Trip to "Missourah"

I haven't been anywhere cool lately. I want to get that out of the way, right away. Any trips I have taken in the past year have been in the area or for conferences, which put me in the middle of Nebraska last year, and this year slapped me down in St. Charles, Missouri.

If you've never heard of St. Charles, don't fear. I hadn't heard of it, either. It's about twenty minutes outside of St. Louis, and if you didn't know that it's where Louis and Clark shoved off or that it was the first capital city of Missouri, well, now you do. Instead of waxing on about the conference, though, or my distaste of keynote speakers, I'd like to focus on a special aspect of St. Charles. It's called "Old Main Street." Sounds a little cliche, huh? Generally I would agree, but this Old Main Street is actually on the national register of historic places and was, true to its name, historic-y. (Yes, I made that word up.)

Old Main Street has several buildings that are original, e.g. from the 1700's, and the others are newer, but maintain the historic flavor. There are gas lights that line the street, and the road and sidewalk are an uneven brick. Stores and restaurants are housed in these buildings, and the Missouri River runs parallel to them, a block away.

Sounds ambient, right? Right, until you actually go in the stores. I was hoping that I could use words like "funky" and "eclectic" to describe them, but I am afraid that these stores had all manner of country kitsch. You know, lots of painted wood and raffia. Very distressing. There were a couple of decent places, though, and I managed to score some beads and a pair of socks before I had to wander back to the hotel.

More important than shopping, though, was that I got the chance to see a new place, and a place I would never think of visiting were it not for the conference. It helps convince me that there are plenty of great things to see right here in the good ol' U-S-of-A, which makes me feel better that I haven't gotten to Morocco yet, or even my newest desired vacation spot, St. John's, Newfoundland (that'll be another post).