Surprising Springfield

Sunday, July 29, 2012--Kansas City to Springfield

Today represented another move back toward home.  I had decided to stop in Springfield, because it had several listings in the guidebooks and because I was unsure of how crowded and expensive Branson might be.  I arrived around noon and, since I wasn't supposed to check into my hotel until after 15:00, started to explore the town, .

First, the size of Springfield surprised me.  I had heard of it mainly because it used to be considered the "home" of Silver Dollar City, a western amusement park that has existed since I was a child.  (Branson is now listed as its home, although the park has not moved as far as I know.)  Otherwise, I really knew nothing about the city.  When I got here, I found it ringed by expressways like a large city.  Then as I explored, I realized I was going long distances, passing multiple Wal-marts and K-Marts, seeing lots of large industrial sites, etc.  I even passed a Lexus dealership which none of the cities in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota or South Dakota had and which Corpus Christi doesn't have.  Instead of the town of 30,000-50,000 that I expected, I realized it had to be bigger.  A later check on the Internet indicated that the metropolitan area is about 450,000, slightly larger than that of Corpus Christi's metropolitan area.

I had a streak of luck.  While following a sign for a tourist information center, I found the Springfield Nature Conservation Center.  It's a small park with walking/hiking trails.  I immediately set out to walk their outer loop trail which is about 3 miles long.  It was such a pleasant experience, even if it was a hot afternoon.  The trail went up and down hills, through a prairie section, along a creek, etc.  I saw deer, redbirds, and other wildlife.  I was really perspiring when I finished the hike, though.  I saw on the car thermometer that it was 99 degrees F outside as I departed.

I decided to stay mostly inside after that.  I drove by the Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State) campus, the second largest public university in the state with 20,000 students.  It looked attractive from the car.

Then I drove up and down the streets in the downtown area.  Walnut Street was lined with beautiful old homes.  And downtown itself covered a large area with many buildings that have been converted to loft apartments.  It's close to the university (and to a private university named Drury University [Congregationalist or United Church of Christ--a very liberal church]), so it seems that the proximity helps keep downtown alive and thriving.  There were many shops, lots of bars, movie theaters, a live entertainment theater, etc.  (The town also is home to Evangel University (Assemblies of God) and a connected seminary, but I doubt that their students contribute much to the night life, especially the part that involves drinking alcohol.)

I stopped by their local Battlefield Mall just to walk some more and to watch people for a while.  It was larger than I expected, but was a rather typical mall.  Nothing in it appealed particularly to me other than the indoor air conditioned space for walking.

On the way to check into my hotel, I passed the Bass Pro Shop.  I had seen signs on the highway about it and thought nothing of it.  But it was HUGE--a central building with a side building and a side wing that had been added on, and it was in the central part of town instead of on the outskirts.  I parked and entered just to see their exhibits.  There was a tourist desk.  I overheard a man talking to tourists there.  He said that this is the ORIGINAL Bass Pro Shop and that it draws more tourists than any other individual tourist site in Missouri. (The St. Louis Arch is second.)  Unfortunately, the whole place is undergoing a remodeling.  The museum building was completely closed because of it.  But the major building still was amazing to see even though it had a couple of off-limits areas where remodeling was occurring.  Anyway, I happened upon the biggest tourist site in Missouri without even knowing about it.  Click here for a video.

I stopped at Sam's Club for gas and bought a slice of pizza to serve as my dinner before continuing to the hotel.  Tonight, I am staying inside.  There is an Inspector Lewis program on Masterpiece Mystery I have not seen, and I have a 5-bar connection (best possible) to the Internet on my computer.  Plus, I have brochures to read about Branson so I can decide if I want to stop there tomorrow or not.

Steps Walked:  11,850

Miles Driven:  224