The next stop on our Viking Mississippi cruise from St Paul, MN to New Orleans, LA was in Hannibal, Missouri. As usual (for this part of the cruise) we docked right in the middle of town and could easily walk across the railway tracks, and we were immediately in the main street of the city. There was also a shuttle provided that stopped at the three main attractions in the town for those that didn’t want to walk the entire thing. That, plus entry into the various attractions and museums associated with Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn was the included excursion in this stop.
As usual, I had a plan! Be the first off the boat when it docked and make my way up to Lover’s Leap – a well-known beauty spot and overlook above the town. First, we had to land, and we passed under the Wasbash Railroad bridge with its vertical lift and sailed towards the Mark Twain Memorial road bridge at sunrise before approaching the river bank.
The walk (hike) to the overlook was a bit steeper than I envisaged and the last section which takes you to the large viewpoint rock was the steepest section so it was a slow drag up that last quarter-mile, but the view from the top was magnificent. I wanted to be early and on my own so that I didn’t disturb anyone with my drone, and my guess was right – very few people made an appearance, and perhaps only two others from the boat made their way up to the overlook.
I used both my camera and drone from up here, although I think the aerial shots have the most impact. This view is looking down towards the city and the Viking Mississippi docked alongside from out over the river.
The way down was easier (although I think the real answer is that it just works on making different muscles become painful) and I walked along the quiet main street back to the boat.
Very quiet as you can see, but someone had a pretty intriguing car in the empty car park next to the dock:
I collected my wife from the boat and headed out on our museum trip. I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised by the town and the skill and dedication they have shown in creating a story about Samuel Clemens (who wrote under the name Mark Twain) and his stories. His boyhood home has been preserved inside a museum complex and you can also see different buildings and occupations that existed at the time. You can even see the fence that illustrates one of the stories in Tom Sawyer’s early life:
I also walked a little outside town to see the Mark Twain Memorial lighthouse on a bluff above the river. I think this is the only lighthouse along the Mississippi River!
We had to be back on board by 12:45pm to start the long cruise to St Louis, but I did get one last opportunity to get the drone in the air to take this view of the road and railway bridge across the Mississippi.
As we sailed through the afternoon, it was a great time to see some of the last dams and locks on the river. This one is Lock and Dam 22 and was under repair with the replacement of the big swinging gates that control the flow of water:
The afternoon was a great time to just relax and watch the daily life along the river unfold. I was impressed with the flood control precautions of this riverside home. It also give you some idea just how high the river can get in the early months of the year as the snows melt in the north and west.
The barges that we passed along the river are themselves huge vessels. I think the normal maximum is 35 barges – ie 5 across and 7 long, but the low water levels in the Lower Mississippi reduced that to 28.
And, of course, we passed the occasional small town on the riverbank. This one is Louisiana in Missouri:
The day ended with a great performance by Jim Waddell, who seems to have memorized great chunks of Mark Twain’s books and tells the real stories behind scenes that appear in the book, and then adopts a Missouri accent to “act out” the story using Mark Twain’s words as though he was telling the story himself. Very impressive and great fun! With that, it was back to our cabin to await an early morning arrival in St Louis.
