St. Louis Gateway Arch, Old Courthouse, the Cathedrals

We arrived on Monday at the West St. Louis KOA in Eureka, MO.   The campground is about 30 miles southwest of St. Louis, with an easy commute into the city.   It's a noisy campground -- the cicadas are coming out of the ground and mating, and they aren't a bit quiet about their courting!   We are also close to the railroad, and at times, it can be quite noisy!   However, on the positive side, the sites are big, and we have a canopy of trees giving us shade.   We spent the day in camp and enjoyed the pool and the shade and our very friendly staff.

Today, Tuesday, we went downtown to see the Gateway Arch.   From the number of people on the grounds, we were certain we'd have a couple hour wait to go up to the top.   In reality, we were able to go right up.   We were put into a "tram" that held 5 people and it took 4 minutes to get to the top.   When we got out, we continued up about 28 steps to the top of the dome -- 630 feet.    The pictures attached are of Jack taking a picture out the window, and one of the room itself.  

We also went across the street to the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott trial was held and saw the courtrooms and it also had a small museum on the history of St. Louis.   Next door to the Arch was the first Catholic church in St. Louis, which is known as the "Old Cathedral".    The "new"Cathedral was started in 1907 and finished in 1988.   The mosaics are beautiful!   The height of the dome is 96 feet from the floor.   We had a wonderful tour guide and shared the tour with a group of teens who will be Confirmed in the next year.    They had very thoughtful questions, and were very interested in the tour.  On Wednesday we're heading for the Missouri History Museum and I'm sure we'll find another site to explore.   Our list is quite long!

Loretta Lynn's Western Town

We toured Loretta's Western Town today.   The first order of business was to mail a birthday card to a friend in Florida, and then we joined a tour of the replica of Loretta's childhood home in Butcher Holler by the Van Lear mine in Kentucky.  Loretta had it built to show her fans her rags to riches story.   The house had two bedrooms upstairs -- one for the boys and one for the girls.   Her parents slept on the first floor .   The house had no electricity or plumbing.   They did have a battery operated radio which they only turned on to listen to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights.  From her childhood home we toured a replica of a coal mine, as Loretta wanted to show the conditions that her father experienced working in the mine.   We then took a tour bus across the road to see her plantation home.   The house was built in the pre-Civil War period and when she and Mooney bought it, they got the town of Hurricane Mills with it!   The "town" consisted of a post office, a grist mill, and a store.   The house was restored and now contains seven bedrooms, 8 fireplaces, a modern kitchen, a diningroom, Victorian living room, and a den with western and Indian motif.   During the time that Loretta lived in the house, they bred thoroughbred horses and raised cattle as well as soy beans, corn, and oats on their 6500 acres.  In 1988 they moved to a smaller house about 50 feet behind the big house and opened the house to her fans.   Hurricane Mills now consists of the coal mine, the Butcher Holler House, grist mill museum, doll museum, and Loretta's recording studio and museum, as well as several souvenir shops and snack shack.   We'll tour her museum tomorrow after breakfast.   

It is said that the house is haunted, and that there are two bedrooms upstairs where people have seen Civil War soldiers roaming, and also a mother who is looking for her child.   She and the baby died in childbirth.   I'll have to explore that a bit more.   

See the US - Summer trip 2011

We left May 25 at 8:30 in the morning and had a smooth trip to Kodak, TN.  We arrived about 5:30 p.m. and set up on the edge of the Cracker Barrel parking lot.   It was toasty - 97 sunny degrees when we arrived.  Thank heavens for a breeze and a fan that works off the DC current in the trailer!   Enjoyed our meal at the Cracker Barrel and enjoyed their front porch rockers for a little while before taking a short walk before dark.    I found a black cat and it was tame so spent a little time petting her before I went in.   During the night the wind came up and the trailer was shaking but no rain and no tornadoes.   I understand Nashville had a lot of wind and rain.  

This morning we locked ourselves out of the trailer!   The door slammed shut and locked and the keys were on the counter.   OH-OH!   We walked across the street to McD's for breakfast and then had to empty the trunk of the trailer and Jack crawled up into the trailer and pushed the bed up so he could get in and unlock the trailer.   Exciting morning!   I checked the Knoxville paper, but no mention of the American Idol, so on the road I called Angie to find out if Scotty won.  

Our GPS system took us about 64 miles out of our way to the Loretta Lynn Ranch here in Hurricane Mills, TN.   It had us taking exit 152 and we hit every back road (some I think twice) as it tried to find the way to the campground.   Some roads were narrow, all were curvy, and some were gravel.   Jack doesn't like gravel roads when he's just washed his truck!   Finally had to call the Ranch to see if they could help us get there.   Our gas tank was running low, and all we could see were cows and grain bins!   We finally got here (whew) and learned we SHOULD have gone 9 miles farther on I-40  to exit 143 and we wouldn't have had any trouble.   However, now we're set up and looking forward to exploring the Loretta Lynn home and museum and listening to her concert on Saturday night.