Weekend Trip to St. Louis- Day 2

We woke up from our slumber in my car at about 6:30 in the morning when the sun rose.  We changed in my car, and grabbed our toothbrushes and went into Walmart to finish getting ready.  It was really fun because it felt like a little adventure.

We made our way over to Sweetie Pies, another restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which it said on their website that they were open for breakfast at 8 a.m., but when we got there, we discovered that their website just hadn’t been updated in a while.  So we had 3 hours to kill.  So, we decided to go to Illinois to visit Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site.

It was a short 15 minute drive to Cahokia Mounds, but it was stinking freezing outside, and we weren’t adequately dressed for the hiking trail, so the time we spent out on the mounds was kinda limited, but we toured the museum really well.  The mounds were part of a huge city, that at its peak it was larger than London.  It was a massive city and this archaeological site is the largest Native American Mound site north of Mexico!  It has over 120 mounds and there were also wooden circles comparable to Stonehenge that worked as an astrological calendar marking the solstices and equinoxes, the one that is reconstructed is known as Woodhenge.

 

The museum has a lot of artifacts such as projectile points, tattooing kits, chunky stones (used for games) and even shark teeth, showing that they had extensive trade throughout the U.S.  Here are a few pictures:

Cahokia was really a great place to visit.  They have some great looking hiking trails, I’d love to go back in the summer and do those.  To visit the park is completely free, and in the museum it’s a seven dollar recommended donation, which, is pretty decent for a museum, and as an anthropology major, I love to spend my money in support of archaeological/anthropological sites and research, so check it out if you’re in the area.

After spending a few hours at Cahokia, we decided to head back to Sweetie Pies for some amazing soul food!  This restaurant is known for its homemade macaroni and cheese, and let me tell you, it is to die for!  The service here is phenomenal and all the waiters had so much personality and spunk.  It was really amazing!  Here’s some pictures of the amazing food that we ate:

After our delightful lunch we road-tripped back home while jamming out to some great music, laughing about the highlights of the trip, and planning our next trips!

By the way, I told you on my last post (St. Louis: Part 1) that Hannah and I got to meet some of the members of Blind Pilot, but I just now got my first picture from her of the concert, and it’s the two of us with the very talented lead singer, Israel Nebeker.