A Sinking and An Excavation

 

The kiddos had two days off this week for parent/teacher conferences.  We took advantage of their time off to head downtown to the River Market.  The Arabia Steamboat Museum is the perfect museum to get back into visiting places since you can't actually touch anything in this museum.  You watch 5 minutes segment movies that explain the sinking of the steamboat on the Missouri River in 1856 and then the hunt and excavation for it in 1988.  All of the recovered artifacts are behind glass.  This museum is absolutely fascinating, and the kiddos loved it.

All of the passengers made it out alive after a huge log punctured it, but all of the goods and luggage sunk.  The only casualty was the mule tied on the front deck.  All of the artifacts were perfectly preserved, so it is the largest single collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the country.  It is incredible how many things were being carried on this steamboat. 

The kiddos had a nerdy-heaven moment.  One of the original excavators came up and started talking to them.  He gave them details about the dig and about this mule.  He also told them a story about eating one of the pickles that were still in perfect condition in one of the jars they found.  He had a very captive audience.  He gave them all kinds of nerdy facts about how the museum is built in the exact shape and size of the steamboat, including where they put the wheel. 

They loved the Thompson Company box!

Next door was a really cute candy store.  It had all kinds of bizarre and fun kinds of candy you don't normally find in a grocery store.  I read a book a while back that talked about learning to love and embrace where you live.  One of the suggestions in the book was to support locally owned businesses.  The author talked about choosing a local business and spending $50 in that store.  It's a way to help your local economy and encourage love of your hometown.  I was telling my kiddos about this idea, and of course my children were more than happy to spend $50 in a candy store.  Hahahaha.  That's not quite what I had in mind, but the museum is owned locally by the very 5 men who excavated the steamboat and the yes, the candy store is a locally-owned shop.  They each chose something from the candy store, and we talked about all the cool artifacts we saw on the way home.  The older kiddos wanted to try a bunch of crazy saltwater taffy flavors.  The little boys chose matching foxes with lollipops.  It was a great morning!