Going to St. Louis...But Never Seeing St. Louis!

Matt & I attended a Letterbox gathering in Elsah, IL. A quaint village(?) nestled into the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley, just north of St. Louis. Elsah is 4 hours south of us, knowing that there were plenty of things to do in that area, so we decided to make a weekend of it.

Arriving in Elsah, we checked in at the gathering and then made our way outside to chat with a few boxing friends. Matt's goal for the event was to meet as many "new" (to him) boxers and exchange their stamp images. He didn't plan to stick around much longer than a hour or two. As he chatted with the boxers, I hit the road on foot to get in some steps and explore the village. It was so cute!! So much character and history!

Leaving Elsah, we traveled back to Grafton, IL to visit the touristy town, eat lunch and ride the SkyTour. We grabbed lunch at Grafton Pub and started watching our Cubbies. We sat beside another Cubbie couple at the bar and cheered as our leadoff batter hit a homerun...and then frustration set in as the bottom of the inning turned the game sideways 😢

We finished eating our lunch and walked to the SkyTour at Aerie's Resort. What a beautiful day to ride the ski lift!

Leaving Grafton, we drove back to Pere Marquette State Park. The Pere Marquette Cross is right next to IL-100 so we pulled off and walked to it.

Leaving the park, we headed southeast, driving the Great River Road into Alton, IL. Living where we do, we drive many stretches of the Great River Road along Illinois and Iowa, often. The stretch of road between Grafton and Alton has to be one of the most beautiful stretches!

Once in Alton, we made a few stops of historic significance - 

Debate Square

Alton hosted the last of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates on Oct 15, 1858. The (approx) 5,000 in attendance were the first to hear Lincoln's "A House Divided" Speech. 

Elijah P. Lovejoy Memorial

Lovejoy was an abolitionist and newspaper owner from St. Louis, MO (a slave state). He moved across the river to Illinois and started printing again. He had 3 printing presses destroyed by angry mobs - some of the presses being thrown into the Mississippi River! During the delivery of the 4th printing press (1837), another violent mob met Lovejoy and he was shot and killed, at the age of 35.  He was buried in an unmarked grave (fear of vandalism) but the people of Alton rallied together and a large monument was built for Elijah's final resting place in 1897. His monument can be found at Alton City Cemetery.  

Robert Wadlow - World's Tallest Person
Robert was 8' 11" when he died in 1940 (age 22). He was born & raised in Alton and was known as the Alton Giant. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery. 

We left Alton and headed to the Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones Confluence Point State Park in Missouri. We were pretty excited to FINALLY see the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers! This spot has been on our travel list for the last 8-10 years. It seems the few times we've been in the St. Louis area, our schedule didn't allow the trip to the park (it is out of the way) or the point was flooded (we literally drove to the park last year only to find the park closed due to flooding (website hadn't been updated). With no rain for much of Sept & Oct, we knew that the river levels were normal, if not low. We were thrilled to find the gate open and we drove the last few miles (gravel road) to the park.

Missouri River on the left, Mississippi River on the right.

Across the river is Confluence Tower (we visited this in 2024). This is the approximate location of Camp Dubois - where Lewis & Clark's expedition started.

Arriving back at the car, we looked at dinner options as well as gas & hotel. What a wonderful day! We got to our hotel in time to watch a bit of baseball and then called it a night.

We woke up to the promise of another beautiful October day - more summer than fall, actually! We made a quick itinerary and hit the road. First stop was to Grandma's Cookies, a bakery in the heart of downtown St. Charles. As I typed the stop into Google Maps, we found that the shop wouldn't be open for a few more hours, so we skipped it and headed out to Augusta, MO to see the Sunflower Silos. 

The 3 silos were spray painted towards the end of 2023 with a stunning display of sunflowers. While we were expecting to see the sunflower silos, we were surprised to find the metal butterflies displayed on the bluff as well as a nice lunch, sitting area. It is a great pit-stop for those biking/walking on Katy Trail.

Some of the silos had artwork inside as well!

We were able to enjoy the area AND find the letterbox before heading back into St. Charles to visit Grandma's Cookies.

As we approached the downtown area (St. Charles), we were noticing a lot of foot traffic and a lot of those people were wearing number bibs on their shirts. We quickly came to the realization that this stop may not be happening. We assumed a race and Fall Festival were happening - probably closing down the downtown area to traffic. Matt forged ahead and we were in luck!! Yes, there was a race (4 races actually - 5K, 10K, half & full marathon!) and yes, the roads were closed, but we were able to find Grandma's Cookies without any detours or delays! Because there was lack of parking spots, Matt dropped me off and drove around the block. The timing worked out perfectly and I walked out with a box of addictive yumminess! 

How cute is this shop!! We will definitely be visiting St. Charles again, especially since it has a connection to Lewis & Clark's trek. We weren't able to visit the river front due to the race. 

Leaving St. Charles, we headed north to Fort Belle Fontaine. This fort started as a Spanish military post, before the Louisiana Purchase. After the land purchase, it was converted to a trading post from 1805-1808. From 1809-1826, it was used as a US Military Fort (the first US Fort west of the Mississippi). Many western expeditions used Fort Belle Fontaine as their starting point. Lewis & Clark's company also spent their last night at the Fort on their return trip (from the Pacific Ocean to St. Louis) in 1806. The stone structures (including the Grand Staircase) were built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) initiative by President Franklin D Roosevelt. Impressive and peaceful!

Matt mentioned that the side staircases reminded him of the old Fisher Price castle with the dungeon/hiding spot behind the moving staircase. I immediately knew what he was referring to and agreed. I found some pictures online of the castle staircase (below).

We debated on exploring more of the Fort (now a State Park) but decided to head to our next stop, due to time factors. 

Next stop - Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in Granite City, IL. This bridge was built in 1929 as a toll bridge across the Mississippi River (traveling between Illinois & Missouri). In 1936, Route 66 was rerouted and now traveled across the Chain of Rocks Bridge. After the opening of the Interstate 270 bridge (just north of the old bridge), the Chain of Rocks Bridge was closed in 1970. Due to low steel prices, the bridge wasn't demolished - it was instead saved and reopened in 1999 as a pedestrian bridge. (lots of this information can be found on the plague below). 

We knew that it was a longer walk (2-2.5 miles) and it would be over the water with no shade, in 80+ degree, sunny weather. We wanted to try it...but didn't want to burn or overdue it with the heat and sun. It all worked out well! The temp was warm, but there was a breeze (more than a breeze actually!) and we never felt hot while we walked. 

We parked on the IL side of the river - crossing over the Chain of Rocks Canal Bridge on our way. Neat tidbit of information...all boat traffic is rerouted through the canal (man made by Corp of Engineers) due to the low water levels and rockbed that the portion of the Mississippi has in that spot.

The 2 water intake towers were impressive! They were built in 1894 & 1915 to draw in drinking water for the city of St. Louis. They are no longer used, but stand proud in the river as a piece of St. Louis history.

Tower #1 (further away from the bridge) was designed in the Richardsonian Renaissance style.

Tower #2 (closer to the bridge) was designed in the style of the Roman Renaissance.

The bridge is an engineering marvel! With a 22° bend in the bridge, to accommodate the rocky riverbed, the bridge was impressive to say the least! We loved looking at the bend from different angles along our walk. 

Since the bridge was a part of Rt 66, there were a few photo ops and signs along the way. 

We could see the city skyline (including the Arch) on the horizon (to the right in this picture).

It was a great stop! We really enjoyed our time.

Going into the weekend, we had two stops on our "must do" list (aside from the gathering)...the first was the Confluence Park (✓), the second was Old Chain of Rocks Bridge (✓). While this was a bit of a walk (just over a mile each direction), we were so glad that we did it. The bridge is very well maintained - no holes in the cement, paint & metal look great, very little spider webs/birds/nests and NO GRAFFITI! Matt mentioned these things on the way back and I hadn't really paid attention, but it was true! There is a new parking lot with restrooms and a shelter on the Missouri side (nicely done!) while the Illinois side of the bridge has a nice parking lot with no amenities. 

Once back to the car, we headed east towards I-55 to head home. Matt mentioned visiting Collinsville to see the World's Largest Catsup Bottle. We are planning to drive the Mother Road (Route 66) soon and knew that Collinsville has multiple things to see so we debated on stopping (it added 20 minutes to our eta home). Ultimately we decided to stop and we are so glad that we did!!

We found the Catsup Bottle (Matt was beside himself with giddiness!), a handful of Rt 66 signs and murals and a few letterboxes. It was great way to finish our day!

We did stop on our drive home at a few rest stops - we were looking for the new "Illinois" sign. So excited to find one of the new signs at the Homestead Rest Area, south of Hamel (I-55).

We grabbed a later dinner in Peoria and got home around 10. A quick unpack and check in with the kids before getting ready for the work week and heading to bed. What a wonderful time away! We saw some fun things, some historic places, found a few letterboxes, met up with new & old boxing friends and really enjoyed each other's company.