Tourists in Cape Girardeau

March 22, 2007

Dear Julie,

We are happy to hear you and Lynn plan to stop by to see us on your cross-country trip. Most of our California friends only wave as they fly overhead on the way to somewhere else. Perhaps Missouri lacks the allure of New York or even Orlando. After visitors see the Mississippi River to relive "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and eat some fine barbecue -- four or five superlative purveyors can be found -- the sights seem to wane.

We have no Guggenheim Museum. Some of our best art is painted on our floodwall. Our lone skyscraper has only 13 stories, but in earthquake country who really wants to hang out in tall buildings? The nearest thing we have to Disney World is the annual mule-jumping competition at the East Perry County Fair. Those mules are better than any mouse.

When we visit you we can explore Trinidad Harbor, and a Hangtown Fry breakfast awaits at the Seascape restaurant on the pier. We look for elk at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and for translucent treasures at Agate Beach, then walk among the holy redwoods. It's the whole Northern California enchilada.

The rolling hills here don't stun visitors the way your beaches and tall trees do. The landscape here just makes me feel at home.

People who live here have their own personalized tours for visitors. DC and I take people to the cabin on the Castor River. You can fish and swim and loll about. My favorite thing to do at the cabin is read to the sound of crickets.

Back in town you can try sublime micro-brewery beer at Buckner's, listen to tasty music at the Water Street Lounge on Thursday nights, and the next day climb the limestone bluffs over the Mississippi at Trail of Tears State Park.

I love revisiting Old Lorimier Cemetery, where gnarled, ancient trees stand like sentinels over graves dating to the 1700s.

DC and I will take you to the River Campus, an old Catholic seminary being transformed into a visual and performing arts school just three blocks from our house. Soon we will walk to Broadway shows.

You didn't mention when you're leaving on your trip. Just curious because DC wants to get a few things done around the house before you arrive. Such as:

• Landscaping the yard. Last year friends helped us install a rock patio. Then DC decided the patio needs to be bigger, so more slabs of rock were imported. They're still waiting in the driveway. Our back yard is like the patio -- unfinished. The pit where we once burned downed limbs is so overgrown that wild animals now call it home. Ours is the natural approach to landscaping.
• Cleaning out the basement. This is a dark hole where the decorations for Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving live alongside unknown things that have rarely seen light. You will have to go down to the basement to do any laundry. The alternative is to pack lots of clothes.
• Refinishing the floors. Our dogs chewed on the back stairs during their puppyhood, and our late, great beagle Alvie never got the hang of house-training.
• Putting our dogs Hank and Lucy in the kennel. Lucy goes into the kennel just to keep Hank company. Hank goes into the kennel when visitors come because he has the social skills of a prison guard.

A bit of advanced notice would be appreciated before your arrival. Six months might be enough.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.