Finishing off our time in Memphis we went to The Grand Ole Opry. That was an experience! For those of you that are uninitiated, it is the longest running radio show in the US (maybe the world?) that was hosted at the most famous building in Nashville, The Ryman Auditorium, for a very long time but now has its own place. It is a country music radio show that they split into two sections, each with four artists/bands. We saw some very different stuff, old to brand new. Would we go back, no the music on Broadway is better for us, but are we glad we went, yes 🙂.

We travelled to St Louis via Metropolis which, as you might expect with that name, have made a lot of their superman links 🦸. They even have a yearly Superman festival, although no working drinks fountains! We also stopped at a place in the Shawnee national forest for a lovely picnic and walk. Wilderness for as far as the eye can see 🌳.

We stayed down by the Arch in St Louis. Turns out that is also near the baseball park so when in Rome! Our third game and the first time the home team have won ⚾. We went to the botanical gardens, which are really lovely, and to their city park which is apparently a bit like Central Park in NYC, except it isn’t. It is a great park in that it has sports pitches, green space for dog walking, fountains, the city zoo and various other buildings/museums dotted through it. However it also has a lot of roads, far more than Central Park, so that detracts quite a lot from it being a green space to escape to in the middle of the city. The zoo was good though, and free!

We headed back from the park/zoo and learnt about/went up the Arch. There are two internal “trams” which are a cross between a big wheel, a tram and a lift 🎡🚋🛗. They take you up in tiny cars, 5 people to a car, to the top where you can get out and look out over the city. A great experience albeit your average American may have got slightly bigger than when the trams were installed in 1968 😄.

We left St Louis today and headed for Casey. Gem had heard good things about Casey and suffice it to say it did not disappoint. It is a small nondescript farming town that appears, for reasons completely unknown and not explained at any point, to have devoted itself to Americana. It holds 12 world records for the biggest things! Gem was virtually apoplectic with joy running around pointing at big things. When we then got back in the car and had to stop at a railway crossing for a 195 car goods train she could barely contain herself!! Add to that coffee, ice cream and a nap and she is living her best life 😁.

We have a stop over in Springfield IL tonight (no not the Simpsons one, we checked) and will look at where Abraham Lincoln is buried, his museum and house tomorrow. Then we are off to our final stop, Chicago, before flying back overnight Friday. We will post once more towards the end of the week.

P.S. It’s still really hot