According to urban legend, it's haunted. Golden angel statue that mysteriously turned coal black after the death of the maybe-a-witch who's buried there. SyFy's Haunted Highway captured audio/visual anomalies and documented it with thermal cameras as red hot in the middle of a cool night. Supposedly, anyone who touches it either dies right away or within months. We recorded it for a while, but saw nothing. And I touched it to prove a point, so if I kick off anytime soon you can all gather around and say I told you so.
We did the Arch again because the kids didn't remember the last trip very well and I am an idiot. I hate the arch. Claustrophobia and acrophobia do not mix well with a 650 foot structure built in 1965, constructed by the lowest bidder who immediately needed to address his underbid, sized for midgets and OMG WHAT WAS THAT CREAK I SWEAR I THIS THING IS MOVING.
One of the downsides of picking things off the beaten track is that you occasionally get a clinker. This was one of them. The "wax" museum was about 75% plastic pop culture marketing pieces - you know, the plastic Superman statue that some theaters get when the movie comes out. With the temperature in there, I have a hard time believing any of it was really wax. And not that well done, either. Most of the figures were dusty and many displays had missing lights so you couldn't really see them. In the hall of Presidents, Reagan had a surfer wig and Obama was a cardboard cutout... The "House of Horrors" was pretty extensive with some audio and animatronics, but nothing better than a good haunted house at Halloween. Not really scary enough for adults, but too gory for little kids. Your $10 is probably better spent elsewhere.
They have a number of themed gardens and greenhouses, including Victorian English, Chinese and Japanese gardens with themed architecture. Really, really nice and I'm not one who's particularly moved by plants. The Climatron is the crown jewel - a geodesic dome housing a rainforest environment. Named one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in US history. They had displays of blown glass artwork interspersed throughout sections of the park and the rainforest - really neat stuff. Every path you went down it seems like you could find some hidden gem tucked away and the landscapes were amazing.
This place is huge. Would be a great bike or Segway tour. Walking, I'd guess it takes the better part of a day to really explore everything. Unfortunately, we just had a couple hours before closing and had to hustle to see what we did.
Owl Creek is one of several wineries in this area that are all connected by trails. You can literally hike from winery to winery if so inclined. I'd actually like to witness that at some point, as I can easily picture people getting walleyed and wandering sideways down a ravine. No official tour here, but they let us wander the grounds and check out the grapes and such. It's more a storefront than a tourist stop. We did a tasting and picked a nice pineapple sangria.
The Trail of Tears State Park in Jackson, MO had a small museum with some great taxidermy and artwork, as well as a nice history wall detailing the forced march. A great overlook with amazing views of the river.
This Historic Greyhound Bus Depot houses the Blytheville, AR Main Street program now. It's very well kept up and was a great setting for pictures. Everything looks about like it did during the 50s and they have a collection of uniforms and artifacts on display. It was really just a leg stretching stop for us, but a very photogenic little place.