Missouri

Leaving New England during peak foliage season in late October, we had a quite a few people ask us…”why are you going to Missouri?” Even our Missouri born and bred hosts were asking us this question after having spent an unusually gorgeous week in June with us in New England! They were convinced few places could be as lovely as Maine on the 80 degree bluebird days they enjoyed before the first crop of mosquitos hatched in Maine! We assured them that we have traveled far and wide enough to know that every place has it’s own charms- interesting history, traditional foods to be explored and wonderful people to meet! And we were very lucky to have local friends who were amazing hosts and happily shared their homes and hometowns with us, allowing us to find the best places and get to know this state better for all it has to offer!

Our connection to Missouri has it’s roots in a travel story. Back in 2013, we were planning a cruise on a large cruise ship, Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas, which sails with more than 5 thousand passengers and all the toys a kid could want, as a graduation trip for our daughter. Having traveled on a ship of this class once 18 months earlier, I had some advice to dispense about how to plan and manage your days on such a large ship that I was happy to share on Cruise Critic, a user generated content message board.

Having read my previous reviews, Randy was working on planning the first cruise vacation for his family, including his rather reluctant-to-cruise wife. We spent quite a bit of time, along with others online, perfecting our vacation itineraries and even arranged to share an excursion on the sail boat High Pockets out of Red Hook in St Thomas (she was sadly later scuttled in Hurricane Maria) I, as “mentor” with many cruises of all sizes and Randy, as “student” taking his family on their first ocean cruising adventure, had never met in person until we joined our families to enjoy a sailing excursion in St Thomas. Our family’s friendships continued when we had the opportunity to sail with them again for a large group cruise when they celebrated an anniversary with 50 plus friends and family and we invited them to take a road trip out to our Maine home this past summer. One of the beauties of travel is it can bring people together from many different places and backgrounds and cultivate lifelong friendships.

Kansas City MO

We started our Missouri visit in Kansas City MO, (and by extension, Kansas City KN) We found it impossible to drive through the city without being routed in and out of Missouri and Kansas, the cities are linked in many ways, even though they are in different states. Our first stop was to another friend, Kelly, who is from KCMO and we met on the anniversary cruise. An artist with a studio in the historic West Bottom section of KCMO, she was anxious to show us all her favorite Kansas City Neighborhoods and we were delighted she was willing to open her Kelly Aaron Creative studio for a tour.

St Joseph MO

The hometown of our friends is a lovely historic town where we enjoyed dining on the historic square, visiting the St Joseph’s museums and exploring the banks of the Missouri River in their Jeep. But as expected the highlight was reconnecting with the many friends and family we’d met on their 2019 anniversary cruise, over game nights and exploring their businesses and places where they enjoy their free time.

Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Part of our week, our hosts took us to their parents summer home on Lake of the Ozarks. We got lucky with weather in early November and had 70 degree days so we could enjoy cruising the lake in their pontoon boat as well as taking the jeep out near the dam. We were able to ride along the many lake tributaries that were created when the power company dammed the river and created Lake of the Ozarks.

St Louis MO

As we said goodbye to our friends for the approximately 8 hour trip back to Chicago for our flight, Randy encouraged us to make a stop in St Louis and visit the Gateway Arch National Park. This national park is in the heart of the city, located along the Mississippi River bank, where it was built to serve as a gateway to the west. In addition to the arch, there is a visitor center under the arch with exhibits about the Mississippi River, how the arch was built and the human history of the area. Tickets can be purchased to ride up to the top of the arch for a spectacular view.