A Trip Through Uranus

 We started getting “our kicks on Route 66” with a stop in Uranus Missouri. Walking into the general store, you’re greeted with, “Welcome to Uranus!” Claiming that “the best fudge comes from Uranus,” we bought Heathbar fudge and chocolate peanut butter fudge. The shop is full of punny gifts, vintage toys and Route 66 souvenirs. 

If you’ve seen the Disney Pixar movie “Cars,” you’ll know that it is dedicated to the legendary Route 66 or Mother Road. It was in 2000 that John Lasseter developed the idea of the movie Cars while traveling through the United States with his family. 

“Tow Mater” was inspired by a tow truck in the town of Galena, Kansas at a stop called “Cars on the Route.”

And then we weren’t in Kansas anymore…

Midwest Wanderers

 Our morning began with an early drive through Forest Park in St. Louis (MO), the location of the 1904 World's Fair. This 1300-acre park has many of the original structures from the World's Fair as well as 3o miles of trails and paths, 47,000 trees and is home to five major cultural institutions, including the Saint Louis Zoo. We could have wandered around here all day. This park is bigger than Central Park! Here are some of the sights.

The Bandstand in Pagoda Circle

Hollyhocks

Hello Sunflower!

More sunflowers popping up.

Morning fisher.

Looking for breakfast.

Serene canals wind their way to the lake. 


In Springfield Missouri, who knew one could find a fabulous Peruvian restaurant! Despite our claims that we wouldn’t eat much at 11 in the morning, we dined quite sumptuously at Cafe Cusco. Ceviche Miami for a starter followed by vegan portobello tacos, chips and salsa, mushroom saltado and maxamorra morada for dessert. All washed down with iced yerba mate. The dessert was a warm tropical fruit pudding made from sweet Andean purple corn with cinnamon, clove and anise. 

Cafe Cusco was surrounded by unique shops and street art in this historic district called C-Street. What was a deteriorating commercial street has been revitalized in the past 10 years into a thriving destination.

Pride is on display in the Midwest

Alice in Wonderland scene in this antique shop window. 4U Becca and Dillon

Pedalers Bicycle Museum

Vintage phones

Across Five States Today!

After a restful evening in West Virginia, we left the "wild and wonderful" state and headed towards Missouri. 

Our first stop was Shawnee Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

Shawnee Park borders the Ohio River which separates Kentucky and Indiana. 

 Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape design, was commissioned to design the park. Completed in 1892, it was the last park system of his career. 

We crossed into Indiana, the Hoosier State, and passed mile after mile of farms, farm equipment, and oversize load trucks transporting farm equipment.

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The area is part of the midwestern corn belt. Popcorn salesman Orville Redenbacher was born in Indiana.

From Indiana, we took what seemed like a brief traipse across Illinois before crossing into Missouri. 

After settling in at our airbnb and grabbing some dinner, we headed toward the famous Gateway Arch.

Sam and Ruby are dwarfed by this structure - the tallest manmade monument in the United States. 

At 630 feet, it's more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty!

Unfortunately we were not able to ride up to the top of the arch. Hopefully next time.

Every great road trip comes with good food. Here we are at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Jeni Britton is a James Beard award-winning ice cream maker creating one-of-a-kind ice cream flavors with Direct and Fair Trade ingredients. Wildberry Lavender, Darkest Chocolate, Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks and Wedding Cake (vanilla cake with lemon, blackberries and buttercream icing) were our scoop choices. Yum!

Westward Ho! Cross-country Road Trip 2023

Off we go! Departed Delaware around 10:00AM.

Ruby rests in her car nest tethered to the backseat. 

After 4 hours, we stopped to eat lunch and walk at West Virginia Botanic Garden.

From 10AM until 2PM, we drove through periods of rain, mist and fog.
Finally the rain stopped long enough for us to get in a little walk along the trails.

The Garden is at Tibbs Run Preserve, formerly Tibbs Run Reservoir. The reservoir was constructed in 1912 and supplied clean water to Monongalia County until 1969. The reservoir was drained in 1980 and then leased to the West Virginia Botanic Garden in 1999.

There is a tremendous diversity of fauna and plants including trees as old as 250 years.

This magical Children's Adventure Garden was created in 2022 to invite children to interact with nature.

West Virginia is known as The Mountain State...and we drove along miles and miles of them!
It is the United States third most-forested state and is the only state completely within the Appalachian Mountain region. West Virginia is known for its timber and protected woodlands.

Our airbnb is located in Charleston, the capital of WV.

Surprisingly there was a very good vegan restaurant in Charleston called The Loopy Leaf.
We enjoyed buffalo wings and an "Authentic Philly" cheesesteak.

A short walk along the street was a beautiful park with  trails and a frisbee golf course.
It was the perfect way to end our first day.