Route 66 State Park

The Route 66 State Park showcases the history of the highway that has amongst other things been called 'The Main Street of America' & 'The Mother Road'. Located along the original Route 66 corridor, the park (aka the ex-City of Times Beach) is approximately 419-acres in size & includes the old Bridgehead Inn which is a roadhouse from 1935 that serves as the Park's visitor center. The center includes Route 66 memorabilia & has displays about the environmental success story of the former resort community of Times Beach which used to be on the site of the park. As well as general Route 66 memorabilia & Route 66 themed items for sale in the shop, there were a number of displays with historical photos of the road & venues close to it. One of these was the Meramec Caverns (which we have been to a few times) & it showed the caves with a large entrance that allowed you to drive straight in. There were also some photos of a motel on Watson Road (which we drive along quite regularly) that had neon signs & was painted bright pink. Apparently, this was quite famous & it was pretty cool to see the actual motel sign next to the photos along with some of the pink brickwork still attached!