This year’s spring break was a bit more unusual than most others. Although I had a full four-day itinerary planned, it developed into an unusual and interesting road trip of its own. We rented a black 2024 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid and drove a total of 1087 miles through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Day 1 – Route 66 & Gateway Arch National Park, St. Louis, Missouri
The first day of our spring break vacation was planned to be spent in St. Louis, Missouri. A few attractions that we planned to experience include the National Blues Museum, Gateway Arch National Park, and St. Louis Union Station with a pit stop at the Route 66 Pink Elephant Antique Mall on the way. Our final destination was an overnight stay in the Kozy Kaboose at the Historic Route 66 KOA in Eureka, Missouri. Most of which occurred.
Route 66 Pink Elephant Antique Mall
Our road trip got started a few hours later than we planned due to some scattered storms. We were patient with the weather and journeyed off once the weather was clear enough to do so. We made it to the Route 66 Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston, Illinois, and enjoyed browsing the antique mall, and the candy shop, having lunch outside of the diner, and ended with a few photos with some of the random statues such as Alvin and the Chimpmunks.
In 2021, my son and I made a stop here while on our way back from St. Louis and some of the statues weren’t out. I’ve learned that they switch them out over time to keep things fresh and varied.
Gateway Arch National Park
Our next stop was downtown St. Louis to the Gateway Arch National Park. We found parking nearby for $4 which was fantastic. We took a few photos near the park sign and headed in to ride the tram and visit the museum. Only the tram had reached its capacity for the day.
We then decided that we would head into the museum, only there is a TSA airport-like checkpoint that you have to go through first and I really did not feel like coming out of everything and getting myself and my daughter through. So, we decided we would pass on the museum and come back another day.
That was truly the wisest decision that we made because as we left the building, it started to rain very hard. We made it to the car and began our drive to the campground. As we drove, the weather got even worse and it small hail began to fall. We took our time and eventually made it to the campsite.
Kozy Kaboose
Once we arrived, the rain and hail had stopped long enough for us to get checked into the Kozy Kaboose and have fun on the playground before the storm started up again. The storm lasted for about an hour. Thankfully, we did not experience a power outage or hail damage to the rental car.
Day 2 – Interesting Roadside Stops Heading to Memphis, Tennessee
After a good night’s sleep, the plan was to get and drive to Memphis, experiencing sites such as Mud Island River Park, Sun Studios or The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and wandering Beale Street for some live music and delicious BBQ.
Wally’s: Home of the Great American Road Trip
Instead, we saw a unique roadside stop called, Wally’s: Home of the Great American Road Trip. I had never seen it before, so we decided to stop. It was humongous! If you have never heard of it, it is said to be your stop for the cleanest restrooms, tasty BBQ, warm popcorn to go, fresh coffee, and unexpected necessities. And, I agree. We easily spent an hour in there browsing and shopping. It was established in 2020 and currently has two locations in the Midwestern United States.
Boomland
After about an hour or so of driving, we began to see Boomland signs, and we love a good stop at Boomland. Boomland is another unique stop like Wally’s known for carrying fireworks and fun souvenirs, and also has a restaurant inside (depending on the location in Missouri that you visit).
In fact, when I pulled in, I noticed that this was not the one we typically stop at, so after getting gas, we headed a bit off the beaten path about 15 miles to visit the location that we typically visit. After about an hour, we continued on our road trip.
Arkansas Welcome Center
After about an hour or so, we made another stop, this time at a very beautiful Arkansas Welcome Center. It reminded me of a library being set up in a log cabin. They offered tea, lemonade, water, and coffee at no charge, and there was a wide variety of brochures, maps, and books at no charge at all. I could have easily spent an hour in there roaming around.
While there, I did pick up an Arkansas State Park Passport. There are 52 state parks in Arkansas. What an amazing adventure that would be?!
A&R BBQ & Hotel
After about another hour or so of driving, we made it to Memphis. We decided to look up some good BBQ places near the hotel that we were staying at for the night and just stop in pick up dinner and take it back to the room. Our dinner choice ended up being A&R BBQ which was pretty good.
Day 3 – Memphis and Metropolis
Day 3 was planned out to be a full day in Metropolis, Illinois, and Paducah, Kentucky. Day 3 didn’t exactly pan out that way. Instead, we headed to Mud Island River Park only to find out that it was pretty much abandoned and perhaps under construction. This was a huge disappointment for me because I know how beautiful Mud Island once was. The plus side is that we were able to take photos in front of the Memphis sign.
Metropolis, Home of Superman
After seeing enough, I was ready to get going and head to Metropolis. The drive there was about 3.5 hours. The town was a lot smaller than I had imagined with a population of about 6,000. There was a cool sign that welcomed you to Metropolis, the home of Superman.
We easily found our way to Market Street where we spent a few minutes inside the gift shop, skipped the museum, and browsed around outside. This is certainly a fun attraction off the beaten path if you have children, or are DC Comic fans. Had I been alone, I would have easily spent a few hours checking out all that was there.
Once we were done, we decided to end the road trip early and head home. So, I grabbed an energy drink and drove the remaining 3.5 hours home.
Final Thoughts
This was definitely an interesting and unique road trip including random oddities and roadside attractions off the beaten path. I’ll be sharing each place in its own blog post over the coming weeks with additional photos and details. Stay tuned.
