A current travel trend is that people plan more short car trips close to their homes. Some of these fun trips to follow may include the old west horse and buggy history routes. These may be day trips or week long vacations. Travelers may use St. Joseph, MO as the gateway to the west like many pioneer settlers did.
St. Joseph is a city rich in history and is where many of the covered wagon trails to California started during the gold rush. This is also where the short-lived Pony Express Delivery was created. Pony Express was the fastest mail delivery in 1861 to California and was done entirely by riders on horseback.
This is something the whole family may enjoy and also learn useful information for future school research projects. The older children may even research and give short fun presentations as tour guides on these trips.
Historic St. Joseph, MO
Visitors will see the transition of St. Joseph from the early years as a trading post in the 1800s to a modern vibrant city now as the county government area. The city is located two hours north of Kansas City, MO and sits on the east shore of the Missouri River.
St. Joseph is a friendly community of less than 100,000 people. The city is situated close to Kansas City International airport and easy to get to from major Interstates of Kansas City and St Louis. The history is viewed throughout the modern streets of St. Joseph with its link to the Pony Express, Jesse James – the Robin Hood outlaw, and as a border state of the USA Civil War.
One Day Driving Trip in St. Joseph MO
Missouri was the starting point where the pioneers purchased their supplies to go out west. This opened an opportunity of the first transcontinental mail service, the Pony Express, to deliver mail across the western USA. Although it was short-lived for 19 months, people still celebrate this historic event with the annual re-rides on the trail. Diana Lambdin Meyer describes the trail details in "Travel the Pony Express Trail".
Families will discover museums and statues on this one day car trip:
- Riverfront Landing where Pony Express riders boarded a ferry to cross the Missouri River into Kansas
- Pony Express National Museum at 9th and Penn Streets is where the original stables which could house 200 horses was built in 1858. Tickets are $5 (800) 530-5930
- Patee House Museum, a former pioneer hotel and Pony Express headquarters is open daily 10 to 5, Sundays 1 to 5. Tickets are $5. For months of November to March it is open on weekends only (816) 232-8206
- The Pony Express Monument is a 11 ft. bronze statue on a 7 ft. Pedestal of a Pony Express Rider located at 10th and Federick
Be sure to include the 2.5 mile walking tour through historic downtown. There is map found on the Conventions and Visitors Bureau website or call (800) 785-0360.
Use Pony Express Trails On One Week Vacations
Another trip idea is to follow the Pony Express Trail like the annual re-rides to CA. The entire route is 1,966 miles departing from St. Joseph to Sacramento. The riders stopped at estimated 164 stations every 5 – 20 miles. The historic route was divided into five divisions. These divisions may be used as week long family vacations.
The divisions:
- Division One: Stations between St. Joseph and Fort Kearney, Nebraska
- Division Two: Stations between Ft. Kearney and Horseshoe Creek, Wyoming
- Division Three: Stations between Horseshoe Creek and Salt Lake City, Utah
- Division Four: Stations between Salt Lake City and Robert's Creek, Nevada
- Division Five: Stations between Roberts Creek and Sacramento, CA
Additional information may gathered for these trips by calling The Pony Express Museum.
Hotels to Stay In
All hotels in St. Joseph are family friendly, four favorites to stay in are:
- Drury Inn offers a great happy hour, with almost a full meal, enough for the adults and children, with an indoor pool (816) 364-4700
- Ramada Inn which has an indoor water park (816) 233-6192
- The Stoney Creek Inn is a fun outdoor adventure themed hotel, with themed rooms and an indoor - outdoor pool (816) 901-9600
- Holiday Inn is the only hotel in historic downtown closest to most Pony Express attraction with an indoor pool (816) 279-8000
Families may use the historic Pony Express Trail from St. Joseph, MO as a guide on fun car road trips.
Donna West - Donna West is a Writer with an uncanny ability and passion of finding unusual ideas, off the beaten path, even in everyday occurrences.
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