9/18/18 Tuesday: We’ve never been to Missouri before, until today. It’s just across the Mississippi River from here. State #14 for this trip! (And I think it is state #39 in our overall lifetime adventures.)
We rented a car from Enterprise for a couple of days to see the sights. We decided that it’s probably in our best interest to stay here at Alton Marina until Friday. The hot weather would be miserable without air conditioning. Since our first two nights after we leave here will be without power, we’re going to wait for a day that will be less than 90 degreees. With four days to hang out, a car will let us go see St Louis and other stuff. Marie on Compass Rose highly recommended that we go see St Charles – it has a great historic old town. So that was our destination for today, and we invited Alan & Sherry from SeaJamm to join us.
St Charles is WEST of the Mississippi River, on the banks of the Missouri River just upstream from where the Missouri meets the Mississippi. We are now in THE Wild WILD WEST! This opens up a whole new phase of American history for us! This might be the only time that we are west of the Mississippi on this Great Loop Adventure.
St Charles was founded in 1769 by Louis Blanchette, a French-Canadian hunter and trapper, and he named it “Les Petites Cotes”-the little hills. In 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, the United States of America acquired the territory from France, which transferred government of St. Charles to the Flag of the United States. By 1806, the name had been anglicized from Les Petites Cotes to St. Charles.
Our first stop in St Charles was a surprise to everyone. I searched TripAdvisor, and found that there is a classic car dealership called Fast Lane Classic Cars. It is like a museum, but it’s actually an active car lot with inventory for sale. So you can wander around and look at all the cool cars, but there is no admission price, and no salesmen will even bother you. Nobody knew we were going there except me, so I really hoped that it would be cool. It WAS! This car was just hanging out in the parking lot. I don’t know what it was, but it was kinda gangsta, and I thought it was cool.
This place was amazing. They had two huge buildings just full of cars and all sorts of other collectible memorabilia. It really is a classic car dealership, but nobody seemed to even notice us wandering around. There were a few other people that wandered in, too, so we didn’t feel like we were trespassing.
They had all kinds of stuff! Kenny had a great time browsing, but no cool car for us… we have a boat.
This was a beautiful old 1931 Chevrolet coupe. Only $70,000. The paint was fantastic.
Or how about a 1957 Corvette convertible for $132,500? There were several ‘vettes. They were all in beautiful condition.
I found HERBIE! This was a cute little Love Bug!
I loved this 1934 Buick Coupe! The deep brandywine paint was incredible. Just $125,000. I say to-heck with muscle cars. I want a Bonnie & Clyde car!
Kenny was a happy camper with this stop, and I think Sherry & Alan really enjoyed it too. Alan found a few cars that brought back fond memories of younger years. It wasn’t a normal tourist stop, which was kinds of fun and different. One of Karen’s adventures! (Whew! I’m so glad it wasn’t lame!)
Then we went to the old historic town of St Charles. What a neat place! There were so many colonial buildings that have been taken care for over a century. Saint Charles is a source of all kinds of historical significance: It is where Lewis and Clark rendezvoused as they struck out on their adventure west; it is the site of the first Missouri capital, it is the origin of the Boone’s Lick Trail (which was a major transportation route that played a significant role in the westward expansion of the U.S.), and St Charles county was home to Daniel Boone.
I really enjoyed all of the buildings! There were all kinds of restaurants, bars, shops,…. I didn’t care so much about what was inside them all, but I loved the buildings. This was the St Charles Borromeo 1791 Log Church. This is a reconstruction of the original, and it was really interesting and unusual with the vertical logs. Apparently this is a typical French Log style of construction.
Just a great looking brick house on a brick sidewalk on a brick road.
This was the Tobacconist house. I’ve never heard that word before, and I didn’t make it up!
A beautiful tall original building – “The Queen of Main Street” was built in 1878 by the Odd Fellows Hall Association. There was a bank on the first floor, and a concert hall on the second floor, and generally brotherhood groups such as the Moose Lodge on the third floor. It was narrow at the street, but was a very deep building from front to back. The lumber around the windows was impressive and looked original.
These old white stone buildings were in such great condition! They were like townhouses, but so old! I felt like I was back in Williamsburg Virginia.
One of the fun little shops. There were lots of shops sporting fall decorations: Halloween, pumpkins, straw, and all the harvest theme things. That was hard to wrap my head around since it was over 90 degrees, I was sweating buckets, and I still feel like it is July.
This building was so unique, with green marble stone. It was the Masonic Hall from 1849.
In the bar & grill section of town, there were a whole bunch of establishments to choose from. Here’s just a sample with Uncle Joe’s, or Lloyd & Harry’s. And our two men walking along. There had to have been a dozen Bar & Grill spots along this stretch of town.
This was a good looking place! We did have lunch here and it was very good.
And then later, after walking all the way through town, I was obligated to find Kenny a beer stop. That’s always our deal. He doesn’t complain about walking through towns like this with me, as long as we stop for a beer occasionally. That’s been our deal for over 30 years!! And it works for both of us. 😉
This was Trailhead brewery and restaurant, It was at least two stories high, and was huge, with a variety of rooms and bars. We went upstairs to one of the bars. I liked their attitude!
And here we are, getting cooled down and refreshed with some local craft beer (and a bottle of cider for me).
Back outside, Sherry & I posed with Daniel Boone.
I saw this in a window, and this could be my motto! Cookies are my food group of choice. If I lived close to my grandchildren, I would need to be the cookie grandma. Except I would eat all the cookies and there wouldn’t be any for my grandchildren. Oops. Maybe I wouldn’t be a very good cookie grandma after all.
I saw this church on the outskirts of town when we were first coming into town, and took a picture – because I like church buildings. Lo and Behold! It is also St Charles Borromeo Church. Little did I know, but this big stone church of Romanesque architecture is the same parish as the little log church that I found later in the day. This one was dedicated in 1917 and is built of Bedford Stone. But the origins of this parish go all the way back to the little log church which was dedicated together with the town on November 7, 1791, under the patronage of the saintly Cardinal of Milan, Charles Borromeo, the patron of the Spanish KingCharles.
We all had a wonderful day in the little town of St Charles, on the shores of the Missouri River. We learned a bit of history, enjoyed good food, drink, and company, and we saw some cool old cars, and even older cool buildings. I love days like this!