Touring Saint Joseph, Missouri

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Last night, we decided to check out the East Hills Mall near where we're staying. They had a free traveling planetarium show there, and there's a carousel in the mall as well. The planetarium show was OK. I think the kids liked seeing the constellations, and I know they liked the preview for the total solar eclipse that's tomorrow!

Now we have this day in Saint Joseph that we don't know what to do with! A friend recommended the Trails West! festival, but, as it costs money and it's hot out, we've opted to skip. Instead, we headed to the visitor's center that's attached to the East Hills Visitor's Center. They had a few photo ops set up as well as lots of merchandise to purchase. We chatted a bit about the forecast for tomorrow because it's not looking too good. I also asked if they were expecting more visitor's at the mall or at the nature center because we weren't sure where to go for viewing the eclipse. They explained that they really can't predict the turnout for the various locations.

Afterwards, I drove the family to the Patee House Museum. Parts of it were really cool. They had a train from 1860 set up, complete with old railroad crossings (it used to be someone's job to lower the gates). We saw antique toys (my favorite was a doll house made from old spools) and antique cars. The kids rode on a carousel (extra cost). We viewed a small Civil War exhibit that included a section on Buffalo Soldiers.

For dinner, I was craving some Mexican food. There's a Mexican restaurant in an old castle (???) in St. Joseph, but it's closed on Sundays, unfortunately. In fact, most restaurants were. We ended up driving a few miles over the Kansas border to eat at El Canelo. The food was good, and I'm glad we made the drive. The servers there were wearing solar eclipse T-shirts. Everyone is getting really excited!

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Photos

East Hills Mall
There is going to be a total solar eclipse viewing from the mall's parking lot tomorrow. We're here checking things out.