There's a nature center with trails
between Jefferson City proper and my campground. Why I decided to
stop, I no longer remember. Its in the eighties and I have to pee in
spite of sweating buckets. Really, buckets. I've heard that ladies
glow rather than sweat, guess that verifies what I already know.
First it slides down my forehead and then runs across the top of my
eyebrow before dripping off the ear end. At least most of it does.
Some decides to take a more direct route, sliding down my nose and
taking my glasses with it. I suppose there could be humor in this –
I fail to see it.
And I'm tired since I just spent a few
hours wandering around the capital grounds, a museum inside and the
capital building itself. The capital is impressive, Jefferson City
itself is impressive. Its about the size of Mankato, MN, maybe
40,000 pop, and it must have a seamy side though I didn't find it.
Start with the capital building. it looks like lots of such
buildings, large-scale, pillars, statues, engraved words, big dome.
This capital is on a bluff overlooking th Missouri River and its
surrounded by large trees and parks. All the necessary associated
building are also there, back behind the trees.
 i |
| inside, looking at the dome |
Even though I went on Sunday, the
building was open. The inside is really pretty, no guards, just one
woman sitting by a small display of souvenirs, and a steady stream of
people visiting the museum. One area was devoted to geology. Looking
at one of the topographic color-coded maps in the exhibit, it was
easy to see that the Missouri River follows the same path across
this state as the Minnesota River does across its' state. Kind of a
duh though I hadn't picked up on it until now.
Geology gave way to settlement. Again,
I was struck by something I knew but hadn't registered. Lewis and
Clark came through 1804-1806. Boone's Lick was settled in 1796,
that's several years before the Louisiana Purchase. And there were
enough settlers here for some pretty bloody fighting in the 1850s, that's only two generations after L&C surveyed the area.
I have told myself several times that
I'm focusing on the Missouri River and Lewis and Clark, however its
hard to isolate them when the effects of their expedition had such
impact on the land. The museum section on settlement naturally led
into one on Missouri and the Civil War. I remember from my school
days that the war in Missouri had been particularly destructive
though I didn't remember why. After visiting Athens, I thought the
fighting there was an isolated incident. It was, in its part of
Missouri, however it also reflects how much of the fighting went in
this state. Missouri was occupied by the Union army mostly
protecting supply lines so lots of the fighting happened in
communities much like Athens or by guerrilla warfare.
So I went looking for the 'bad' side of
town. Instead I found Prison Brews. The old state prison is located
in Jefferson City so the theme makes sense. Booths have some bars
above them, are pretty well enclosed from each other and carry cell
numbers. The bar is separated from the eats with a pseudo cell wall.
It is an older building and whoever planned the retro-fitting did a
nice job. The beers I tried are worth a second visit.
Again, they were a bit sweeter than my fav Minnesota brews however
they were very good. The porter is one of the smoothest I've had.
Guess the brewpub could explain some of my discomfort at the nature
center.
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