The Show Me & The Natural State - 15th update from Chrisandra’s Roadtrip

Aloha all,

most state slogans are a little weird. Missouri is known as “The Show Me State”, even though nobody seem to be able to “show me” where that name really comes from. And Arkansas is “The Natural State”, as if all the other states were artificial. But we saw several shows in Missouri and after driving through the beautiful nature of Arkansas, even that name kind of makes sense. I’d still rather call Arkansas  “The Penultimate State”. Arkansas was the 49th state Sandra and I have visited. So we still can’t tell you which one is our favorite, since we have not seen them all yet. I am leaning towards Hawaii. But I will withhold my judgment until we have seen them all. Maybe Oklahoma will surprise us, but we will probably not get there on this trip. 

Joy enjoys the fall colors ion Missouri

The very first morning after returning from our European side trip, we went to the Ulysses Grant National Historical Site just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. We always enjoy historical presidential sites. We learnt about President Grant in the visitor center, on the tour of his house and during a long chat with the park ranger. But my favorite part at the site was totally unrelated to Grant: They had a show by an actress impersonating Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Surprisingly the show was at 10 o’clock in the morning, with no apparent connection to President Grant and the show was free of charge. Got to love the Show Me State!

Mary Shelley One Woman Show

Continuing with the tradition of visiting homes of authors I have never read, we went to the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She wrote the “Little House” book series. Sandra had at least seen the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show, I knew nothing about it except that so many people love her stories. We got to tour the simple, but charming house where she started writing the books and also the much more modern ‘Rock House’ on the same property that her daughter had built for her and her husband. Apparently they moved in for several years because they did not want to appear ungrateful, but eventually they moved back into their original home, because it was home. 

Laura Ingalls Wilder's little house in Mansfield, Missouri

Now I know a little more about the Little House stories. The more I tried to find out what the stories are about, the more surprised I got how popular they are. It seems to be a rural version of Seinfeld: “A show about nothing”. Tell me if I am missing something, but it seems to be about normal life on the prairie just like Seinfeld is about normal life in the city. Seinfeld can be very entertaining without really being about anything, so maybe I should read the Little Prairie books, too. I’ll do that right after I finish my first full book by Mark Twain.

Our last stop in Missouri was Branson. We had heard a lot about it, but honestly we did not really know what to expect. It reminded us a lot of Las Vegas, just without the gambling and without the adult entertainment. Also with a much prettier setting: The Ozark Mountains are a lot more scenic and a lot more colorful this time of the year than the Nevada desert. Most of the shows and attractions of Branson seem pretty tacky, so even during our short stay, we fled a couple of times to just walk through the woods around Branson. 

We did visit one of the tourist attractions: The Titanic Museum, which was surprisingly informative. For example: Did you know that passengers from 40 countries were on the Titanic, but athletes from only 28 countries competed at the Olympics the same year? Interesting also how little the White Star Line felt responsible for the accident. The museum had a letter displayed that was sent to a widow, requesting her to pay a hefty fee if she wanted the remains of her husband shipped to her. I was also surprised to learn that you had a better chance of survival as a woman in 3rd class than as a man in 1st class. The museum was very engaging, highlighting many aspects and personal stories. They also had some hands-on exhibits or maybe I should say “hands-in” exhibits: Reading that the water was 28 degrees F (minus 2 degrees Celsius) is one thing. Actually sticking your hand in water this cold is something different. I was determined to leave my hand in there long enough to convince myself that I would have survived until I made it onto a life raft. But after only 20 seconds, my hand pulled out without even consulting me.

Titanic Museum in Branson, MO

We also picked one of the 42 million shows offered in Branson. They all seem to involve country music, but the Dolly Parton Stampede also includes horses and a dinner, so it was a pretty easy decision.

Dolly Parton's Stampede Dinner Show

The show was fun, but I was even more impressed how they serve a sit down dinner to over 1,000 people in a matter of minutes. Surprisingly, it was all hot and actually pretty delicious for such a mass feeding. However, it paled in comparison to our last culinary experience in Branson: The Keeter Center at the College of the Ozarks campus gives students a chance to get job training and us one of our best lunches of the trip.

Welcome to "The Natural State"

Arkansas impressed us from the very beginning. The welcome center was very welcoming and gave us all kinds of good suggestions. The hike in the Lost Valley at the Buffalo National River was  amazing: The fall colors were gorgeous and the waterfalls were spectacular. Especially the one you had to go spelunking to get to. Eden Falls Cave is just scary enough to be an adventure, but safe enough to be fun. After ducking, squeezing and crawling for 10 minutes you come to this large cave with a 35ft waterfall coming out of the rock ceiling. I love things that feel like a real adventure, but are actually very safe.

Spelunking in the Lost Valley in Arkansas

The next day we went to the first State Park of Arkansas. I can see why Petite Jean was the first area they wanted to protect: It’s beautiful! Maybe I’m forgetting something and Sandra might correct me when she proofreads this, but I’d say in the first two days in Arkansas we did our two prettiest hikes of the whole trip, with a nice lunch at a CCC lodge as an extra bonus.

Grotto at the Petite Jean State Park

Little Rock offered everything we love about road trips and one thing that made us miss Maui. It has a presidential library, a state capitol, a National Park Service site, a history museum, a small local theater, a riverfront area and a very central and very affordable RV Park. Unfortunately, it also had ridiculous cold weather - so we won’t mind going back to our little tropical island without any state capitol or presidential library.

Of course we spent a full day at the Clinton Presidential Library, but I want to be honest: It’s not my favorite. The building is kind of cool, first because it has its own pedestrian bridge that basically connect it directly with our RV Park on the other side of the Arkansas river. Also, it looks more like a library than any of the other presidential libraries. But we did not find it to be as engaging as most of the other presidential libraries we have been to. This surprised me, since it is one of the most modern ones. We did enjoy the guided tour and I have to say, I also enjoyed every little clip of Clinton speaking. Love him or hate him, he sure is a great orator, not just in comparison to “You Know Who”. 

Bridge from our campground to the Clinton Presidential Library

The Arkansas State Capitol is much less ornate than others, but still very impressive. For now Iowa is still my favorite. The marble staircases, the hallways and the dome are more plain, with very little artwork. 

Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock, plain, but impressive

But they have portraits of former governors on the walls, of course including Bill Clinton. Elected when he was only 32 years old, he looks like a kid, but obviously the people of Arkansas saw the potential he had and elected the kid as their governor five times. 

Billy The Kid

The Old State Capitol is now a history museum. This is where I learnt that Arkansas actually voted to stay in the Union just a few weeks before joining the Confederacy. There was also an attempt to re-join the union before the end of the civil war. And they sent troops to both sides of the conflict! The more we learn, the more complicated it gets. It’ was so much easier when everybody south of the Mason-Dixon Line was bad and everybody north of it was good. It’s just not true.

The most interesting site to visit in Little Rock I thought was the National Historical Site at the Little Rock Central High School. This is where the de-segregation fight happened in 1957 when “The Little Rock Nine” students tried to attend the prestigious, formerly all white school after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The courts had evolved enough, but many white people had not. The mob of angry white people attacking the nine innocent, smart and extremely well behaved black students looks ridiculous from today’s perspective. 

Integration is 'unchristian', 'illegal' and 'Communism' - sounds like a parody today

But even this black against white story is not as black and white as it first appears:

Governor Faubus, who refused to accept the law and actually uses the national guard to keep the black students out of the school looks pretty bad, right? 

President Eisenhower, who sends in the 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the ‘Litte Rock Nine” looks pretty good, right?

Good and bad looked so easy to determine until we took a guided tour with a park ranger to the school (it’s still a regular public high school today) and I did a little more research: Turns out Governor Faubus was actually relatively progressive and more open to desegregation than others in the south at the time. It’s true that without Eisenhower sending federal troops there is no way the black kids could have gone to school that year. Ike could have take even more credit since he had nominated Chief Justice Warren, who swung the vote in Brown vs. Board in favor of desegregation. However, Eisenhower apparently was very sympathetic to white parents who did not want black students at their schools and he is quoted saying: “I made two mistakes. They both sit on the Supreme Court.” - it’s always more complicated than it sounds at first. But one thing is simple: The country is a better place thanks to the brave nine kids. They had to declare not to retaliate, no matter the verbal and physical abuse they were subjected to. One of them dared to call students “white trash” when they physically assaulted her. The white students were not punished, she got expelled. 

Ranger tour at the Little Rock Central High School

When we first arrived at Hot Springs National Park, it was cold, but still beautiful. We were thrilled to find out that the observation tower was just the right distance from the campground for a little  afternoon hike. One of us was less thrilled that the hike got a little longer because the elevator was out of order, but the view from the top was well worth the extra climb. 

View from the Observation tower to Hot Springs, AK

When we were back in Joy, it started snowing and ironically, Hot Springs was the coldest night we ever had on a road trip. But with extra heaters, we managed to keep Joy’s pipes from freezing and she kept us nice and cozy.

Unusual November snow at the Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs

The national park visitor center of Hot Springs is in the historic Fordyce Bathhouse. This 1915 bathhouse was the grandest of them all and also the first one to go out of business in 1962. We took a tour through the Fordyce Bathhouse which explained the history and the procedures in great detail. It all sounded like a weird mix of luxurious spa experience and medieval torture chamber. Electroshocking patients in bathtubs and injecting them with mercury was all part of the treatment plans back then. 

On the other hand, the facilities were built lavishly and several of the treatments sounded very enjoyable. No wonder they attracted lots of rich men and even the baseball stars of the days, including Babe Ruth. The bathhouses make somewhat of a comeback, minus the electroshocks and the mercury injections. We opted for the Quapaw Bathhouse, because soaking in hot pools is about the best thing to do when it’s freezing and snowing outside. 

Soaking at the Quapaw Bathhouse

But enough with the laziness! After a day of soaking in Hot Springs, it was time to go back to history class. The Clinton Library had been a little light on his early years, so we filled in the gaps when we visited his home at his birthplace in Hope, AK. This is where William Blythe grew up. Yes, that was Bill Clinton’s name at birth. His dad passed before he was born and he later took on his stepfather’s name. 

Private tour of Clintons Birthplace Home

For the last two days we’ve been easing our way from Arkansas to Texas. Yesterday, we spent all day in the Historic Washington State Park. Washington was the last stop in Arkansas on the Southwest Trail. Many pioneers and settlers traveled a similar route we took from St. Louis to Texas, including Sam Houston, James Bowie and Davy Crockett. We have a lot to learn about this part of American history. I know nothing about these American heroes except that a city, a knife and a Disney movie are named after them, respectively.

The town of Washington used to be a pretty big deal. Not only was it the capital of the county, it was even the confederate state capital of Arkansas during the civil war. They were doing so well, that they actually voted not to have the railroad come to their town. They did not expect that this was the beginning of the end for Washington and the beginning of the new town of Hope. They probably also did not expect that the small town of Hope, which the railroad founded instead of stopping in Washington would go on to produce a governor and president (Clinton) and another governor and presidential candidate (Huckabee).

Historic Washington - Arkansas Sate Park

The town of Washington went downhill so quickly, that most of the buildings were simply left empty  until a group of local ladies lobbied for the preservation and restoration of this part of early Arkansas history. Today, the town is a small Williamsburg. We visited several historic homes, the local doctor, the courthouse, the print shop and the blacksmith and had lunch in the 1832 William Tavern.

One of the historic homes, left half remodeled, right half left as it was found

They also have the state’s largest magnolia tree and a moon tree. In case you are as ignorant as we were until yesterday and don’t know what a moon tree is: The astronauts on Apollo 14 took 500 tree seeds with them around the moon in 1971. They wanted to see whether being in space would have any effect on the seeds. Apparently it did not. The seedlings did about the same as the earthbound control group. 47 years later, 80 of them still survive throughout the world and at least the moon tree we saw in Washington looked an awful lot like a regular pine tree. 

Texarkana's post office sits half in Texas, half in Arkansas

Today we visited Texarkana, which, as the name suggests, sits right on the state line between Arkansas and Texas. In fact, they have the only dual-state post office in the country, right in the middle on the state line, serving both towns: Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas. Combined they have a population of almost 70,000. It’s one of the weirdest towns we have been to and a little depressing:

• We have been to ghost towns that seemed more alive than downtown Texarkana 
• There are many abandoned buildings, but no homeless and no shady characters, apparently even those have abandoned downtown
• Sadly, the building that seemed to be in the best shape was the Juvenile Correction Center
• The only place where we saw people playing was the prison courtyard, which is only a block from the historical center of town.
• There were only a handful of business open in downtown. Three of them are the historical places we visited and ironically, they tell the story of how grand Texarkana used to be. 
• The Grim Hotel, which used to be the grandest hotel in town is totally abandoned and now truly a grim sight. The Super 8 and Motel 6 outside of town is doing fine.
• There is a sign at the former Grim Hotel, announcing ambitious plans to revitalize the building “coming soon”. After talking to a local, it sounds a lot like the “Jesus Coming Soon” sign on the church in Lahaina. I would not hold my breath for either one.
• Ironically, we had finally thought about looking for an RV friendly parking lot for Joy before heading downtown. At first we were happy that the large, central parking lot was basically empty and offered free, unlimited parking. But soon we noticed that we could have parked sideways in the middle of the main street and it would not have caused any issues whatsoever.

When I asked the young lady at the museum when the heydays of Texarkana had been, she did not really understand the question. She was born in the 80’s and apparently to her, this is what downtown Texarkana has always looked. I guess she never questioned why there were these grand, but abandoned buildings. She did not even know whether she was in Texas or Arkansas. Our tour guide at the other two sites was a British lady and relatively new to the town, but luckily a whole lot better informed. Especially the tour of the interestingly shaped “Ace of Clubs House” was a true highlight in this desolate place.

I don't even want to know how depressing downtown Texarkana
must feel if the weather is not this beautiful...

Overall, Texarkana was the kind of place I am glad we visited, but we are even gladder we don’t live there. Even the listing for a 4 bedroom renovated home right downtown with a wrap around porch for $79K did not tempt us.

Now we are in Texas. Their slogan is “Go Big or Go Home”. But you know what I think of slogans. We’ll just change that to “Go for a small tour and Go home”.  

Aloha from the town of Lone Star in the Lone Star State,

Chris & Sandra

In Iceland and Germany without Joy - 14th update from Chrisandra’s Roadtrip

Aloha all,

we did not take Joy with us, but we found joy on our trip to Europe anyway. That might sound like a riddle, but if you are either a grammar nerd or if you know that our RV is called Joy, it should be pretty obvious. 

At the end of the last post, I had promised to do three things: 

1. Make up my mind whether Iceland is a barren wasteland or a mystical wonderland 

2. Do nothing in Germany but drinking beer and eating pretzels

3. Try to finally write a short update. 

Read on to see how we did:

Of course two days are way too short to really see Iceland. But we saw a lot for just a layover on a trip that I did not plan to take a few weeks ago. It took me a day in Iceland before I noticed the first tree. But I would still describe Iceland as a natural wonderland; with very spectacular waterfalls, very active geysers and a very blue Blue Lagoon.

As you can see, the Blue Lagoon looks and feels pretty cool

We did not get to swim at the Blue Lagoon, but it was still the highlight of our first day. We were not organized enough, by the time we found out that you need reservations for the Blue Lagoon, there were only tickets for 9pm available, an hour before they close. We decided not to spend the $140 to find out how the blue water feels. But we were determined enough to go there anyway and we were pleasantly surprised that we could walk around the lagoon and see what we missed. It’s called Blue Lagoon for a reason.

The Blue Lagoon in Iceland

The second day we did the Golden Circle tour. As far as we know, any first time visitor to Iceland is required by law to do this drive. When we did our research what we should do with our short time in Iceland, the guide books and websites only differed in which way we should do the Golden Circle Tour. Even if this drive were not mandatory, it’s probably the best way to see some of Iceland’s highlights in just one day: 

First the Pingvellir National Park with a beautiful gorge, created by the American and Eurasian tectonic plates drifting apart. This is also where the first Icelandic assembly was held. We did not get as deeply into the history of Iceland as we do in America, but apparently this is where this unique country was founded. Next we went to the original geyser, the one all other geysers in the world are named after, including Strokkur, just a few steps apart. While the Geyser geyser is currently resting on it’s laurels and is not erupting, the Strokkur geyser is picking up the slack. About every three minutes, this peaceful pool forms a big bubble and erupts about 60 feet high up in the air. 

The Strokkur geyser erupts every 3 minutes

Last, but certainly not least, we stopped at the Gullfoss waterfall. This is the second most impressive waterfall we have ever seen. And we enjoyed it thoroughly, even though we were at the most impressive falls only one short month ago.

The Gullfoss Waterfalls

From living on Maui, we are used to warm temperatures and high prices. Neither prepared us for Iceland. We were so cold that we did not even pick out our favorite apartment if we were to move here. We usually do this, even in places we never want to move to. We also did not look at real estate prices; but if restaurant prices are any indication, Iceland makes Maui look cheap. We had every intention to go out for a nice Icelandic dinner…until we saw the prices. The first night we found a somewhat affordable Thai restaurant, the second night we only decided between the Costco food court and the restaurant at IKEA. We ended up getting gas at Costco and food at IKEA. So at least we had Scandinavian food and the money we saved on gas (over $1/gallon less than at other stations!) almost paid for our dinner. 

Of course our time in Iceland was way too short, but we liked Iceland so much, that we will come back for sure….when it’s warmer and cheaper.

For the nine days in Germany, we pretty much stuck to the plan to “eat, drink and be merry” with our family. Most days we went seamlessly from breakfast to lunch, to ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ to dinner. We only made some small adjustments to the original plan: For example, instead of drinking beer, we opted mostly for wine. Over the last 20 years, America has come such a long way in regards to beer that I find beer more interesting in the US than in Germany by now. Of course I still had a few Hefeweissen, but I come to appreciate the dry German white wines more and more. 

At my parent's home

While we were staying in Stuttgart with Sandra’s sister, her aunt and uncle came to visit, which we appreciated very much. In Breisach we got to see my parents and also friends we had not seen in a decade. On the way through the Black Forest, I even got to meet cousins I had never met at all. We spent a very fun afternoon and evening with them. We walked to the dairy farm next door to get the freshest milk I’ve had in 30 years and they even arranged for some decent amount of snow as a special attraction for their visitors from Hawaii. 

The Black Forest in white

We got to meet more family & friends in Eigeltingen, but always made sure we had at least 30 minutes between meals to roll from one place to the next. 

One of the rare times we set at an empty table

We deviated from our original plan slightly when we took a few hours off from eating and drinking to visit Colmar in France. This was long overdue: I grew up right across the Rhine from here, but I had never been to the Bartholdi Museum. He’s the guy who built the Statue of Liberty, or so we thought. The first thing we learnt there was that he did NOT build the “Statue of Liberty”, but he built “Liberty Enlightening the World”. That’s what it was actually called, regardless of what people call it now. We also learnt that originally Lady Liberty was supposed to raise her other arm and guard the Port of Suez instead of New York Harbor. 

Bartholdi's original models

I also learnt where I got my museum stamina from: Even though they had been to the Bartholdi museum many times before, my mom and my dad were more than happy to go back there after lunch to go through the museum again with the audio guide. My French is a little rusty, so I did not get the whole story the first time around.

The other time we stopped eating and drinking for a short while was when my brother’s family came from Switzerland so we could play disc golf together. First we played a private course in Freiburg. The hosts who let us play on their course even joined us for the round. But that’s where their friendliness ended. They would have ‘left us in the dust’, but it rained, so I guess they ‘left us in the mud’. My niece Ronja was not much nicer. She beat her dad and her uncle, too. But I don’t mind loosing to her, as long as my brother doesn’t beat me. And Jan and I tied, so we were one big happy family…until the next round. 

The coolest round of disc golf we ever played

At first I thought Linnea was so scared after I beat her on the road trip in July that she pretended to have some ultimate tournament in Barcelona to avoid playing me. But it turns out she was playing the European Club Championships of Beach Ultimate. We were able to watch the bronze medal game, which was streamed online and which they won. Coincidentally, third place is also where Ronja and I think Linnea would have ended up if she had played disc golf with us.

The disc golf course in Freiburg was very cool…or to be more precise: Barely above freezing. But if you get to play with your brother only once a year, cold weather is no excuse not to play. Also: It made the sauna visit afterwards so much more enjoyable. 

Games are a great way to spend the time between meals

The next day we played “Scotland Yard” indoors until it finally stopped raining. Then we played another round of disc golf. This time, my brother, my niece and my nephew were all courteous enough to let the player who traveled the furthest win.  

So we had a very enjoyable time on this little side trip, even without Joy. We did not get to see all our friends, but we hope to catch up with all of them when we do our ‘real’ Germany trip next year. We might have to adjust our diet a little bit for a longer stay in Germany. While all the eating and drinking is a lot of fun, if we kept up this culinary pace for any longer, we would not fit in an airline seat to get back home anymore. And eventually, it gets too cold here and we want to go back to Maui.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

On the Trail to Topeka with Twain & Truman - 13th update from Chrisandra’s Road Trip

Aloha all,

if you like to keep up with our travels, but don’t have time to read a whole novel every week, this is your lucky day: We are taking a few days off from our road trip for a quick trip via Iceland to visit our family in Germany. That does not leave much time to write a long update, so I’ll just quickly tell you how we spent the last week meeting Mark Twain and spending a night with President Harry Truman…

Mark Twain is as omnipresent in and around Hannibal, Missouri as Lincoln is in Springfield. The cottage he was born in was moved to a ‘’shrine’ in his own Mark Twain State Park outside of Hannibal. We stayed at the Mark Twain campground at the Mark Twain Cave. Of course there is the home where Mark Twain grew up, but they also preserved the homes of people he knew and might have based the characters in his books on, such as Huckleberry Finn. And if a building had nothing to do with him, they put a Mark Twain museum or a Mark Twain souvenir shop in it. To be honest, I am not sure Hannibal would still be a town, if it weren’t for Mark Twain…or if it weren’t for the levies that protect it from the rising waters of the Mississippi:

Levy protecting Hannibal from the Mississippi

After all that hype, we got really excited to see that Mark Twain himself was performing at the local theater the same night we were there. The whole performance was based on Mark Twain’s own words, which made it even more surprising that it all seemed so relevant in today’s world. I guess true wisdom and witty humor is timeless. Only in one aspect he was way off: About politicians, he said that the most important part is being honest. Well, either he was being funny or he did not foresee a future in which this quality is not needed at all to reach the highest office in the land. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the performance and chatting with the Mark Twain impersonator afterwards. He always stayed in character, which confused me a little bit. When I told him that we lived in the Sandwich Islands, he said that he was heading there again next year. I thought he was planing a trip for 2019, but Mark Twain went there in 1895. Mark Twain continues to be my favorite author I never read.

Mark Twain and the Sandwich Islanders

A few days later, we got a little extra Mark Twain without even trying: We went to another little local theater that was putting on such an obscure play, that we could not even google it. It was called “In regard to Flight”. Actually, Sandra and I both found a play by that name, but they were totally different. And as it turned out, the actual play we saw was very different yet again from what either one of us had read online. We were very glad that we went anyway. Just like in old Maui days, there were only a dozen people in the audience, but the play was riveting. It imagined Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meeting again when they were old men. Huck Finn is still telling tall tales and might or might not have spent a summer with Peter Pan in Neverland. We loved it.

Before we started our trip, I had bought a large US map and marked places I wanted to see with stars. However, for the star in Columbia, Missouri, I failed to write down why. But it turned out great, we went to a really fun concert from “Here come the Mummies” at the ‘Blue Note’. The opening band “Luthi” was so good that we felt we already got our money’s worth. Our seat neighbors explained to us why the Mummies perform all disguised: Supposedly, they are all well known (some even Grammy winning) musicians, who are by contract not allowed to tour on their own, so they do so incognito with the Mummies. It’s hard to describe their style. I’d call it mostly funk…and calling them highly energetic fun would be an understatement. 

"Here Come the Mummies!"

Ever since we went to the JFK Presidential Library 10 years ago, we’ve been to as many Presidential Libraries and Museums as possible, but there is always something new. At the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri they had a “History Happy Hour”, which includes free drinks, snacks and one of the curators sharing her favorite finds from the archives. She had just transferred from the JFK Library, which made the presentation particularly fitting for us. Plus we got to talk to the right people to secure an overnight spot for Joy and us to spend the night at the Library. This was helpful since we did not finish the museum on the first day…too much to learn about Truman…and too much to be thankful for, especially as a German.

Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum

Here is how nice President Truman was to Germany after the Second World War, even though he went to fight Germany in the First World War himself: He knew that Hitler came to power because of the unfair conditions imposed on Germany after WW I and he knew that Western Europe was needed to contain Soviet ambitions to spread communism. But he also knew that he was not popular enough in congress or in the country to ask for billions of dollars to help rebuilding Europe. But General Marshal was popular, so he was willing to call it the Marshall Plan and not get all the credit. I remember my mom telling me how grateful they were for the help from the Marshall Plan, but until we came to this Museum, I knew Truman only as the guy who dropped the atomic bombs. 

Learning that the years immediately after the war were hard times in America, too, makes it even more impressive that they spent billions to help Europe. I hope by now most Americans will agree, that it was money well spent, making Europe a democratic ally and a force for peace and stability rather than the previous cause for war after war. I have to be honest, I don’t know whether I would have been so generous. For example, when West Berlin was cut off, it would have been easy to sacrifice half a city to the Soviets to avoid confrontation. But Truman insisted on the Berlin Airlift, which lasted a lot longer and involved much more effort than I ever realized. For about a year a plane landed in Berlin in average every two minutes to feed and supply the city. Pretty smart move, in hindsight, knowing that Berlin was the city where the wall came crumbling down about 40 years later. Not such an obvious decision back then. Thank you Harry; thank you, America!

Each plane represents one flight of the Berlin Airlift...every day for a year!

After leaving the White House, Truman moved back to his home in Missouri. It was actually the home of his in-laws. He moved in there when he married Bess, who was much more upper class than him. Apparently, for his mother-in-law Harry was never really good enough for her daughter, even when he was the president. It was a fancy home for the time and the area, but very modest for an ex-president. 

The house across the street is historically restored as well. This is where Harry’s favorite cousin lived, what apparently was instrumental in him courting Bess. In it, we saw a TV show from the 50’s in which Truman’s daughter interviewed her mom and dad in the family home, it’s very charming and really shows how down-to-earth they were.

Off to Kansas, now we are down to just two states we have not been to. If you have been paying any attention, you can probably guess where we spent the first day in Topeka. Yes, of course, at the state capitol. And I am not kidding, but the Topeka Sate Capitol seriously is my new favorite capitol building. First of all, they just finished their multi year renovations, with the very elaborate copper ornamentation still shiny. But mostly because they don’t offer just one free tour, but two. We have been to so many capitols where I looked up the rotunda and wished we could go up….in Topeka we did! 

Kansas State Capitol in Topeka

The dome is taller than the Capitol in DC, however the inner dome is actually only half way up. On the tour you get to climb up the stairs through the lower dome to the upper dome and come out on top of it, with great views inside and out. Luckily, our tour guide enjoyed it just as much and did not mind staying there a little longer, possibly cementing Topeka as my favorite state capitol of them all…but we still have about 26 to go.

Stairs between the lower and upper dome of the Topeka capitol

Topeka is also home to the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site. They converted the school where Linda Brown went into a museum about the landmark decision of the Supreme Court to desegregate pubic schools. Even though it’s known as Brown vs. Board of Education, there were actually several lawsuits involved and Linda actually finished school in the all-black school even after the favorable verdict. But they sure changed history. It made me think that the people who fought for equal rights for everybody regardless of the color of their skin, the gender they were born or who they happen to love, maybe those people should wear those red hats saying “Make America Great”. Regardless of the many bad things going on, I feel there is no question that in the big picture America is still on her path to live up to her original declaration that all men are created equal. Sometimes a look back at history helps to keep things in perspective. 

Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site

That was our very short introduction to Kansas, back to Missouri: Of course they have a capitol, too, so we went to Jefferson City. Fun fact: When the capital was moved here, only 26 families lived in Jefferson City. It’s slightly bigger now, but still a very quiet town. As always, we enjoyed the tour at the state capitol. They might have the best murals of any state capitol, but they did not let us on top of the dome, so Topeka is still my favorite for now…

But with the capitol, the historical buildings of Jefferson Landing and a nice brewery, it made for a very pleasant visit. Jefferson Landing should actually be called Lewis & Clark Landing, since they were the first ones to land on the banks of the Missouri River at this location over 200 years ago. 

Since we are running a severe risk of eventually running out of Presidential Museums, Sandra found something completely different for us to do in Fulton, Missouri: A “Prime Minister Museum”, or to be more precise: The National Churchill Museum. It’s located on the campus of Westminster College because that’s where Churchill gave his famous “Iron Curtain Speech”. In case you were wondering why he would give this speech in rural Missouri: The short answer is: Because they invited him. And then our friend President Truman extended their invitation. What I wasn’t aware of is the fact that in 1946 he was not Prime Minister anymore. That’s right, a year after defeating the Nazis in WW 2, he was defeated in an election at home. But he stayed involved, as shown by the speech at Westminster College and by the fact that he became prime minister again a few years later. The Churchill museum is just as impressive as a presidential museum. We spent a full day here, including a long chat with a volunteer who gave us a private tour of the old church, which was brought from London brick by brick and in which the Churchill museum is now housed. 

Joy at the Churchill Museum at Westminster College

The little Westminster College in quiet Fulton, Missouri has continued to invite big name speakers and they continue to agree. Reagan gave a speech here when they erected a piece of the Wall just a year after it came down in Berlin. Many more speaker came here, from Margaret Thatcher to Bernie Sanders, so they cover pretty much the whole spectrum. 

In St. Louis we only went to the Arch. We had been to the top 26 years ago, but the visitor center is totally new and has great exhibitions about the westward expansion. 

St. Louis viewed from the Arch

The memorial and the museum pays tribute to the pioneers who expanded the country from coast to coast, without whitewashing the history. They explain in detail how the Americans of European decent stole the land from the Native Americans, broke ever single treaty they ever made with the Native American tribes and decimated native populations through diseases and by destroying their livelihood, both accidentally and on purpose. What I was not aware of before is that even for European settlers, the expansion of America was not always an expansion of freedom and democracy. For example, women had many more rights in the French and Mexican territories before they became part of the United States.

View straight down from the top of the Gateway Arch

We spent one more day in St. Louis disc golfing, packing and getting Joy ready for the expected cold front while we are gone. Then we were off to the airport. If you think we are enjoying our road trip so much that we will never come back to Maui, rest assured: We miss our friends and the weather. A few more reminders like this and we are sure to remember to return to Maui for the winter: 

Snow in October, a reminder to come back to Maui eventually...

Speaking of winter: I’d love to tell you about our two days in Iceland, but I promised to keep this short. Also: I am still debating whether to describe Iceland as a barren wasteland where we got excited when we saw our first tree or as a mystical colorful wonderland of natural phenomena. Both descriptions seem perfectly honest to me. If you haven’t been there yourself, you’ll just have to wait for the next post. 

For the next week, we will try to do nothing in Germany except seeing our family, eating pretzels and drinking beer, so maybe next time I can write the really short update I had promised you.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

The “Land of Lincoln” Special - 12th update from Chrisandra’s Roadtrip

Aloha all,

I can almost hear you: “What? Already another blog from Chris and Sandra?” I know, most of you have not even started to read the last post, but occasionally, we think a place is so special that it deserves it’s own update. Springfield in Illinois has been such a place for us. All of Illinois claims to be the “Land of Lincoln”, but you don’t really notice it other than on the license plates until you get close to Springfield….then all of the sudden everything is ‘All About Abe’. 

It started in Bloomington, the day before we got to Springfield. They have a historical museum, which is mostly about Lincoln, the Bloomington residents who knew Lincoln and the places in Bloomington where Lincoln has been. They do mention that Bloomington is on Route 66 and that some other people came here besides Lincoln, but considering that he never actually lived in Bloomington, it’s pretty funny how much they claim him as their home town hero.

We also visited the David Davies Mansion in Bloomington. He was a US senator and a Supreme Court justice. But not surprisingly, in Bloomington he’s mostly know for being one of Lincoln’s friends, in particular because he persuaded him to run for president. It’s all about Abe. I don’t blame them, there are only two or three presidents that pretty much everybody agrees were pretty good, so if you got one of them, you got to use it for all it’s worth.

We got a fun welcome to Springfield when we checked in at the campground at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Apparently the campground host was bored, so he offered to take us on a golf cart ride around the whole complex, telling us about the buildings, the state fair and of course the Lincoln sites.

Our private golf cart tour of the Illinois Sate Fairgrounds

In the last update I mentioned that we also found the one and only house in Springfield that has nothing to do with Lincoln and we actually went there first: It’s the Dana Thomas House by our good old friend Frank Lloyd Wright. The more of his houses we see, the more impressed I am by his work, the more appalled I am by his character and the more amused I am by his inability to build a roof that does not leak. But what I find most impressive is that his houses still look modern to us after all these years, this one is from 1904. Many buildings are out of style within a decade of being built or at least look obviously old. Frank Lloyd Wright’s work seems either way ahead of his time or just timeless. Unfortunately, they never allow photographs of the fun features inside of the house. 

The beautiful, timeless, leaking Dana Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Most presidents are lucky if their home is preserved as a museum at all. For Lincoln, Springfield not only preserved his home, but re-created the whole neighborhood where he lived. The National Park Service manages the site and per Lincoln’s son request, tours are and always will be free. This is the home where he lived before he became president. Nice middle class for the time, but nothing fancy by today’s standards.

Lincoln's Home

Since Springfield is the capital, of course we we took a tour through their state capitol. It was built after Lincoln was assassinated, but of course he’s still very well represented and remembered at the capitol building. If you have ever been to the Illinois state capitol, I bet that the first thing you said when you looked up into the rotunda was the same thing we said: “Wow!”. This truly is the most impressive state capitol dome we have seen so far. I know you think that I say that about every capitol building we visit. But I want you to go back to my last update to confirm that I did not say that about the Michigan Capitol in Lansing, even though it was really impressive, too. Springfield’s capitol dome is also the tallest in the country, taller than the national capitol in Washington.

Rotunda in the Illinois State Capitol

From what we hear, the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield had fallen into terrible disrepair. But just in time for us, they finished their $15 million renovation and now give free public tours through all but the private living areas. You would think the current governor of Illinois would get some credit for renovating the Governor’s Mansion without spending any taxpayer’s money and making it available for public tours. He’s also one of the few Illinois governors, who is not (yet) convicted of corruption, which is somewhat unusual. But the one state employee we talked to just rolled his eyes when asked whether they were glad not to have Blagojevich in office anymore (he’s currently in jail for trying to ’sell’ Obama’s senate seat). Apparently he is only slightly happier with the current governor. 

The next day was one of my favorite days of all of our road trips. According to TripAdvisor, most people spend 2-3 hours at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield. We went there when they opened and left seven hours later when they closed. The museum just opened in 2005, so it is very modern. In fact, one of the multimedia presentations, the “Ghosts off the Library”, was so well done that we had to see the show a second time just to confirm whether what we had just seen was a hologram, an animatronic or a real person. We even watched it a third time, but that was just for fun.

The Lincoln Museum would be the one place I would not blame if it were all about Lincoln. But they actually had an exhibition that included the other three presidents with Illinois ties. Only one president was born in Illinois. It’s not who most people would guess, it’s Ronald Reagan. Grant also lived in Illinois for a long time and of course Obama. Depending on who you ask that’s a pretty good record. Four good ones if you ask this German hobby historian. The Lincoln Museum does a great job telling Lincoln’s story from his log cabin beginnings, through his career as a traveling lawyer and as president during the civil war, to his untimely death. 

Some people just don't know how to dress to meet the first family...

Most other presidential museums and libraries leave out or downplay any of the criticism. Here they do the opposite: They display an amazing amount of quotes, caricatures, and news that just trash Lincoln. If you think partisan politics  today are worse than ever, this might come as a surprise. The things that were said about Lincoln during his lifetime were worse than anything I have ever heard on MSNBC about Trump or on Fox News about Obama. But of course that changed quickly after he won the civil war and died a martyr by being assassinated. Now I guess the curators of the museum are so confident in Abraham Lincoln’s reputation that they can have a whole exhibition about vicious criticism and it just makes Abraham Lincoln look even better. 

Another exhibit I really enjoyed at the Lincoln Museum was a modern day TV studio where they had Tim Russert report on the 1860 election. I wish they had these for all presidential elections, just to show that dirty partisan politics are nothing new.

Tim Russert reporting on the 1860 presidential election

After the day at the museum we were able to enjoy a real “tripple treat”: As you know, we love American history & former presidents, we love musicals and we love state capitols.  Lucky for us, we got to combine all this when we were able to get tickets for the sold out musical “1776”, performed in the historic House of Representatives at the Old State Capitol and we loved, loved, loved it. The performance was so fantastic that it really felt like we were there at the birth of the nation, even though I doubt John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Co. were singing much when they argued whether or not to declare Independence.

"1776" musical at the Old State House 

We went back to visit the Old State Capitol the next day. Only makes sense to go there twice; besides Lincoln, Obama also made history here. Plus my own first lady walked down the capitols steps, too:

Sandra at the Old State Capitol

Obama announced his candidacy and his running mate in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield. We also got to talk in depth with a historian, who enlightened us that history is never as black and white as it seems: Two examples: Stephen Douglas was not as bad as the Lincoln stories sometimes makes him look. Douglas is portrayed as the bad guy in the debates with Lincoln because he favored states rights to allow slavery, but does not get much credit for fully supporting the Union once the civil war broke out. And the Hamilton musical makes it sound like Alexander Hamilton was an abolitionist fighting for democracy, but apparently he bought and sold slaves for his in-laws and was an elitist in favor of having a president for life.

Old State Capitol at night

Our last two stops in Springfield were Lincoln’s tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery and the Elijah Iles House. This could have been just another old house of yet another guy who knew Lincoln. But even though we were the only visitors, we got to enjoy a competition between our tour guide, the curator of the mansion and the grandson of the last owner of the mansion. Between the three of them, they had lots of stories and details. The whole mansion was moved two times. We have heard that at many historical sites and it still blows my mind that they were able to move a house without any modern equipment.

Lincoln's tomb

When we left Springfield, we were already pretty impressed, little did we know that the best was yet to come. We went to Lincoln’s New Salem Historical Site. This is the small village where Lincoln lived for 6 years after moving out from his parents, apparently full of ambition but no idea what to do with it. We ended up spending almost three days here, mostly because we got here during their annual candlelight weekend, when they light the whole village with candles and they have interpreters in costumes in most of the buildings. They even serve free hot cider and gingerbread, so not surprising, there were over 1000 people there, walking from cabin to cabin, learning about Lincoln and his former neighbors, listening to live music or just enjoying the atmosphere with a faint orange glow coming out of every door and window. We loved it so much that we decided to stay another night. The second night was very different. There were only a few dozen people because it had rained hard. So no lines and one more reason to check out the next cabin to see what’s happening inside. This really is the most intriguing way to learn about history. 

Candlelight weekend at Lincoln's New Salem

The things we learnt that surprised us the most: New Salem, with it’s roughly 200 people in a little over 20 cottages was the largest town Lincoln had ever lived in at this point in his life, even though his family had moved several times from Kentucky via Indiana to Illinois. The other astounding fact: In the 1830’s, tiny New Salem was about the same size as Chicago. Yet one would grow to become a huge metropolis while the other pretty much disappeared within 10 short years, before being reconstructed in the 1930s to make it more fun for us to learn about Lincoln. I now feel like I have a better understanding how Lincoln lived there 180 years ago than how any other president ever lived anywhere, including Obama how is not even 10 years older than us and grew up within walking distance of where we lived in Honolulu.

Reconstructed 1830's New Salem - same size as Chicago at the same time!

Now we have a few more days before we go to two very special and surprising places. I bet you’ll never guess where we will be by the time I write the next update. We just ‘found out’ ourselves. I am truly surprised myself and never ever expected this place to be on our itinerary for this trip….so stay tuned.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra