Jefferson City

Good evening! Spent a great day wandering Jefferson City today.

Slept until almost 7:00 so that's progress! Got ready and headed out bright and early another, beautiful day in Jefferson City!

Started the morning at High Rise Bakery - chocolate hazelnut croissant and a cinnamon roll. Both were delicious!

After breakfast we headed for the Museum of Missouri Military History. The museum was a couple miles out of town on an army training facility. Was a pretty drive but sadly when we arrived this is what we found...

No details on if it is closed for an hour, a day, the week... Thankfully they did have an outdoor area that we wandered, which honestly was quite neat. Didn't quite make up for the museum being closed but still enjoyed.

You could actually go in this plane. Was really cool inside, but I don't think I would want to fly in one!

Is hard to see but to the left is a rack to hang stretchers for the injured.

After the closed museum we went a couple more miles out of town to the Clark's Hill/Norton State Historic Site. Basically, it is just a half mile hike back to a look out point. They say it is the site that Clark (from the Lewis & Clark expedition) climbed to map the Missouri and Osage rivers. The rivers used to come together here but with the changes in the channels they now converge about 7 miles away. It was a pretty hike out to a "scenic" overlook.

The "scenic" overlook. Not so scenic - couldn't even see either of the rivers...

Good thing it was a pretty hike - even with all the hills...

After our morning failures we headed back to town. Dropped the car back at rental and walked back downtown. We pretty much just wandered town. There are a lot of really neat buildings, especially around the capital. We went into the capital and checked out the Missouri State Museum. Beautiful building - inside and out!

After strolling through the Capital we decided we were ready for some lunch. Went to Sweet Smoke BBQ, decent BBQ. I had The Fat Pig sandwich because I figured it was a little of everything - pulled pork, brisket, turkey, and sausage with queso. Surprisingly the turkey was the winner of the meat. Was delicious! Kurt had the brisket and sausage platter, he said his was good but just warm. Seems to be a common thing at BBQ places that we are not a fan of... 

After lunch we just wandered around and window shopped. Made our way to Antiquarium - a comic book and collectible shop. Was actually a really neat store that was fun to walk through and check out all the treasures. 

Kurt's happy place!

Next it was time for some ice cream so found our way to Central Dairy (I told Kurt it was on the way back but it was maybe a little out of the way...). It is an ice cream shop that has been there since 1933 - the factory is right next door. Great ice cream - and cheap! Two flavors (which was actually 4 scoops) for 3.50! I enjoyed so much I forgot to get a picture. But here is a pic of the shop.

Made our way back downtown and walked pass the Governor's Mansion (they were decorating the outside for Christmas already...) and down to Jefferson Landing. They have a little museum at Jefferson Landing but we got there 5 minutes before they closed so just did a quick walk through. 

At this point we were ready for a break so headed back to the rental. Who knew Jefferson City was so hilly! My calves know!!!

 After resting our sore feet we headed out for the night. First stop was Prison Brews. Cute brewery/restaurant, the bar was in a 'cell'. Seemed a popular place to eat but after our 4 scoops of ice cream we needed no food! After a drink at the brewery just a half block away was The Mission. I read that they had live music tonight with no cover so thought we would check it out. It was twin brothers that played guitar and sang a variety of music, from Alice in Chains to Hank Williams to Roger Miller to Chris Stapleton. They were good and it was a nice little dive bar. 

Back to the rental around 10:00. Think we will sleep well tonight!