AtoZ Challenge: K - Keep Calm and Have an Adventure

For this year's AtoZ Challenge, I am featuring Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown.

Everyday is an adventure raising two teenage boys. People ask me where I get my ideas for my books. I don't have to look very far. So, yesterday on our way to church, I swung by Clemens (baseball) Field to snap a few pics. My oldest son said, "Mom, I've got this." My response: "That wall is way too high...okay, never mind." He quickly scaled the wall to take a panoramic of the ballpark. (It was too far away to get a good shot of the field.) So while dressed in my Sunday finery, I kept an eye out for the cops and prayed we wouldn't get arrested. We didn't. But there might have been security cameras.

What small hometown would be complete without baseball? Clemens Field was built in 1938 and even detained German POWs on the field. It hosted a professional team in the fifties but since fell in disrepair. A few years ago, it went through extensive repairs and renovations, restoring it to its former glory and elevating the field about eight feet due to its close proximity to the Mississippi River. The Hannibal Cavemen, a prospect league, will begin another season on May 30th.You can catch the Hannibal La-Grange University's baseball team playing several games here in the spring.

My pic of my son taking a pic

Clemens Field was the pivotal point of inspiration for my first novel Free Runner. Several years ago, after watching my oldest son climb the concession stand (he has an obsession with climbing), he jumped, flipped and landed flawlessly. I almost had a heart attack. Then I asked him what on earth he was doing. He said, "Free running." Technically, he was performing parkour. Free running involves, well, running. And, yes, he does that too. But not running from the cops, because he's a good kid.

The Grandstand

Outside view

Once again, I'm showcasing my oldest son's photography skills. His panoramic photo below features the back side of the Salvation Army, a photography studio and a tattoo parlor. Because those three establishments combined would be an adventure.

What's your ideal "adventure"? Do you enjoy baseball? What's your favorite team? Do you ever go on adventures with your kids?

AtoZ Challenge: J - Java Jive and the Old Jail

Java Jive

Hannibal boasts the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi River. I didn't verify that info, I just read the sign in the window. Java Jive is located on Main Street in the Andrus Joseph Building built in 1902. You can find musicians playing the piano in the back or strumming a guitar out front. The coffee shop started as a woman's clothing store and then turned into Hannibal Mercantile for the next forty years.

After its last identity crisis as a hardware store, it became what it was always meant to be: a coffee shop. Out of the three, I'm loving the coffee shop transformation. Not that I don't enjoy buying women's clothing or a rake to clean up my leaf littered yard, but Java Jive makes the most wonderful frozen milky way (chocolate/caramel) coffee drink in the world.

I wish I could say I spent hours writing in this establishment, but I do most of my writing at home on a worn, leather couch. Java Jive is a reward I give myself on the weekends after a long week of writing or editing or to get away from my kids, but they usually end up following me there, because I raised them right and they love coffee drinks too. 

"Coffee is an experience that chalk cannot convey." 

The menu board

The Old Jail 

In keeping with our challenge letter "J" today, I'm including Hannibal's Old Jail House located just a few blocks from Java Jive. By the way, my oldest teenage son took this photo yesterday. He has a way cooler phone than I do. He's an amazing photographer and artist, and I occasionally buy him coffee because he's awesome and takes photos for me.

The "Old Jail" built in 1878

Where do you like to write? Do you ever use your kids to your advantage? Bribe them by buying them coffee drinks or video games? (Asking for a friend. Not that I ever would;-)

AtoZ Challenge: I - Introducing Hannibal's Wax Museum!

Haunted House on Hill Street

In keeping with yesterday's AtoZ Challenge "H" post, Haunted Hannibal, I thought I would introduce the latest spooky attraction to hit the town. Actually, the Haunted House on Hill Street has been around a long time, but it's been closed and for sale for the past seven years. Someone finally bought the rundown house last year, cleaned it up and installed twenty-seven life-size wax sculptures, featuring everyone from Mark Twain to Aunt Polly to Injun Joe. 

So, be sure to stop by the Haunted House on Hill Street described in Twain's novels. It's located right next door to the Becky Thatcher house. Did you notice the skeleton in the upstairs window? I'm going to stop by later today and see if I can peek in the windows. If any of those wax figures move, blink or wink...

AtoZ challenge: H - Haunted Hannibal

 The AtoZ Challenge letter today is "H." I'm featuring Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, MO.

Hurry! The tour starts soon!

Ghost Tours

"America's Hometown" is also sometimes referred to as "Haunted Hannibal." The Hannibal History Museum, located next to the Mark Twain Museum, hosts nightly excursions especially popular in the fall around Halloween.

Twain's last night in Hannibal: 

Rockcliffe Mansion, built in 1898 by John Cruishank, is the place Mark Twain stayed during his last visit to Hannibal in 1902. Of course, the old mansion slash B&B is said to be haunted. You can experience a spooky night's unrest and see for yourself if the rumors are true.

Rockliffe Mansion (photo: Wikipedia)

Stillwell Murders

Hannibal was home to wealthy citizen Amos J. Stillwell and his wife. He was found in his bed on December 30, 1888, murdered with an ax. The whole story can be read in the New York Times. The mansion has since been torn down. (Who wants to live in a house with that reputation?) A bank's parking lot sits on the empty space, full of eerie noises and haunted happenings late at night.

Tom Sawyer's infamous graveyard scene

Of course, we provide several ghoulish graveyards (circa 1830's) close to the Mississippi River. It is debatable whether or not the "Old Baptist Cemetery" was the one Mark Twain used to describe his lovely graveyard scene in Chapter 9 in his book Tom Sawyer. And, yes, it's creepy even in the daytime. I came across Becky Thatcher's (aka Laura Hawkins) dad's headstone. Historians think Twain used the "Old Cemetery" as writing inspiration, which was abandoned after the Civil War to make way for a housing development. Does that mean those bodies are still buried underneath the residential area?! CREEPY.

Poster in the Hannibal History Museum

If you come for a visit, be sure to check out the Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tour. Not sure if Edgar Allan Poe will be your tour guide, but you can see for yourself if our town is truly "Haunted Hannibal."

AtoZ Challenge: G - A Great Getaway: "Twain's Town"

Welcome to another AtoZ Challenge Post! Today is the letter G:

A Great Getaway: 

If you love the small town feel, this is the place for you. History buffs will enjoy this antiquated town with its overabundance of museums and historic homesteads. We have many B&Bs located along tree lined streets. Most of the downtown attractions are located within walking distance from the Mississippi River. We even have a trolley to take you on a guided tour around the city. I think the Hannibal Chamber of Commerce should hire me to be a PR person or something with all this promoting I've been doing!

Historic downtown with view of The Mark Twain Hotel

Yep, it's as good as it sounds & a real brick oven for some tasty pizza.

Panoramic views of the Mississippi River

If you love writing, nature, fishing, boating, hiking, exploring, art, history, shopping, and eating, then Hannibal is the perfect getaway for you!

What's your perfect getaway?

AtoZ Challenge: F - Fiction

Let's compare... 

Mark Twain wrote fiction. I write fiction. We learned yesterday he used family and friends as models for his characters. I sketch my characters after my two teenage boys. (If you only knew! I seriously can't make this stuff up.) Twain grew up in Missouri. I grew up just across the border in Illinois.

Addicted to writing 

As an adult, I lived outside of Chicago for almost a decade. Hannibal is only about four hours from the Windy City. My contemporary mystery series is set in a small town in Illinois and involves a bank robbery, a few gallons of maple syrup, and a famous dead author. I'm putting it on hold as I finish up my newest project, an urban fantasy set in Chicago. And an idea came to me two days ago for another upper middle-grade novel: a murder mystery slash detective series. I think I'm addicted to writing.

Chicago is the setting for my new urban fantasy.

Photo hint...

Here's a photograph of the inspiration behind my new middle-grade urban fantasy:

The Field Museum

Have you ever been to Chicago? Do you read or write urban fantasy or sci-fi/fantasy? Do you ever watch movies or T.V. series in your genre as "research" for your writing?

AtoZ Challenge: E- An Eye for Detail

Many of Mark Twain's characters were written with specific people in mind. His childhood sweetheart Laura Hawkins became Becky Thatcher. (More on her in a later post.) He also fashioned the settings in his novels after the places he lived. St. Petersburg, MO, is the fictitious town in Tom Sawyer that is one hundred percent Hannibal. Mark Twain's eye for detail in his very hometown made him one of the greatest writers of all time.

When I do a little sightseeing downtown, people usually ask me where I'm from, because I'm always taking photos. Every time I go exploring, something new catches my eye.

(The "M" got cut off in this pic in the process from phone camera to page.)

Mark Twain Museum-side view

I can never get enough architecture: windows, doors, staircases, old buildings. My kids think I'm crazy. I even take photos when stopped at a red light or out of the window while I'm driving, which I highly do not recommend unless you're pretty good at it like I am.  

Yes, I took this one out the car window, but it's in the middle of nowhere.

Welcome to the back roads of Hannibal.

the famous hat for sale in every establishment

Do you ever write about your childhood or the people you grew up with or the experiences you've had as a kid or a teenager? I do--all the time.