Mississippi Road Trip

Do you ever just need to get out?

That's how we were feeling last August. 

Covid quarantining, buying a house/not having a ton of extra cash, and David's immigration status being in limbo kept us stranded for a while.

Some disappointing medical news was the last straw- we needed a trip! It wasn't easy to think of somewhere to go.

-We didn't want to go to a big city because bigger crowds meant more of a Covid risk, and most cities were pretty shut down.

-We wanted to go somewhere within a day's driving distance, but we've already seen most of what there is to see that's close by. Sometimes I'm really not a fan of how big America is.

I pulled up Google Maps and an idea popped into my head. I remembered the town of Hannibal, Missouri being cute when I passed through it years ago on a BYU trip. After a little more research and finding things to do, the trip was planned within hours.

Things to do in Hannibal:

1. Hike to the top of the Mark Twain memorial/ lighthouse. There are pretty views of the Mississippi and the town. Highly suggest not trying it in August humidity if you're like me and a total baby about summer heat.

Almost to the top!

From the town, lighthouse in the distance.

2. Tour the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and museum properties. Neither of us are that into Mark Twain himself, but we like history and it was interesting to see what life in Hannibal was like in the 1800s.

3. Eat barbecue. This is David's favorite thing to do anytime we go anywhere remotely close to the south.

4. Walk up and down the main street. There are plenty of little souvenir shops, and the architecture is cute.

4. Go through the Mark Twain cave. The natural air conditioning from being underground felt like heaven.

5. Stay in a mansion. Instead of going the normal hotel route, we opted to stay in a turn of the century mansion turned B&B. Although the outside of Rockcliffe Mansion still needs to be renovated, the inside is completely restored.

They offer tours even if you don't stay there. It was pretty cool- my only complaint was the historic mattress haha. It may not have been the best night's sleep, but we felt fancy.

Views from the roof of the mansion.

6. Take a steamboat ride down the Mississippi! This was probably our favorite thing we did. It was a dinner cruise, and was so relaxing to eat our dinner on the boat and watch the sunset.

A few bonus things we did to kill time-

Checking out the view from Lover's Leap:

 Going to Karlocks Cars and Pop Culture Museum:

Before heading home, we stopped in Galena, Illinois to break up the drive. This town is only 3 hours from home, but I had never been there.

I knew right as we pulled in that this wouldn't be the last time I visited! It's surrounded by green hills and is full of 19th century buildings and well-known restaurants and hotels.

We toured Ulysses S. Grant's house and browsed the main shopping street. I'd love to go back anytime and see more.

For a random, last minute, midst of a pandemic trip- this weekend turned out so well! It temporarily satisfied our wanderlust, although we're really looking forward to being able to travel farther from home as soon as we can.