After very long day of driving I awoke to a beautiful sunny day on the west side of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri. Since I only had a few hours drive to reach cousins Karla and Brian in Moberly I decided to stroll about the town and see what it had to offer. Turns out Hannibal is known for being the childhood home of author Samuel Clemens. The only historical building I could gain entrance to was the actual Clemens home on the left.
I loved the bricked streets found sporadically throughout the town! I've always been fascinated with different textures but for some reason lately street surfaces seem to be grabbing my attention.
I was a bit disappointed that the local drugstore was indefinitely closed due to damage from a flood within the last few years.
So....I peeked in the windows to see the apothecary jars, bottles, balances. Sure is a different world today.
As I was strolling the streets I realized that many of the bricks paving the roads were made in Moberly. A few days later, I would have breakfast with Karla and Brian in Moberly at a restaurant called "The Brick". I thought it was a rather interesting connection!
I was advised by a lady at the visitor's center to make sure that I attended "story time". Since she very highly recommended it, I hustled and made it there just in time for the start of Gladys Coggswell's "A True Story". Over the better course of a half hour Gladys relayed a story about a resident of Hannibal in the mid 1800's that Samuel Clemens knew from the lady's perspective. The Master Storyteller's face transformed into a spunky older woman who was separated from her 7 children and husband as a result of slavery, how the civil and reconstruction changed her life, and the reunion with her youngest son. Gladys became this woman and engaged the audience to such a degree that several of us, myself included, got teary eyed and reached for kleenex! I'm not sure anyone even ever breathed! At the conclusion, after a large round of applause, Gladys shared with us that she nearly had to give up her career as a Master Storyteller 5 years ago when a massive stroke robbed her of her speech until 2 years ago! Now there was definitely not a dry eye in the house! Upon leaving I shook the hand of this remarkably determined woman as I told her just how much I enjoyed her performance!
Moving along, I opted for a quick stoll along the mighty Mississippi River just in time to see a river boat departing.
The walkway along the waterfront was quite nice with bronze statues of Mark Twain, Huck Finn and plenty of blooming fall flowers.
One last look at the main street before my ascent to the "lighthouse".
After very long day of driving I awoke to a beautiful sunny day on the west side of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri. Since I only had a few hours drive to reach cousins Karla and Brian in Moberly I decided to stroll about the town and see what it had to offer. Turns out Hannibal is known for being the childhood home of author Samuel Clemens. The only historical building I could gain entrance to was the actual Clemens home on the left. 
I loved the bricked streets found sporadically throughout the town! I've always been fascinated with different textures but for some reason lately street surfaces seem to be grabbing my attention. 
I was a bit disappointed that the local drugstore was indefinitely closed due to damage from a flood within the last few years. 
So....I peeked in the windows to see the apothecary jars, bottles, balances. Sure is a different world today. 
As I was strolling the streets I realized that many of the bricks paving the roads were made in Moberly. A few days later, I would have breakfast with Karla and Brian in Moberly at a restaurant called "The Brick". I thought it was a rather interesting connection!
I was advised by a lady at the visitor's center to make sure that I attended "story time". Since she very highly recommended it, I hustled and made it there just in time for the start of Gladys Coggswell's "A True Story". Over the better course of a half hour Gladys relayed a story about a resident of Hannibal in the mid 1800's that Samuel Clemens knew from the lady's perspective. The Master Storyteller's face transformed into a spunky older woman who was separated from her 7 children and husband as a result of slavery, how the civil and reconstruction changed her life, and the reunion with her youngest son. Gladys became this woman and engaged the audience to such a degree that several of us, myself included, got teary eyed and reached for kleenex! I'm not sure anyone even ever breathed! At the conclusion, after a large round of applause, Gladys shared with us that she nearly had to give up her career as a Master Storyteller 5 years ago when a massive stroke robbed her of her speech until 2 years ago! Now there was definitely not a dry eye in the house! Upon leaving I shook the hand of this remarkably determined woman as I told her just how much I enjoyed her performance!
Moving along, I opted for a quick stoll along the mighty Mississippi River just in time to see a river boat departing. 
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