U.S. Virtual Road Trip- Day 25- Missouri

Today we are in Missouri with blogger Lisa @ Lisa Loves Literature, this see what awaits us.

Lisa is based near Kansas City so a lot of the places she has picked are close to Kansas City within Missouri.

Places to visit in Missouri

• We have the World War I National Museum in Kansas City
• Jesse James Museum in St. Joseph 
• Kansas City is the City Of Fountains
• Country Club Plaza in Kansas City was the first shopping area of its kind in the US
• The Gateway Arch in St. Louis
• Branson, city full of music shows, magic shows, huge tourist location
• Lake of the Ozarks

Places to eat in Missouri

Kansas City has the best BBQ, any of these places will prove that

• Joe’s Kansas City (formerly Oklahoma Joe’s and my favorite), Gates & Sons, Arthur Bryant’s (where numerous presidents have stopped to have food, including Obama most recently), Jack Stack.
• Stroud’s Fried Chicken
• Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant where your meal is delivered by a toy train on a track that goes around the ceiling of the restaurant.
• Lambert’s Café near Springfield which is called the home of the “throwed rolls” because they throw rolls to you while you’re eating.
• In St. Louis there is “The Hill”  where they have some really great Italian restaurants.  

Quirky things about Missouri

Our state motto is “The Show Me State” which means we usually have to see something to believe it.

Kansas City is two different cities, there is one in Kansas as it sounds like it would be, but the bigger of the two is the one in Missouri, where I live now and grew up. Because it is the same name, we often consider ourselves all one city, especially when it comes to professional baseball and football.

Down at the Lake of the Ozarks, there is a castle at the Ha Ha Tonka Park

We have a very Famous Library because of the books that are painted along the sides of the building.

If you’ve ever had the delicious “Chinese” dish of cashew chicken, it was invented in Springfield, MO.

Famous people from Missouri

As I and as I mentioned before how Kansas City for both states kind of go together, some of these might be from KS:

Actors:  Jon Hamm, Brad Pitt, Eric Stonestreet, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle (Last 3 are from Overland Park, KS, right next to KC, but all came to the Royals World Series games last year!)  John Goodman, Vincent Price

Musicians:  Nelly, David Cook, Sheryl Crow

Other famous people:  Walt Disney, Bob Barker, President Truman

Authors or books set in Missouri:

• Mark Twain:  Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are set in Missouri
• Gillian Flynn:  Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, Dark Places
• Author Heather Brewer lives near St. Louis
• Maya Angelou is from Missouri
• Jim Butcher
• Julie Garwood
• Laurell K. Hamilton - Bullet
• Robert A. Heinlein
• Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in Missouri with her husband and daughter Rose, you can visit her house
• Langston Hughes
• T.S. Eliot

Books set in MO: 

 Killshot by Elmore Leonard, Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan they stop at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (although they didn’t go there in the movie), Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton (Who lives in the Kansas City Kansas area)

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Thanks Lisa. Missouri sounds great. I didn't realise a lot of awesome authors came from Missouri. What do you think of Missouri? Leave me a comment below.

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