas made in, of course, a brick oven. Let me tell ya, if you ever go there you must order the chicken alfredo pizza. Yummy! 

Oh! Our bed and breakfast! O.M.Geeee!! I knew that Mark had gotten us a really romantic place to stay, but I had no idea how incredibly fabulous it was until we checked in. Seriously. This place was a dream! It is called The Rockcliffe Mansion and it sits atop a limestone bluff that overlooks the entire town and the Mississippi River. It is 28,000 square feet of GORGEOUS. I'll post pictures of it later, because I took so many that I can't even decide yet which ones I want to post on here!

You can't go the Hannibal without doing the Mark Twain's Boyhood Home & Museum Tour. So we did. Here's a picture of Mark inside the Huck Finn house:

Granted, this house does not look like much. It's pretty bare. Really, though, Huck Finn wasn't a real person and so this house wasn't a real home. It was built merely as a tourist attraction. Huck was, though, based highly off of one of Sam's childhood friends and stories about him and his friendship with Sam are on plaques all over the walls. So were many other characters from his books. That was fun to learn :)

We also went on two Riverboat Cruises! First was the dinner cruise. This was FUN! We had a little table for two reserved right next to the dance floor and after we ate we went up to the top deck and took in the sights. It was absolutely lovely and so much fun :)

The second cruise we went on was the Fireworks Cruise. It was definitely a new experience and a pretty sweet way to spend the 4th of July!

After walking and walking and walking all around Hannibal in degrees over 100, the cave was a very welcomed experience. At a brisk 55 degrees, we could not have been more thrilled to be touring the cave. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos, of which I am only posting 2 out of the many many many that we took. It's a bit difficult in the moist dullness of the cave to get anything of quality while at the same time trying to keep up with the tour guide... who obviously didn't understand the importance of a good photograph and the fact that we, and the rest of our tour group, weren't in a hurry anyway; it was over 100 outside!

We went into a massive amount of shops during our trip, but sadly we didn't find much of anything. We wanted to buy a copy of our favorite Norman Rockwell painting from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer collection that he did, but they didn't have any to buy! The nerve! So, we opted for a cheap post card copy of it instead and called it a day. Although there is an overwhelming supply of Huckleberry products for purchase from chocolates to lip balm (which I found absolutely repulsive... just gross) Hannibal doesn't earn points in my book for quality souvenirs. The antique stores are pretty great though, and every person we talked to was super nice. 

On the way home we stopped in Louisiana. Mark has been talking about taking me here for the last 5 years to show me this house he likes. The only thing was that he wasn't sure exactly where the house was once we got to town, so we drove around a bit until we found it. Once we did, and after talking a bit with a nice old farmer at his fruit and vegetable stand, he wanted to take me somewhere special. We drove around a bit more and he found the spot - a little park that overlooks the Mississippi River. The last time he was there he was with his dad, who passed away three years ago. We spent some time there, talking, resting, trying to talk ourselves into going home and ending our trip. It's a quiet spot with a beautiful view, a view that I probably took far too many photographs of. Here is our favorite photograph from that spot, though, and the last we took of our trip. It doesn't really cover the view, but it does capture the important part :)

After that, we got back into the car, cranked up the AC, and finished our trip with the lovely drive down 79. We did make a pit stop in Winfield, where his brother drove into town and met us for a nice dinner. It's not often that Michael is "on the way" when we are heading somewhere, so we thought a call to see if he could meet us in town was in order :)

Though the trip was great, and the house we stayed in was just the most amazing house we've ever been in, it is always good to be back home in your own bed. With the trip over and fond memories made, we fell asleep that night completely at peace to be home, healthy, and happy in love. There is really not much more one could ask for.

Up next for our exciting life: Our Anniversary later this week!!