I know - it seems like I'm taking forever to get us to Chicago. It has to do with my lack of persistance at the keyboard and trying to get as much in as possible.
So this will be short but interesting (I hope.)
We left Kansas City a week ago heading for Springfield. It was a beautiful day - we weren't in a big hurry and we saw the signs by the side of the road - and a name
that struck a chord in our memories. Hannibal, Missouri.
So we ditched the interstate and followed the directions down to the Mississippi River. (Everytime we do something like this, the voice on the GPS gets perturbed: 'When possible make a legal U turn!')
What could be a nice way to spend an hour on a fall Sunday afternoon than visiting the home of Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, with his famous creations Tom Sawyer?
Turns out thousands of other people had the same idea - because this was
the day for the Folk Life Festival in Hannibal. Normally we'd head
in the other direction - I'm no fan of crowds - but this was likely to be
our only visit here...so off we went.
This fair didn't seem to have any of the usual corporate sponsors...It was
a seemingly chaotic but obviously well organized Local event. Of course
local merchants and artisans were trying to sell their wares.
Or how about home made cherry pie! You could have some for free if you entered the cherry-pie-eating contest!I was sure Blair would jump in...He loves cherry pies! But we'd just had some
barbecued pork sandwiches! No room.
We got a kick out of the buildings and sites that were so familiar to us from
our literary childhood: Tom Sawyer's white-washed fence!
And the homes of Samuel Clemens' childhood that became the locations in his books.
We liked Hannibal. It didn't have that 'Disney' feel to it that so many historic
sites are taking on these days. Maybe that's a tribute to Samuel Clemens enduring legacy. We're glad we dropped in.
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