OK, so on Tuesday, today, we were in Jefferson City and we had spent the night at the newly remodeled Doubletree hotel. Nice place, smaller than average room, but very clean and adequate. Breakfast was included in the price, and wow, it was GREAT! We sat in the restaurant on the top (12 +1; you don't have 13th floors in high rises) floor of the hotel with an expansive view of the Capitol building and all of downtown Jefferson City.

Truth be told, this is from our 9th floor room, but it was the same view only better. Anyway, it was a breakfast with omelettes and pastry and hashbrowns and all kinds of fruit. We stuffed ourselves. We waddled back to our room and finished packing. Stuck everything in the car, grabbed the camera and started walking towards the Capitol. We looked at all the sculpture that was around the Capitol building area and stopped to admire the Missouri River flowing majestically through town.

This side of the Capitol faces the river.

While exploring the interior we found ourselves on the third floor and not knowing where the elevator was. We asked a custodian and he directed us to this elevator with the golden door. He said, "It's the Governor's, but just go ahead and use it anyway". HUH!! We did and managed to get to the main floor without security surrounding us and throwing us into a damp basement cell.

I tried to engage this fellow in conversation about his duties during the war, but he just stared at me and wouldn't say anything. And people from Missouri are supposed to be polite! Ha!

Anybody remember Marlin Perkins of the Wild Kingdom tv series? This is his bust in the Famous Missourians Hall. One of 33 famous people to come from Missouri!

After the Capitol we visited the Governor's Mansion. Had a 40 minute tour with a nice old lady that knew a lot about the First Ladies, but not much about the building itself. She seemed to daze off every once and a while, and then start up on something else. The staff was also preparing for a dinner to be held for some bigwigs from the Nelson-Atkins Museum that we visited a few days before. There were several security personnel around and the old gal told us they were there because trustee inmates were used as cooks and waiting staff. They also use them to do landscaping and cleaning of the mansion. We were politely pushed out the door at the end of our tour (first floor only; family lives upstairs) and escorted out the gate. I do have to say it was nice of them to do a tour with just Karen and I as we had tried earlier when there were about a billion fourth graders roaming around and it would have been impossible to see anything. It was the same way at the Capitol. We managed to just stay ahead of them.

Garden area behind the mansion.

We left Jefferson City about 3:30 and headed south to Branson, MO. Got in around 8 pm after stopping at CRACKER BARREL for dinner. We are now safely snuggled in and will be here for two nights. May take in one of the many shows they have in the area. Maybe a 50's or 60's type show. Or we may just sleep til noon, grab a book and sit and read all day. We earned it!