Goodbye Missouri

You could really "milk" the cow!

Jenny and the girls' last week in Missouri was a busy one. First up was a visit to the Discovery Playhouse, in downtown Cape. Walking distance from our apartment, this Children's "Museum" is modeled after the Magic House in St. Louis. The place was cute, and had a surprisingly fair number of things to do. Many of the exhibits were quite similar to their Magic House counterparts, with one big exception. The place was empty. Other than two other toddlers, we had the place to ourselves. I can't even imagine the Magic House that way. No lines. No busloads of children pouring through the door. No other kids messing up the one thing your kid just spent 20 minutes working on. It was nice. Peaceful. Yet fun for them. The girls enjoyed the pretend play the most. The grocery store. The farm. The bank. A fun afternoon of make-believe in a great, little place.

The girls' final day in southeastern Missouri was spent on a field trip to the Lazy-L Safari Park. This walk- through zoo was unlike most typical petting zoos or farms, with everything from Alpacas to Zebras, Emus to Kangaroos, and Camels to Cavies. The girls got an up close view, and often a handful of these and other animals. A great final stop on our tour of southeastern Missouri.

Our time in Missouri was the perfect start for our travels. Cape offered us a good mix of rural life, and small town America. The landscape in southern Missouri is gorgeous at times, and the quaintness of the old river town was both charming and comfortable. Jenny and the girls will travel on, as Clark stays behind to finish his job. Au revoir Cape Girardeau.

Science Class

The Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center proved to be the most pleasant surprise for us in our time in southeastern Missouri. Like most things run by the Missouri Department of Conservation, it is a first-class set up. A beautiful setting. An outstanding visitors center. Both fun and educational programs free of charge. We visited often.


One Saturday, the whole gang attended Monarch Magic, and helped celebrate this amazing insect. First, we participated in Monarch tagging. They marked these beautiful creatures, then released them so they could begin their migration to Mexico. There, the local people are paid to collect their bodies, so that scientists can study more about this sensational migration. The girls also played butterfly games, and made some Monarch crafts. They even learned to tell the difference between a girl and a boy Monarch.

Those dots, straight across from her nose, make that a male Monarch

Look how interested they all look!

The Wizard of Oz Train

      Next year is the 75^th anniversary of the greatest family film ever made. To kick off the celebrations early, MGM studios has released the film, remastered in IMAX 3D. Also, for the first time, the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical adaptation will tour North America. All across the country we are starting to be inundated with Dorothy, Toto and the gang. Here in southeastern Missouri, the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway paid homage to this endearing classic with a Wizard of Oz themed train ride.

Miss Gulch rode after us, yelling for "That dog!!!"

     The region's only full size passenger train took us on a three hour ride, while characters acted out parts of the movie, and mingled with the riders.

"I'll get you my pretty."

The train was quaint, and everything had a small town feel to it. The girls bought some homemade cupcakes from the snack bar, colored pictures for a coloring contest, and enjoyed talking about one of their favorite movies. The costumed characters were pleasant, but I had to keep reminding myself, “This isn't Disney.” I hadn't noticed it before, but we were suffering from a Disney hangover. Our expectations had been tainted. Everything down there was so perfect and seamless, that now, anything else paled in comparison. The Disney characters were... well... they WERE the actual people. That was Belle. That was really Minnie. That was the actual Eeyore. They were perfectly convincing. Flawless. And, while it is unfair to expect other entertainers to live up to those impossibly high standards, this definitely wasn't Disney.

     We stopped halfway through the ride at the fictitious old time town of Iron Mountain Junction. As we stepped off to stretch our legs, Norah states “Look, the tree is smoking.” At first I thought, “Oh they must have a fire burning somewhere in this little village as part of the show. That will be nice. Why does she think the smoke is coming from the trees? Hmmmm...” She said it again. This time with more purpose. “Look, Poppa, the tree is smoking.” I looked closer. Indeed, right there was the man dressed up as the Angry Apple Tree, puffing away on a cigarette. He waved at us with his one free limb, as we got off the train. The curtain had been lifted. This wasn't Disney.  Not that our kids had any delusions that any of these people were more than just actors. After all, Dorothy's roots aren't gray. The Tin Man's head was not made by Speedo. The Wizard wasn't 30 years younger than Dorothy. They knew. Yet, in Orlando, the magic of Disney had made believers of all of us. That was really Cinderella. That was her actual castle where she lived. Of course, we never caught her in the middle of a smoke break, sucking down a quick heater.

The Cape Riverfront

      The Mississippi River played a large role in the founding of Cape Girardeau. Since the riverfront and downtown area are just blocks from our apartment, we thought we'd meander along the river, and maybe learn a few things about this town. Sure, it's the same river that runs through St. Louis. Yes, it shares a similar historical significance to the town we've lived in our whole lives. But this town has a river wall with cool murals on it! The1000 foot long mural features 24 panels that tell a portion of Cape Girardeau's history. The kids were bound to find it interesting, right? At first, they were. Native Americans. Trappers. Pioneers. Fascinating stuff. Then around the 1700s, Norah asks "Momma, is this the time when you were born?" Perhaps we need to cover history a little more in our schooling. Onward we pushed. Railroads. Civil War. Steamboats. Their attention was waning. Look, there's an ice cream stand! And, just like that, our mural walk abruptly ended.

Cape Rock - the site of the original trading post that became Cape Girardeau

Second Stop: Southeastern Missouri

     So, now what? What's the plan? After Disney, there was nowhere to come home to, as the kids would remind us. If we happened to utter "When we get home...", it was routinely followed by "We don't have a home!" They seemed to be grasping the concept pretty quickly.
     As luck would have it, we didn't need to worry about our first stop. Clark got a job on a movie down in Cape Girardeau, MO for almost two months. So, we found an apartment to rent short term, and headed about 100 miles down the Mississippi River to 'Cape' as it's called. The plan is to hang out and explore this part of Missouri for awhile. Then Jenny and the girls will hit the road, while Clark finishes up his job. We already have a lot of things lined up for the girls to do. It should be a great few weeks.