Four Cities, Two Ballparks and Two Capitols

When we retired we said we wanted to drive around the country and this trip, boy did we! We left Texas where it was in the 90s and drove straight into a heatwave! Our first stop? Jefferson City, Missouri. 

Jefferson City, named for Thomas Jefferson, is the capital of Missouri. It sits on the Missouri River. The city became the capital in 1821 when Missouri was admitted to the union as a state. It was a compromise as it sits between the two big cities in Missouri: St. Louis and Kansas City. This is the state Capitol building, the third one at this location.

John's just a bill and he's sitting there on capitol hill hoping to become a law. (Look it up, kids! Hint: Schoolhouse Rock).

Jefferson City was also home to the Missouri State Penitentiary. It opened in 1836 and was the oldest continuously operating prison west of the Mississippi until it was decommissioned in 2004. Have you ever heard the song, "Stagger Lee"? That was a real guy! He shot a guy named Billy for knocking the Stetson hat off his head. He was imprisoned here. As was Pretty Boy Floyd and James Earl Ray. You can take a tour of the prison but there's no AC and it was hot, hot, hot.

The Missouri River. It's the longest river in the country, beating the Mississippi River by a mile. Jefferson City was a busy river port when it was first founded. 

That's our hotel. It was cool. The round building had a "penthouse" restaurant on the top floor that gave you an amazing view of the city.

Next Stop St. Louis! We stayed at a hotel that was right across the street from the ballpark so we were within walking distance of lots of stuff. But it was so hot! 

Here it is, Busch Stadium. This is actually Busch Stadium III. The St. Louis Cardinals have a long history in baseball. They were originally the Brown Stockings and they played at a place called Sportsman's Park. In 1892, they changed their name to the Perfectos and wore a uniform that was trimmed in Cardinal Red. A sportscaster commented on the "lovely shade of cardinal red" and that name stuck. In 1900, they became the Cardinals. This version of Busch Stadium was built in 2006 across the street from the previous version of Busch Stadium. 

We attended a day game but luckily our seats were mostly in the shade. Only our legs were exposed to the sun and I could feel them getting tanner by the minute. They played the San Diego Padres. Unfortunately, the Cards lost 2 - 5.

I love these murals! 

This is the "Old Courthouse", which is now a museum. It's really cool. You may remember from history about Dred Scott. He was an enslaved person who sued for his freedom and he won it here at this courthouse. Unfortunately, his enslaver took him to the Missouri Supreme Court and the decision was overturned. How horrible was that? Dred Scott lost again at the US Supreme Court. He eventually won his freedom but holy cow!

We're at the top of the parking garage and you can see the St. Louis Arch behind us. In fact, you can see it from anywhere in the city!

Here it is at night. In front of it is the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France. It was built in 1836 and was the only Catholic Church west of the Mississippi until 1844. The actual parish was started in 1766.

The St. Louis Arch was built in 1965. It's 630 feet tall. At the top of the arch you can see the observation windows. You get a marvelous view of downtown St. Louis on one side and the Mississippi River on the other. 

To get up there, you have to climb into this tiny little pod that supposedly seats five people. It takes a little over 4 minutes to get to the top and three minutes to get back down. That empty seat was mine. It was a little claustrophobic and unnerving going up because you didn't know what to expect. Going down wasn't so bad.

The view from the top of the arch.

As we were planning our dive to our next destination, I realized that we were going right through Indianapolis...the capital of Indiana! We needed a break anyway so we decided to stop. 

Crossing into Illinois.

Our drive took us through Illinois. Who knew it was so green? Anytime I think of Illinois, I think of Chicago and, in my mind, the whole state looks like that but not so! Most of it was farmland like this.

Welcome to Indiana!

This is the Indiana State House. Unfortunately, it was closed for repairs. We got there a little before 2pm and that's when they closed to the public.

We drove around downtown for a few minutes thinking we could have lunch down there but no. Meanwhile, I did see this. It's the Sailors and Soldiers Monument to commemorate the veterans.

Welcome to Ohio!

Our hotel is the Cincinnatian which was built as the Palace Hotel in 1882. At that time, it was the tallest building in Cincinnati. There were 300 rooms and each floor had two bathrooms, one at either end, that were shared. Yikes!

In 1987, the hotel underwent a $25M renovation. Another remodel in 2018. This marble and oak staircase is the only original part of the interior.

We went to the Underground Railroad and Freedom Center. Back in the day, Ohio was free but Kentucky was not. The border between the two is the Ohio River. Enslaved people would use the Underground Railroad to get to freedom. I thought the museum would have more stories about these journeys but it was more about slavery in general as well as Civil Rights. There was a sign in one of the exhibits that said "It's not about bathrooms as it was never about water fountains." Right?

This is an actual slave pen that was donated and reassembled here. Enslaved people would be held in these pens until they were put up for sale. 

This display is showing all the places that "conductors" on the "railroad" would hide people. One of the signs was commenting on how incredibly scary it had to be for those fleeing to freedom to know if they could trust the conductors. That had to be a pretty serious leap of faith. This was a cool museum and definitely worth the visit.

Our next ballpark is the Great American Ballpark where the Cincinnati Reds were playing the LA Dodgers. This is the third field the Reds played on. Like the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati Red Stockings have a very long history. They started back in the 1800s and had a very similar journey. This stadium was built in 2002. Prior to this, the Reds shared Riverfront Stadium with the Bengals.

At the Great American Ballpark.

For the LA Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani was batting...

...and pitching. He pitched about 4 innings before he was pulled. It was not his night. The Reds won 5-2.

It's the Reds mascots! Mr. Red on the left, Mr. Redlegs in the middle and Rosie Red on the right. In 1953, the Reds let it be known they wanted to be called the Redlegs. "Red" meant communism. By 1959, they were back to being the Reds.

I love the Greetings Murals! This one is at the top of a restaurant near the Ohio River.

This is the John A Roebling Bridge. It's gorgeous. On the other side of the river is Covington, Kentucky. Back in 2010, I had a client in Cincinnati so I spent time in Covington. I love this bridge. I walked across back then. This time we drove.

Always on the lookout for presidential libraries, This is the William Howard Taft House. It's his boyhood home that his dad bought for $10K. That would have been back in 1852! That's a lot of money.

The study. This is one of the original rooms in the house. The desk is said to have belonged to the Taft family.

The original house went to that doorway behind the stairs. The Tafts expanded it all the way back to where the green blinds are. On the right is the parlor. Originally 2 rooms, the Tafts removed a wall when they expanded. It was a cool place. William Howard Taft was the only president to become a Supreme Court Justice as well.

We also went to the Cincinnati Art Museum. The building itself was a work of art. It's free and there is a ton of things to see.

I'm partial to paintings. This one is called "Two Girls Fishing" by John Singer Sargent, an American artist. They had a whole gallery or two of European artists like Monet, Van Gogh, etc. 

As we were leaving, I saw this amazing view of downtown Cincinnati. The art museum is up in the hills at the edge of a park called Eden Park. It was very peaceful up there.

Every night we took a walk down by the Ohio River. It's very nice there. They have swings where you can sit and just chill, a park where you can hang out and several monuments if you're interested in history. 

On our way home, we were planning on stopping half way as the trip was over 900 miles. But once on the road, we decided to push on all the way home. As we left Ohio, we drove through Kentucky, which is also very green. We went through Louisville where they make the Louisville slugger.

From Kentucky, we crossed into Tennessee around Nashville and drove across the state to Memphis.

As we left Memphis, we crossed into Arkansas.

And finally, home sweet home. It was quite a trip! We drove through several states, visited two capitols, and saw some baseball. After all that, it's good to be home!