Wanderings And Ponderings

  Holiday Inn Six Flags 4901 Six Flags Rd, Eureka, MO 63025 The site where the Holiday Inn by Six Flags stands today has been a stopping point for travelers for nearly 200 years. It all started in the early 1800s when Native Americans dug deep springs on the land, creating a reliable water source. As stagecoach travel grew, the spot became known as the Deep Springs Stage Stop, a welcome rest area for travelers leaving St. Louis, offering them their first "good water" after the city. In the mid-1800s, as St. Louis expanded, the county bought the land to build a farm to help people moving west. They hired Irish stonemasons to construct a large rock building, which was meant to be a dormitory. This building still stands today and is now the heart of the Holiday Inn, housing the Hay Market Restaurant, banquet rooms, and convention facilities inside its thick limestone walls. During the Civil War, the farm project was put on hold, but in 1894, a St. Louis veterinarian name...

John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa, is probably one of the most recognizable actors in American film history. People often called him "The Duke," and for good reason—he became the face of Western movies. But his career wasn’t limited to just cowboys; he also starred in war films, dramas, and action flicks. With his rugged look, deep voice, and tough-guy persona, Wayne pretty much embodied what a lot of people saw as classic American masculinity. John Wayne's boyhood home in Winterset, Iowa, is a charming and historic site that has become a popular destination for fans of the actor. Located at 216 South Second Street , it’s a modest four-room house where Wayne, then Marion Morrison, was born on May 26, 1907. While his family only lived there for a few years before moving to California, the home has been preserved and restored to reflect the period when Wayne was born. The Home and Museum The house is part of the John Wayne Birthpla...

Myre Big Island State Park 19499 780th Ave, Albert Lea, MN 56007 The story of Myre-Big Island State Park is a mix of nature’s ancient work and human efforts to protect it in the 20th century. The park’s roots stretch back over 10,000 years, shaped by glaciers during the last Ice Age. As the glaciers moved across what is now Minnesota, they carved out large basins, which eventually filled with water when the ice melted, creating lakes like Albert Lea Lake. Big Island, the park's centerpiece, was formed during this glacial retreat, remaining a lush, wooded area surrounded by water. Over time, the surrounding land developed into a blend of marshes, wetlands, and prairies, enriched by the glacial soils, which now support the park's diverse ecosystems. Before Europeans arrived, Native American tribes, including the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibwe (Chippewa), lived in this region. The Dakota, in particular, used the area for seasonal hunting and gathering, relying on the wildlife and resou...

Robbers Cave State Park, tucked away in the beautiful Sans Bois Mountains in southeastern Oklahoma, has quite a colorful past. The name itself hints at its notorious history, but there’s more to the park than just outlaw legends! The Outlaw Hideout So, let’s start with the park's name— Robbers Cave . It's said that back in the late 1800s, outlaws like Jesse James, the Younger Brothers, and even Belle Starr used the caves in this area as hideouts. The rugged terrain, thick forests, and secluded caves made it the perfect spot for bandits on the run to lie low and avoid the law. While some of these stories are a bit legendary (we might not have all the hard proof that Jesse James actually holed up here), they’ve stuck around, and people love imagining those notorious outlaws sneaking around the cliffs. The Wild West era and the outlaw connection give the park a bit of that "frontier" feel, and it’s part of what draws people in—there’s something fascinating about walking ...