SueMonroe

My husband and I are a middle aged couple traveling all 50 of the states in the US. We seek to visit the sights of each state that give the unique flavor of that state (something we couldn't experience in other states.) For example, In New York we enjoyed Ellis Island and Liberty Island. In Louisiana, we enjoyed New Orleans and a swamp tour. In Illinois, we enjoyed various venues in Chicago and the Lincoln museum. Well, you get the idea.

Please advise the best places to visit in Missouri that would fit the criteria I mentioned above.

Thank you.

S.

montereybob

The Saint Louis Arch, Mississippi River towns.

sunbum1944

Elephant Rocks- close to Ironton, Mo- I love the area around Ironton - part of the Ozarks but not very commercialized- Ulysses S Grant received his commission here during the civil war.

Hannibal, Mo with all the Tom Sawyer era homes/ and the cave where they hid out

Kanasas City is a beautiful city - Country Club Plaza area with lots shops and restaurants and fountains patterned after Seville Spain- Truman Library not far away in Independence Mo and tours of Trumans home

sf7307

The Jesse James house and the Pony Express Museum, both in St. Joe, the former wonderfully "kitschy" and the latter very interesting.

huskerbob

Did you know Kansas City is second only to Rome, Italy for having the greatest number of fountains?
http://www.kcfountains.org/

If you enjoy art galleries,the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City has some incredible displays and the place is HUGE. Free admission!

Toucan2

What time of year will you be visiting Sue?

Attnymom

I second (or third!) visiting Kansas City and the Plaza area. Close by are the Nelson Atkins Art Museum and the Kemper Museum of Modern Art. I think a visit to the Steamboat Arabia would be interesting too (http://www.1856.com/).

SueMonroe

Thank you for your replies. We will be visiting in the Spring. I will keep checking this site to see if you have anything to add.

Sue

Sassafrass

The mosaics in the St. Louis Cathedral

sunbum1944

Oklahoma Joes BBQ or Bryants BBQ - Kansas City

steviegene

Missouri wine country is surprisingly beautiful and has equally pleasant wine! Who knew?!
Check out the tiny town of Augusta - where Montelle vineyard has a fantastic view (http://www.montelle.com/index.html). There are also some wonderful B&bs in town - check out http://www.hsclayhouse.com/ for a unique stay.

annesherrod

Ditto the Mosaics at the Cathedral Basilica! A must see!

stokebailey

Current River (canoe) float trip.

apersuader65

Sue, I have numerous recommendations throughout the state. Without knowing remotely where you intend to be (St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield) how long and what month, I don't feel like typing that much. Each of the areas have numerous things, but it's not practical to drive from St. Louis to Kansas City for one day, as it's an eight (8) hour round trip. Actually, all three of the cities are approximately that distance apart. If you're there for a weekend, pick one and stay there. A week would allow you to visit a couple. In the summer, Lake of the Ozarks has numerous things to do around the area and is a very large private lake. (Private vs. U.S. Corps of Engineers) Waterfront hotels, restaurants and a lot of the kitschy Ozarks stuff. It's located pretty much in the center of all three of the cities - 2 hours from K.C. and St. Louis, and one from Springfield.

SueMonroe

Thank you, all, for your recommendations. We will have only a week to spend between Missouri and Arkansas but anticipate the majority of that week will be in Missouri (based on the number of recommendations we have received.) We will probably cluster as many things as possible around the "must see" sights so we aren't spending all our time traveling. We still have time to check back to this site if you have any ideas how we would best spend our time.

Thanks, again.

Sue

tcreath

Hermann is one of my favorite towns in Missouri. It is a historic German town with good wines and some nice restaurants. There are numerous lovely B&Bs there as well. It's part of the wine region. Did you know that Missouri had the first official designated wine region in the US? I second the suggestion for Augusta as well.

And of course the Arch, as you can find nothing else like it.

stumpworks73

Take a river boat dinner cruise out of St. Louis.

apersuader65

Sue, Keep in mind, that from a geologic perspective, which will determine your views, southern Missouri and norther Arkansas are completely indistiguishable. In fact, there's not much difference culturally, other than say Springfield proper, which doesn't much resemble the rest of the area. Given the amount of time for both states, I would select one of either Kansas City (west) or St. Louis east for your Missouri portion of the trip. St. Louis would allow you to travel up I-44 and divert to the Elephant Rock park mentioned above, then head up to St. Louis. From there, it's a little more than one hour to Hannibal for the Tom Sawyer stuff.

If it's Kansas City, then travel Route 65 north to Route 73 and head to Lake of the Ozarks for a day or so. Then head west from there on 50 to Kansas City. You can also head north about 45 minutes from Kansas City to St. Joseph for the Jesse James and the Pony Express Museums. Good luck and enjoy.

SueMonroe

Thank you all, once again. We decided that we would spend the whole week in Missouri and catch Arkansas on another trip. So far we have decided on KC, Herman, Elephant Rocks and St. Louis. We are considering the Jesse James and Pony Express Museums, too.

I usually like to read a book that either uses the setting we are visiting or tells the story of a sight we are seeing. Any recommendations?

Sue

sunbum1944

When you are at Elephant Rocks- check out the town of Ironton which is close by. Battle of the Civil War was fought there ( Battle of Pilot Knob) Ullysses Grant received his commission there during Civil War- there is an old Court House still apparently with cannon ball holes in it -

My ex is from here and I used to love going there - spent lots of time on the river and exploring places

http://www.arcadiavalley.biz/civil_w...tes/index.html