Anniversary Trip!

So, obviously this post is a little late, and out of order, but oh well! :) Over Memorial Day weekend (May 22nd, to be exact) Josh and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. To celebrate, we decided to take a weekend trip to Hannibal, MO, just to get away for awhile.

We stayed at a bed & breakfast called LulaBelle's. Actually, the people that own LulaBelles own 3 B&Bs- LulaBelles, Main Street, and the Painted Lady. LulaBelle's is the main one, and that's where the restaraunt is. Main Street and the Painted Lady are both within a block or two of the main building (LulaBelle's) but are just rooms that they give you keys to. We stayed at Main Street, and it was in an old bank building, and was really neat. The people that ran the B&Bs were really nice, too, so we highly recommend this place! It doesn't have all of the antique beds, etc. that a lot of B&Bs have, but it was still a neat place.

A shot of the outside of the building. We actually got to our rooms through a door on the side- just passed the awning that you can see.

Cool architecture on the outside...

Inside we went up this winding staircase. Seriously, just a neat old building. You could definitely tell that it was an old bank building, which just kind of added to the charm.

We got there late afternoon, so we headed out to dinner right after we got checked in. We'd looked for some restaurants online, and liked the look of the menu at this place, The Brick Oven. We get there, and figure out that it is directly across the street from our room! It was really neat restaurant, with a great atmosphere and decorations inside, and some pretty great food!

After dinner, we were so stuffed, that we figured we should take a walk and work off some of our dinner! We just window shopped in some of the cool stores, walked along the river bank, and just explored where we were. It was getting dark and cloudy, but I managed to get this cool picture of the Mark Twain riverboat, just returning from its dinner cruise.

The sign outside the restaurant on our way to breakfast Saturday morning. Loved the saying- "Good Food, Cold Beer, and Hard Beds." We didn't try the beer (obviously), and our bed certainly wasn't hard... but the food was pretty darn good! It's always chef's choice, so we were a little worried that we'd hate the choice (not so wild about garden omelets and stuff like that), but it ended up being biscuits & gravy (suh-weet), and it was really good!

After breakfast we headed up the hill (and I mean UP THE HILL) to this lighthouse that is above downtown. It was quite the hike, but it was a neat old lighthouse, and the view was totally worth it!

Gotta love a self-portrait!

Next we decided to explore the Mark Twain landmarks around downtown Hannibal. Josh just had to get his picture taken by "THE" whitewashing fence (from Tom Sawyer).

Funny story about the day... the shirt Josh is wearing says "Jesus died for MY SPACE in Heaven." It's one of his favorites, but at breakfast there was another group of guests from the B&B who made some snide comments about it when he went to the bathroom (not actually to him, but I was close enough to hear them- you know me and eavesdropping). Anyway, after that start to the day, there were probably no less than 8 people who told him that they really liked his shirt, hadn't ever seen one before, and/or wanted to know where he got it. It was just kind of a really cool thing after the first comments of the morning.

Hannibal was hosting a "Twain on Main" festival for the first time while we were there, so Main Street (where our B&B was) had vendors and tents and such set up all along both sides. So we spent awhile wandering through all of the stores and tents after we finished with the Mark Twain touristy stuff. There were some really neat booths set up, so we had a lot of fun shopping and goofing off.

After lunch, we headed back to the riverfront to take a ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was a really good time, just heading up and down the river, listening to someone point out all of the cool sites and give us some history.

A shot of the boat...

Another self-portrait... notice the hair- it was a LITTLE breezy!

This spot is called "Lover's Leap" because of an old Indian legend about a couple who jumped off rather than be separated.

One non-self-portrait... we "traded" with two girls who were taking pictures of each other.

After the boat and a little more shopping, we headed South of Hannibal to visit Mark Twain Cave. We went on a tour which was pretty cool, although definitely a little rushed! I guess they send people through the cave like every 15 minutes, so there's no dallying- you have to stay on schedule. This is the cave that Tom & Becky Thatcher get lost in during Tom Sawyer, and the kids around Hannibal spent a lot of time in it when Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain was a kid, so it was neat to hear some of the stories. They actually had a place where they would sign in and out, and an old farmer would check at the end of the day and make sure everyone got out. We could totally understand why, there were zillions of tunnels and side paths in that cave, it would be so easy to get lost! I can't imagine what it would have been like with only one or two candles to light the way! I love caves, though, and would love a chance to explore that one without having to stay on the main path!

After the cave tour, we stopped by Lover's Leap (it's on the way back to Hannibal from the cave) to check out the view... pretty awesome!

For dinner we went with a Looten family classic: Cassano's. This is a pizza place that is in Hannibal and Quincy, IL, and is a favorite of their's. I'd never had it, but it was pretty amazing pizza! Highly recommended!

Anyway, after Cassano's we headed back to Columbia. And, the coolest part was, even AFTER our trip to Hannibal, we still had two days left in our weekend (Sunday & Monday). We had a great time just hanging out and celebrating 5 awesome years! Can't imagine where we'll be in 5 more!