[Mitzi]
We spent almost all day moving from Nashville to St. Louis. We got an early start, broke camp, hitched and were driving away at 8am. Three hours later, at about the ½ way point we stopped off in Metropolis, IL. The fact the city’s name evokes immediate thoughts of Superman was most certainly celebrated in a SUPER way. In the middle of town is a full color, larger than life Superman statue. There are also headless Superman and Wonderwoman bodies with dipped in necks for guests to convert themselves for the perfect photo opps. No detail was left out as the phone booth was in the background of these too.
Right by the statue on the adorable small town street stood the Super Museum and gift shop. We went into the gift shop (which you had to pass through to get to the museum) and checked out the plethora of Superman merchandise displayed wall to wall and floor to ceiling. From superman fidget spinners, to cups, to figurines, clothing, puzzles and more, they had it all and then some. There was very little that was not decorated with Superman in some way. There were even Superman curtains in the restroom. We paid for our tickets and continued into the museum. In similar fashion to the shop, the museum had multiple rooms filled with what felt like every piece of Superman memorabilia to ever exist covering almost every possible inch of space. They had some of the actual items used in the Lois and Clark tv show as well as from each of the movies. I enjoyed seeing the actual outfits Terri Hatcher wore next to the picture of her wearing it in the show. One of our favorite things they showcased was the Barbie doll sized figures they used in the filming of the first Superman Movie. There was a blurb next to it explaining they used these on created miniature sets coupled with very skillful editing to create the scenes with Superman flying through the sky. There was a Superman pinball machine and Superman video game. One of the displays had all the Superman cups and mugs along with a sign that said some of these were worth $300 a piece. They showcased Superman lunch boxes, both metal and plastic varieties (very nostalgic for Adam and I of our elementary school days). There were also several boxes and containers of food with Superman on the packaging. We saw boxes of Life and Capt’n Crunch Cereal, peanut butter jars, spray cheese, raisins, and more, all with pictures of Superman. There were Wonderwoman, Supergirl and Superman manequins both hanging in a flying position from the ceiling and propped up all around. The actual wigs the actors wore when playing their roles of Clark Kent and Superman, Lex Luther’s Lab Equipment and Doomsday (who spanned floor to ceiling in height and took up a significant width of the wall) were all housed here. There was a glass case of Superman watches with a button you were allowed to push making the rows rotate so you could see them all. I found the sign next to this button very humorous because everywhere else it was posted NOT to touch anything and that you were being watched on surveillance cameras. But this sign was written in a very sarcastic way making it seem like it should have been obvious to touch this button and went on to say if you push the little button the shelves will rotate like magic. They had several big wall watches hanging up too (think wall swatch watch clocks). There was a Superman telephone that was still in the box and also marked with a sign it was worth a significant amount of money. There were several Superman Halloween costumes hanging along the top of the one wall (another nostalgic moment for us as they were the vinyl outfits with plastic masks we wore as kids~ selections sure have changed for the better. When I told the girls these were the types of costumes we used to wear they just looked at me with disbelief and a glimmer of horror in their eyes). There was a huge head of Superman (yes, just the head!?!) that hung on one of the walls. There were all different kinds of toys, including ride-on toys, dress-up capes, figurines, puzzles, games. Basically, if you can imagine it and it was possible to put Superman on it chances are it was in this museum. There were tons of pictures, newspapers, magazine articles, etc. on display throughout.
Once we had our fill of Superman we were on our way. As we were walking back to the truck we came to a corner that had the “actual” kryptonite rock just sitting right there in the middle of the sidewalk. After the girls stood on it and touched it for good luck we flew off to continue our adventure.
About 3.5 hours later we landed at the St Louis RV Park. This was right in the city of St. Louis and was a giant parking lot for RVs along with all that is needed for hook-ups. It also had a pool that was open 24/7. This was a pull-in site so getting set up was pretty simple. Because it was a gravel lot this was the first time on this trip we had to use leveling blocks to get the RV level from side to side.
It didn’t take us too long to get set up and head on out for the evening. We chose to go to the City Museum for the night. This museum was unlike anything we have ever seen before. I will let the girls share their experience here with you.
[Ella]
After we got to the campground and ate dinner we went to the City Museum. I thought it was awesome! It was my favorite museum ever!!! I was amazed when I first saw everything. There were slides that were really steep, there were caves, there was an aquarium room and there was also a rooftop. But we didn't make it to the rooftop. One thing that was really cool that I found out about the rooftop was there was a Ferris wheel. I heard people saying there were really cool slides on the rooftop. There was a bunch of things to climb on outside too. One of the things was there was an arch made out of wires that was in the air and it got you to a slide. When we were in the arch we saw a school bus hanging down from the rooftop and it looked like it was going to fall on us. There were really cool views down. When you looked down you could see a tree house, you could see Mommy and Daddy taking our pictures, a birds nest, you could see the whole outside, but only the bus you could see of the rooftop. Once you got off the slide you would have to walk a bit and you would go up the stairs and that would take you to another slide to go down. After that we went on this gray slide that was really steep, it was straight down. The first slide I went on in the museum was made of rainbow railings and shaped like a triangle. This was a really fun way to spend our night because we were in the car all day and we got our energy out.
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