On our way home from Iowa, we decided to stop at at the Mark Twain Cave Campground in Hannibal for the weekend. Weekend camping in October has definitely become a little crazy and this was no exception. There was a fall festival in town and so the park was very crowded. We had been here was in the spring of 2021 so this time, we mostly hung out at the campground but had to go up and do a photo at Lover’s Leap. We had one more look at the Mississippi River.
One of the campground’s best features is the onsite winery. We took a hike on a very steep path behind the winery (something we had also done in 2021) and walked over to the winery which is on site after taking a hike. Esther was such a trooper and Kismet loved the hike.
One of the campground negatives was the presence of obnoxious political banners. The RV with the biggest banner had also set up an axe throwing game which was loud and dangerous. I really can’t believe the campground allows something like this on site.
Since I wasn’t yet writing on Substack during our 2021 visit, I will share some of what I wrote on my WordPress blog and a few photos from that trip. We are staying at the Mark Twain Cave Campground. The location is ideal and the grounds are really well maintained. Friday, we had a chance to sleep in a bit and then went to Aldi’s. They still had a mask policy so we happily complied. The staff and all the older folks had on masks as did a few younger women but none of the younger men wore one. After putting away the groceries, we went on a hike at the campground trail. It was a little less than a mile and very steep but very beautiful. The weather was really perfect and I enjoyed sitting outside on this 72 degree day.
Saturday was rainy when our friends arrived so we all sat inside. But it was also really nice to visit as fully vaccinated people. We went up the winery and did tasting which was a lot of fun. We then ordered BBQ while our friends were checking into their hotel. The BBQ came from Wayne’s and it was traditional wood fire BBQ. We had brisket, pulled pork plus a few sides. It was quite a feast and went well with the Rebel Yell bourbon our friends brought. Sunday morning, they stopped back by before heading home and we took a drive up to the Riverview Cemetery and Lover’s Leap. The cemetery has some spectacular views and a few famous Hannibal residents buried there.
After they left, we took a spin downtown to fulfill an ice cream craving at Becky Thatcher’s. We visited the Hannibal Museum, buying a T-shirt and found a cute little store where we bought some Huckleberry jam. To work off those calories, we walked all the way up to the Mark Twain lighthouse where we discovered another great view. Hannibal is full of hills and in that sense reminded me of my home town, another Mississippi River town.
On Monday, we went to Rockcliffe Mansion. I really liked the decor, very masculine and woodsy. The original owner and builder was John J Cruikshank Jr. He had become wealthy from lumbering and built this home for his wife and four daughters around the turn of the century. The owners today are two men who spend the winter in Miami. I think we had Warren as our tour guide and he really was a great guide. The house is rich in architectural detail. The front staircase is particularly grand. It is situated on a bluff with spectacular views of the Mississippi River but the heavy rain was not ideal for walking around the property. Not only are there tours but the house is also operated as a B&B.
When we returned to the campsite the rain had finally let up a bit so we put out the awning and sat. The little creek behind us had become a roaring creek. It still looked like it could absorb more water and knowing the Mississippi was not high, we were not overly worried. But it was a nice sound to enjoy. We finally saw the elusive indigo buntings we had been hearing at our campsite.
Tuesday, we toured the Mark Twain boyhood home complex. His book, “Huckleberry Finn” was revolutionary. I also recently re-read “Life on the Mississippi”while camping at Trail of Tears SP. So much of the display was about the obvious evils of slavery and differing life experiences based on economic class. The Becky Thatcher house did a display that would show kids what life was like depending on which character (and their real life inspiration) they would be, Becky, Tom, Huck or Jim. I was thinking yesterday at Rockcliffe about class differences as that house had indoor plumbing with hot water while many Americans did not have that until the fifties. It also had electricity but gas was installed as a fallback since electricity was so new. Now that is wealth! Dinner was take-out pizza from the Brick Oven on Center Street.
Wednesday, we visited the Karlock Pop Culture museum. It is 10,000 square feet of awesome cars, motorcycles and other collectibles. Our ticket included Train Town which reminded me of so many train displays we have seen. What was missing was the railroad history of Hannibal, perhaps the river history has caused the rail history to be ignored. We finished our tour at the wax museum which was really good. Apparently the eyes for Tom Sawyer were donated and were once human. The rest were the kinds of glass eyes used by people too. The haunted house was fun, if a little kitschy. After all that, it was time to eat at the Mark Twain Brewery. We tasted a flight of their beers and really liked the habanero apricot wheat. We had fish tacos and a cauliflower taco. This was our first sit-down indoor lunch since the pandemic began in March of 2020.
But we did not eat too much for lunch since we had dinner plans at LaBinnah Bistro on 5th Street. It was spectacular, starting with the Human Rights Campaign sticker on the front. Inside, the decor was eclectic, artistic and historic. The owner hails from Turkey and learned how to cook from his mother. The baba ghanoush was spot on and then we had the lamb chop as an entree. Because it was such a special dinner, I opted for the caramel and butterscotch cheesecake for dessert. This was our first dinner out since March 12th, 2020.
Thursday was another sightseeing day. We first went to Mark Twain cave which was really awesome. It was a one hour tour and was lighted and level. Lots of photos. We had lunch at the RV and then we were off to find the nature preserve. No luck there but we drove over to Illinois and found a spot with a great view of the river and Hannibal. There are some big houses just up from the lighthouse. We tried to find another conservation area but no luck there either. So we went back to Missouri and drove south on Hwy 79. We did find a really cool nature preserve about half way to Louisiana, MO. There are lots of wildflowers and access to the river. There was off grid camping nearby but wow, it was not a place for us with barking dogs, screaming people, and Confederate flags flying.
Here are a few more photos from 2021.
