Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Mississippi and Hannibal

Although Don has seen the Mississippi, I never had (except for in an airplane), so I was looking forward to our trip to Hannibal, Missouri.

I had heard a lot about Hannibal when I studied Mark Twain.  I wish I had paid better attention to my teachers, as Mark Twain was quite an interesting character.

We spent quite some time going through the museum dedicated to Mark Twain, and I loved how the designers took excerpts from his writings and introduced us to the people or the situations that caused him to write about them.  Once I saw the Mississippi, I was amazed that any mother would let her children play near it . . . but it was a different time!

We tried to visit the museum dedicated to Jim, the freed slave in Huck Finn.  Unfortunately, it was closed, but I am glad the town has seen to it to have a museum dedicated to the African-American community.  It is about time.

Don took some time to emulate Tom Sawyer . . .


Since we had not eaten lunch, we went to the Mark Twain Brewery, a new bar in the area.  The food was good, but it was Don's flight of beer that was memorable.  Although they were all interesting, the one that he will always remember is the one with habanero chiles in it.  It was called Winnie Pepper Wheat.  Don had me taste it, and it reminded me of the first time I ate hot Chinese mustard.  Yikes!  Cleared those sinuses.  Don called this beer "one from left field" since it was so different from any other beer he had ever had.  It was not his favorite, but he appreciated that with the right meal, it would be good.

As we left Hannibal, we came upon this bridge.  As those of you who read my blog know, I am a sucker for bridges.  The whole construction of them fascinates me.  I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it, but this shows its long span and the intricacy of it.


We drove along the Mississippi for quite a ways and saw many other very interesting bridges.  I would like to spend more time in this area.  But that will be in another trip!

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