Route 66 - Missouri

The second state we drove through over the course of our Route 66 trip was Missouri. Missouri is one of those states I just never really thought about one way or another until this trip, but we found some pretty cool things there!

We stopped at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St. Louis and met up with photographer Stephen Seward who lives out that way. That was fun... partly because we got to eat dessert for dinner, but also because we got to meet the Seward clan. Those photos will be posted in a gallery I make of my point and shoot pictures at the end of the Route 66 posts. Stephen took this photo of us just before we departed Ted Drewes:



After meeting up with Stephen and family, we headed to the famous arch. It's one of those things I've seen plenty of photos of, but had no idea of the scale of it, or how incredible it would look in person. I did not go up inside it, nor did I really want to, but we got there at dusk and it was the perfect setting for photos. Here are a few of mine:

Holga:



XPanII:





One of Andy's of me, Amy & Josh (from left to right):



That night after playing under the arch, we set up our tent for the first time in pitch blackness and visited Merrimack Caverns the next morning, which was really neat. I took some photos, but nothing noteworthy (in my opinion) beyond a tourist type shot, so I won't bother posting them. The next two photos were taken later that day in Cuba, Missouri, of the same scene - one with Holga, one with XPanII:





This little pit stop also boasted the largest rocking chair in the Western Hemisphere. However, there was a very prominent sign posted on the chair (which was indeed huge) prohibiting climbing on the chair. Now, I ask you, what is the point of having a rocking chair you can't sit on? That would have made an awesome photo, to be sitting on a rocking chair two stories high. But alas, that photo was not meant to be.

Next up: Kansas!