Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Visit: Hannibal MO; Part Three or Going Home

I apologize it's taken me a few days to finish this series.  I took a break from blogging this weekend to start packing (eek!), finish reading a great book, stroll around the Farmer's Market, cook some great meals, wash and put away 9 loads of laundry and spend time with J and friends.  Anyway, here is the end of our anniversary trip (read part one and part two here) and a DIY project I completed with some mementos from our trip!

After listening to some great local music (including two very talented harmonica players), we headed back to Lulabelle's for a good night sleep.  We had seen (and heard) our mystery guest earlier that day but figured he would be long retired and in bed by the time we ourselves hit the sack.

Who is this mystery guest?  Well, you saw him in this photo earlier.


Meet Mr. Train.

Much to our chagrin, Mr. Train went by every hour or so throughout the night, whistling loudly as he came through, letting his presence be known to all.  The B & B did let us know on their website that there were train tracks nearby ("Most of our customers understand that trains are an integral part of the Mississippi River experience, since tracks run right along the river...However, after a glass of wine and a jacuzzi bath, most people don't mind.") and even left out some earplugs for our convenience but we figured with a few glasses of wine and a long day, we would sleep right through it.

Not really.  We tried sleeping without earplugs at first because they can be a bit uncomfortable but after an hour or two, we caved and put them in.  They did a better job of drowning out the horns but we still found ourselves waking up every few hours when the earplugs would slip out.  We gave up sleeping woke up for good around 5:30 and watched the sunrise over the river from our bed.  That part was really neat.  Not sleeping through the night, not so much.  We did have a good laugh about it though before heading to breakfast!

After a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes, we checked out of our room and headed to the Mark Twain Museum for a few hours before hitting the road. 

Us in front of Mark Twain's boyhood home
 The museum itself was a complex of building consisting of a visitor's center, art gallery, Mark Twain's childhood home, Tom Blankenship's home (Mark Twain's boyhood friend who inspired the character Huckleberry Finn), the general store and his father's law office. 


Because the museum is not owned by the State or Federal Parks system and therefore relies on private donations and admission fees to keep it up and running, some of the exhibits were more accessible than others (Becky Thatcher's house for example was completely closed for renovation) and others were in need of some repair and updating.  However, it was very interesting to learn about Mark Twain's early life and see some of the places that inspired the novels.   All weekend J and I both remarked that we needed to go back and reread The Adventures of Tom Sawyer again after everything we had read and seen!

We drove back that afternoon pretty tired but after a small lunch, a nap and dinner at a local restaurant we were finally feeling like ourselves again by Sunday night.  Our night with Mr. Train was definitely one for the memory books!

And speaking of memory books, last week I created a little keepsake from our anniversary trip that I wanted to share with you all.  I had picked up some little glass jars from Hobby Lobby last fall with the idea that I would fill each of them with mementos from each of the years we have dated (I've saved movie stubs, wristbands, corks, and so forth over the years).  Alas, many of the mementos are back in California as a result of my move out there after graduation so the jars sat empty in my basement for months until I came up with a new idea.  Why not fill each of them with items from vacations we take together instead? 

Here's what I filled our Hannibal glass jar with:


Now I can't wait for us to go on more vacations so that I can fill more of these cute little guys with stuff!  We are already planning to visit Mackinac Island and Toronto sometime next year (these destinations will be a lot closer to us once we move).  I only wish I would have thought of this sooner (like when we went on our honeymoon to San Francisco and Napa Valley last year)!

Do you save things like ticket stubs and wine corks?  Do you buy souvenirs when you go on trips?  If so, how do you display them? 

18 comments:

  1. Dear Mr. Train, as much as I like you, how dare you disrupt my good friend's weekend's getaway night sleep....boohoo! Sorry to hear that KT! But it's good that you got earplugs ready in hand.

    I LOVEEEEEE your idea of memory jars. My husband probably is the more sentimental type in this case (don't tell him I told you!). He likes to keep little things from our trip like tickets and trinkets!

    Now I have an idea on how to organize them better and they would make a very pretty display!

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  2. That's so funny about the train! (Well, to me, I'm sure it wasn't to you!) That's nice that your hosts had earplugs, at least. I have earplugs on hand for our guests who visit is, who may not be accustomed to the city noise. :)

    Love your memory jar! I usually make scrapbooks of the mementos I save, but have considered doing a memory jar thing with mason jars we've collected. Yours is perfect!

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  3. LOVE the mason jars idea-- so cute!!!

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  4. Wow you have had a lot going on!! Sounds like you had such a great time on your trip. Thanks for sharing all of the awesome pictures!!

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  5. I LOVE your jar idea ... and I think it's hilarious that you included the ear plugs :). Even though it was annoying, you guys will be laughing over the train for years!

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  6. awww your memory jar! =) so cute! and I looove that photo of you two! =)

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  7. Glad the trip was enjoyable despite the train! I do keep all kinds of keepsakes (though not so much anymore). I have two shoe boxes full with no clue what to do with them! I do have plans for the concert tickets though - I made a pretty awesome DMB scrapbook for my shows from 2001 - 2010.

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  8. aw, that's cute! Looks like a fun trip! I try to save some mementos but I'm terrible at keeping track of them!

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  9. I absolutely love the idea of saving vacation mementos in a jar! I save everything from our vacations so it would be nice to have them organized like that. I'm definitely trying it out :)

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  10. Dang train, that is pretty annoying. But if that was the worst thing on ya'lls weekend, I think you did pretty good! Can I just say that I LOVE the way you display your souvenirs of little things saved from the trip. Too cute! I like to keep ticket stubs and meaningful things too, but never thought to put them all in a jar. Genius! And I am totally borrowing this idea :)

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  11. Love that memory jar. Too cute, and such a good idea :-)
    I'm sorry the train was so hard on you guys. But at least you still had a great time regardless :-)

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  12. There is a train track that runs parallel to our little town so we hear the train come through probably 3 -4 times a day-- and one of those is the middle of the night. We have been living with it so long that we truly do not hear it anymore. Really. And we notice when we travel how often we do see/hear trains close by our accommodations. I love the little jar memento idea!

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  13. Ooh, the memory jars idea is so cute! They would look great on a mantle over a fireplace - too bad I don't have a fireplace! :)

    Funny story about trains - my aunt got married at the San Gabriel Mission and my father warned her, "The train is gonna go by during the ceremony- are you sure??" and they were like, "Nah it will be fine"

    Sure enough, the train went by, causing a ruckus during the middle of the ceremony...

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  14. What a fun way to keep the memory of your trips and special moments!

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  15. That little jar is the cutest thing ever. What a great idea!

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  16. Oh my golly. I'm so sorry about the train. That probably would have kept me up too. I remembered when I first moved into NYC, I lived on Broadway, right on top of one of the subways. It took me two weeks to adjust to that noise. And I think it's so sweet you save mementos from your trip! I used to do the same, but I started to run out of space so I tossed most of the stuff out and only kept a few important ones.

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  17. Love the memory jar!!!!
    I'm a newbie here, what a lovely blog you have!

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  18. OH MY GOODNESS! We have so much kicking around from our travels, I love the idea of putting all your little trinkets in that jar! I've considered making a giant wall collage one day (when we own a home) with all kinds of little souvenirs, and maps, and train tickets. We'll see how that goes :)

    PS - that dress you are wearing is lovely!

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