Missouri's got a
passport challenge going on right now to visit the 6 national parks located within the state. If you visit 3 of them, you get a free water bottle. I didn't even realize we had 6 parks in our state. Normally, when we head to a national park, we do so with the intention of going on a hike, but since the temps have been in the high 90's the last couple weeks, we decided visiting an air-conditioned museum would be better. The Ulysses S Grant house is only a few miles from our house. This was actually Grant's wife's house (Julia Dent), but he lived here for most of his life (when he wasn't in the military or being president). The green is actually the original color. Supposedly bright colors were a sign of wealth back in the 1800's.
Right when you walk into the visitor center, there is a dress-up area with period clothes. Bruce put on a coat and hat like those generals wore in the Civil War. This was about the only thing that fit him. Most of the clothes were kid-sized, but all the kids we saw were spending the day across the road at Grant's farm (they have a petting zoo).
The old barn was converted into a museum. The caretakers have a problem with birds getting up into the attic, so they set these owl statues on the rafters to scare the birds away. I wonder if I could put one of these in my garden to scare away the rabbits.
