River Museum

We recently went to a museum that tells about the importance of the Mississippi River.  It was a wonderful day full of activities.

There is a monorail to ride over to the museum.  It goes right over the Mississippi River.  Elizabeth was scared to ride it because she did not want to "fall into the river".  Poor girl.  She held very tightly to her Daddy though and he kept her safe.  On our return trip she was very excited to ride.

 Here is the Mississippi Riverwalk.  I took this picture thinking of my friends who have their own riverwalk.  It actually is a very fun part of the museum.  It is a scale model of the lower Mississippi River flowing from its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois 954 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico.  There are some cities mapped out along the way and little bridges.  The entire length is 2000 feet.  Interesting to see the how the river ebbs and flows along the way.

Inside the museum there are exhibits that talk about the beginning of the river and the different purposes of it.  There are models of the various modes of transportation on the river as well as a full size replica of a steamboat as well.  It is fun to imagine what it must have been like to travel by steamboat.

The lifestyles of people who worked and lived on the river were highlighted as well as some famous ones such as Mark Twain.  Here men are working to keep the river from overflowing by building up sand bags.

Of course, the boys favorite section was War on the River.   This is a scale reproduction of the front one-third section of the Union Iron-clad Gunboat.  It actually had simulated firing going off which thrilled the boys.  First they had to make sure they were on the right side. ;)  Once that was determined they enjoyed pretending they were firing the cannons.  We spent quite a bit of time reading through the accounts of major battles and looking at the collections at the museum.

Different types of Music on the river was discussed - from Jazz, Blues to Rock N Roll.  Yes, Elvis was there.  Caleb really enjoys music and was fascinated by this "Old Timey drum".  Mom and Dad had to be sure that the children knew what a record player was.  They didn't.  Does that make us ancient yet?

 At the mouth of the River.

Your children do this too right?  Thought process:  Water?  There must be something living in it that is fascinating to dig around in.  Poor James, he was so disappointed there were no fish, but then he got excited because he found a water bug.

It was a lovely overcast day which made it the perfect day to spend walking the Riverwalk.  It had been quite awhile since we had spent time together as a family just enjoying each other.  Sometimes, you just need to step away from the to do lists and do that.