Back to the local digs, spread the cocktail material on a small table, and began to relax without the “tour” be here, go there, schedule. Eventually we ordered a Pizza from a local Imo’s: a 14 inch, original crust two topping (pepperoni and mush). More cheese, wine and bread, and eventually a knock on the door brought the Pizza. Alert readers will remember the Feeder’s lament about no good pizza (with an exception for ruddy duck) in the Park. So here we are in the lowlands of Earth City, home of contractors, AYCE devotees, and we got this pizza. You know what? It beat anything available to us in the Park. Super thin, crunchy crust, the cheese forming a silky solid guardian of the pepperoni and mushrooms. Just RIGHT! Taste was fine. Good mouthfeel, and the ingredients shone through. You talk about comfort food? This IS IT
Okay, back to the trip. Our last full day in Hannibal on Wednesday consisted of a Trolley trip to the outskirts of the city. We toured two cemeteries which had Clemens/Sawyer ties, more statues (there must be more statues of Sam per square foot than anywhere), an over look, and finally the “Becky Thatcher” cave.
Through a curious set of circumstances, we were joined by a group of youngsters/kids (it’s all relative) that are doing an excursion down the extent of the Mississippi on a replicated“York Boat”. It’s called the “old man river” project. They hope to produce a documentary of their journey, and we were pleased to have them with us. Youth is good. Since they are producing a documentary, they were behind their equipment most of the time,
but I hope they had a chance to absorb some of the scenery. They have a blog associated with the trip. There’s 4 Canadians and one Aussie. They were able to take advantage of recently vacated rooms at Lula Bell’s, so win all around. They were fun. As the average age of our tour was in our range, an injection of youthful exuberance was fun.
We were extremely fortunate to have the Curator of the Twain Museum(s) with us, and he supplied information on all the sights. What a knowledgeable resource
I am always amazed at the knowledge of others. After the tour we retired once again to the Boyhood Home museum, where the same curator gave us a little presentation showing things in the collection not open to the public.
Like first editions, letters, and things. Wonderful stuff.
The project people taped the whole thing
Our “final dinner” was held on a river boat.
Were the weather better, the sun out, it could have been a fitting closing. Sad to say we were treated as just another fare, get ‘em in, get ‘em out, processed cattle. We were ushered (through the gift shop) to the “lounge” on the boat, set with tables and a musician playing a banjo.
Set down, we were asked for drinks (water, tea?) while the buffet was being hastily constructed before the stage. Steam tables hustled out (pre-recorded messages about the river were ignored), and assembled, then the food brought out in the chafing dishes. We were urged to start dining. We did, first to the out of the bag salad, then a “what’s this?” pasta salad, some green beans apparently courtesy of Del Monte. Approaching the “main” steam dish were asked if we would like beef or chicken, or both. I selected “both” and was given a couple of slices of if not lunch meat, gray slices of tough protein. The chicken was a boneless breast with a pink (paprika?) coating. If you took both (the Feeder) you got a couple of slices of that shoe leather beef and a breast. If you took chicken (MFO), you got a breast, one piece of chicken. Dessert was served half way through the mains, and while we attempted to eat the food, the buffet tables were cleared moments after the last guest was served, table linens removed tables knocked down, budda bing, see ya folks.
Meanwhile the boat did some unfathomable (get it?) turns in the river, completely obscured by the dark and lowered ceiling. Wandering around the boat, I was asked by the (only) server: Did you enjoy your meal? Cop out: “the chicken was okay”.
Meanwhile the musician continued to play the guitar, with some period pieces (St. Louis Blues), and mountain music (Doc Watson), and Gordon Lightfoot. He was actually pretty good, but mostly playing to an open house. Eventually we returned to port, and walked back to our rooms.
and took off our
DFD
That pretty much ended a three day immersion in Samuel Clemens. Comments saved to a wrap up at a later date. Yesterday we climbed aboard the coach to return to St. Louis, doing a brewery tour and Missouri Botanical Gardens before leaving the group at the airport.
Got some good pics of beer and flora, hope to get out later today. Tomorrow night is the culinary highlight of the trip.
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