Floating Through Columbia, Missouri OR The Redeeming Flame of Knowledge

Right up front I'm gonna be blunt: There's not as many pictures this time around because I almost gave Columbia a miss. It's a relatively large city, somewhat known, and, frankly, I had a horrible experience upon first arriving there.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The last stopover on our journey was Columbia, MO, located on I-70 about halfway across Missouri. The next day we were going to arrive at our destination.

It had been extremely hot all day. I love my A/C, but even the hardiest A/C could do nothing when we stopped at rest stops. I'll also admit a few days of steady driving may have put me in a bad frame of mind…

...But it still sucks when you show up at the hotel you purposefully pre-booked for its "Pet Friendly" policy and find out that their definition of "pets" does not, in fact, include cats.

Also that they refused to offer me a refund because I booked it through a site. Also that they didn't tell me this until AFTER I followed their posted "Pet disclosure policy" and told them I had two cats. I wish I could say the guy handled the situation with any grace whatsoever, but alas...

To get to the point and step away from the anger, by the time we had found another hotel, booked the room, and sweated our way through unloading the car, I really didn't feel like exploring.

We endeavored to at least go find a tasty restaurant for dinner and headed off into the night… (which was totally completely bright, since it was only about 7:30).

...And I'm glad we did. Because we found this library:

Behold, I bring you the giant metal flame of knowledge.

As a writer and avid reader, I will freely admit a weakness for libraries, but this was a pretty cool library.

I honestly drove by, turned around, and stopped to get the photo. My respect for Columbia instantly rose a little.

Even the parking lot had flare! (Heh)

(Side note: It also helped that the SECOND hotel had been incredibly understanding and appropriately shocked/confused by the first hotel's policy. Which is why I will mention them by name: Good job, Days Inn, Columbia. Let that be a customer service lesson for you all.)

Anyway, now that my mood was starting to look brighter (heh) and my interest was aflame (heh), I looked around with the fire of curiosity. (Okay, I'll stop now.)

One of the things I noticed about Columbia was the INSANE amount of trees.

Seriously. Every street we drove down looked like this:

There are houses there. Honest!

"Big deal," you say. Yes, but consider the rest of the day was this:

Some trees, yes, but mostly fields. And emptiness.

And before that, a lot of this:

Though I do really like the windmills... But still no trees.

Even on the other side of the freeway from our hotel it was solid trees and park land right up to the concrete factory…

...And then more trees on the other side of said factory. I think Columbia is lining itself up for a title run on the City of Trees championship. (Watch your back, Sacramento!)

So we drove around, meandering through tree-lined street after tree-lined street until we found a pretty good Thai restaurant. I mostly mention this because I'm still a little startled to find good Thai in random places, despite its widespread nature.

Also I was entertained by how excited the waitstaff was about their big news: As of that day, their beer license was valid. And they were busier than ever, serving mostly crappy American beer. Proving that you can put the Thai in Missouri, but it's still gonna be in Missouri.

On the way back, we drove by part of the University of Missouri campus, which looked rather stately and peaceful, like all campuses when most of the students aren't there.

We finished our day with a quick dip in the Days Inn pool, gently aggressively warmed by the sun during the day. Seriously, I've been in hot tubs as warm as that pool…

...But it was still cooler than the air.

So while not entirely eventful, thank you, Columbia, for your shady trees, awesome library, tasty Thai, and reminding me that one ridiculous fool does not a city make.