So much to see After St Louis!
St Louis was a lot of fun, we saw so many cool things, but we had been in Missouri for a minute. Our usual “in one place” time frame is about a week, give or take depending on the situation. Plus, Zach had an EUC event coming up in Bentonville, Arkansas in the beginning of September, so we needed to move it along.
Our first little stop was at a cute, HUGE Rocking Chair, the World’s 2nd Largest to be exact. Check out the Chair Here! We even brought our littlest kitty, Heddy, for a quick photo in her backpack (I know, she seems terrified, that’s just her normal look 😆 )
Our next stop was Springfield, Missouri for a few days to rest and recover from travel days. We found lots of large things there. The World’s 2nd Largest Fork is there. Funny we keep finding all of the SECOND largest things. But, this fork was huge ! Randomly placed in front of an office building of sorts, and no real explanation. Strange. But cool. Check out the Fork Here!
So then we found some other strange things going on in Springfield, Missouri. First of all, Kraft has a factory there. With a HUGE Noodle (apparently this is not unique for Kraft factories, which just makes me want to go find them all).
And while this noodle is kind of strange, in the big things world, it’s not the strangest thing about this place.
Apparently there are underground CHEESE CAVES.
Wait, what? Ok, in reality, it’s a huge underground (about 100 feet) warehouse. And when I say huge, I mean 3.2 million square feet. 😯 It’s a cheese warehouse (I read 1.4 billion pounds of cheese 😮 but who knows), but it’s also home to 50 different companies, including Kraft, Pepsi and Vital Farms. I’d be freezing, since the average temp down there is 62°F. BRRRR!
Maybe that’s not strange, just a great way to utilize an old limestone quarry. This is the Springfield Underground website, but it’s pretty lacking. History section is nice 🙂 I read you can’t get in to the cheese warehouses, but that you can get into the Underground. I guess the strangest part of this whole place is the lack of information I could find on it. All outlets had the same few bits of info!
Next time, Springfield Underground, Next time!!
Back to places we actually went to (I should have talked to some locals about the underground place, drats!)
After the Fork, we found Springfield SculptureWalk! I’m such a huge fan of outside art. Things made out of other things, or themed art. Like a town with a bunch of bears, or butterflies, or bison, decorated how the artist envisioned it.
Just a few from the Walk 🙂 There’s more here!!
We decided one morning to go for a walk through the local Japanese Garden and then have an early lunch. Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden didn’t disappoint! It was quiet and serene. So unlike us, but so needed by us!
Our last stop in Springfield was an amazing cavern. Fantastic Caverns to be exact. While most of our excursions run on the frugal side, this one cost a bit more, but really was worth it. We got to ride through the cavern in a jeep-drawn tram. It is the only ride through cavern in America. Our tour guide was this quirky little lady who seemed to just love driving through those tiny little spaces talking about the cavern. There were a few places where we needed to duck, but even that was funny!
When the After St Louis tour ended, we continued heading to Arkansas! Did we make any pit stops along the way? World’s Largest something on the side of the road?
Until Next Time….
