Your senses are on overload as you walk around absorbing the massive amounts of colors and aromas of the hundreds of plants that help create a St. Louis landmark, the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The garden's rich history is displayed in founder Henry Shaw's original country home, the Tower Grove House. The majority of the furniture and decorations within the house are original pieces, while others have been designed to replicate the style of the time.

Interpretation Assistant Priscilla Smith, who has worked in the house for three years, said the house compliments the garden in many aspects, especially in relation to its history and development.

The clip-clop of heavy hooves beats against the dirt-padded ground, the wheels of the stagecoach rolling steadily behind. The horses’ black coats glisten in the sunlight as the driver brings the stagecoach to a complete stop. As Historic Site Interpreter Norman Pommerenke reaches to open the door, he yells, “All aboard for Santa Fe!”

While the stagecoach gently sways back and forth, visitors are greeted with an array of sights and sounds of farm life from the 1800s at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm in Olathe, Kan. If not for James “Beatty” Mahaffie and his wife, Lucinda, this national historic site might not exist.

It was in 1857 when Beatty, Lucinda and their five children chose to leave their home in Indiana. Similar to many Americans during that time, they had decided to move westward and eventually settled in Olathe.

“They were serious farmers and had a serious farming operation in Indiana, and like so many people, they were going west to improve their situation,” Site Manager Tim Talbott said. “[After moving,] they also ended up in this business of serving other people who were heading west as well.”

More than 150 years later, their farm now is the only working stagecoach stop left in the public domain on the Santa Fe Trail.

It’s like a step back in time. Walking in a French fort surrounded by people in traditional 18th-century clothing or dressed as Native Americans seems surreal in the tiny town of Prairie Du Rocher, Ill. The smells of cooking food and smoke from the booming cannon transport the thousands of visitors who travel to Fort de Chartres each July to attend the annual Rendezvous back to the 1700s.

Darrell Duensing, Fort de Chartres site manager, said Rendezvous, the largest event on site, is one of his favorite events. Duensing has been part of Rendezvous for the past 39 years.

“It is entertainment with a little bit of education thrown in, or education with a whole lot of fun,” he said.

Duensing is in charge of planning the event, including the traditional entertainment and vendors, which is a nice break from the typical daily tasks at the fort, he said.

The stone fort has been partially reconstructed, while other on-site buildings, such as the powder magazine, guards’ house and king’s storehouse, have been rebuilt. The storehouse now serves as a museum, displaying artifacts from Fort de Chartres. From 1720 to 1763, the French regime, which governed the Illinois Country, was headquartered at Fort de Chartres. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is preserving the wooden forts’ archaeological remains.

Mark Twain has been a household name since he wrote his first classic “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in 1885. Although he was a Missouri native, he raised his family in Connecticut to be close to his publisher. The restored Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., offers tours, allowing literature fans an opportunity to become acquainted with the classic author.

Jay Brown has worked at the front desk and as a tour guide for the Mark Twain House and Museum for 10 years.

“Our goal here is to represent a man who was an outstanding writer and traveler and speaker, and to really show his heritage and to share that with people of present and future generations,” Brown said.

Kathryn Bigelow, a local Connecticut visitor, considers Twain an inspiration for aspiring writers like herself.

“Seeing where he came from and what he made of himself is kinda cool,” Bigelow said. “He’s a big part of our culture and of the writing culture of today in America.”

Outside of Laumeier Sculpture Park’s indoor gallery, a lizard scuttles beneath a giant fiberglass eyeball. Yards away, while trekking along the park’s forest trail, visitors might spot a hawk alighting on a piece of conceptual architecture or a family of deer roaming behind a series of steel poets.

The natural elements surrounding the sculptures at Laumeier Sculpture Park, located in St. Louis County, are what separate it from other art showcases in the area. Laumeier sprawls across open lawns, hills and woodland areas in its 105-acre span, so each piece of art has a gallery of its own — walled by trees, flowers, rolling grass and sky.

The park is home to more than 70 installations in a city that boasts three other major outdoor sculpture parks, the newest being Citygarden in downtown St. Louis. While Citygarden highlights the compact space and energy of a metropolitan setting, Laumeier offers its visitors a different experience, Communications Director Mike Venso said.

“We’re more of a suburban park environment, more naturalistic,” Venso said. “We have topography that they can’t provide. ... Ours is a little more open air, a little more engaging of the natural environment.”

Imagine going back to see what Missouri looked like more than 200 years ago, to a time before the vast expanses of cities, highways and suburban development. Instead of roads and concrete structures, tallgrass prairie full of flowers and green grass would stretch for miles and miles. Although most of the original prairie land now is developed, Prairie State Park in Mindenmines, Mo., offers tourists an opportunity to explore the historic tallgrass prairie.

Upon entering the state park, it’s difficult for visitors to miss the large yellow sign reading “Caution: Bison and Elk roam beyond this point…” after driving along a tall barbwire fence. Past the sign, tourists can observe the bright green landscape as they drive through Missouri’s largest stretch of tallgrass prairie remaining in existence. At first, there only are grasses and wild flowers covering the prairie’s hills. As visitors make their way down the narrow gravel road, however, they are likely to see a large herd of bison grazing and wandering through the prairie.

The park staff run regular “Bison Hikes,” allowing visitors to learn about the history of the park, the bison and the prairie that used to cover a large portion of Missouri and the western United States.

Behind the stage with Branson’s Blues Brothers impersonators

Horton, who was studying aviation at the time, didn’t know the impersonator band would turn into a life-long career. For almost 20 years, Horton toured the world performing as one of the Blues Brothers with Legends in Concert, an impersonator show that began in Las Vegas and now has a location in Branson, Mo., at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater.

Legends in Concert is known for its high-caliber vocal performances, authentic choreography and realistic look-alikes of various celebrities, from Britney Spears to Elvis Presley.

“When you’re impersonating you’ve got to go 120 percent,” Horton said. “You’ve got to go over the top. You’re imitating these legends [at] a small snippet of the best of their life, that small little fraction of time when they’re on top of their game.”

1) The Beaches
Take leave of the city sidewalks and soak up some rays on Oak Street Beach off Michigan Avenue.  Visitors have a great view of the city from North Avenue Beach.  After a trip to Fullerton Beach, head across the street to our next free attraction.

2) Lincoln Park Zoo
Free year-round, this popular tourist attraction has more than 1,000 animals.

3) Navy Pier Fireworks
Look to the sky every summer Wednesday and Saturday nights in Chicago where fireworks are launched above Navy Pier for all to enjoy.

4) Chicago Air and Water Show
At Chicago’s second-largest annual festival, a series of daredevil pilots, parachute squads and synchronized jets perform in the air above Lake Michigan while more than 2million visitors watch from the coast. This year’s show is scheduled for August 20-21.

5) Ride the Trolley
Hop on and off Chicago’s free trolley service to experience a great tour of the city. Some trolley drivers will share fun facts for riders about Chicago’s history.

Through the great glass doors, large circular lamps with an orange tinge hang from the ceiling. Above the hanging lamps, elaborate designs painted with soft greens and blues decorate the ceiling. The walls are peach-toned marble with spiraling shots of brown and black- and grey-speckled linoleum covers the floor. On either side of the lobby, glass cases are positioned against the walls with doll-like figurines such as Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind greeting the crowds who will enter the movie theatre.

The Tivoli Theatre, located on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, closed its glass doors in 1994 until it was purchased that same year by St. Louis resident Joe Edwards. On May 19, 1995, Edwards reopened the theatre, revealing a space restored to its former 1920s glory.

When the Tivoli originally opened on May 24, 1924, the giant red velvet curtain parted to reveal the sounds of the Jules Silberberg Orchestra. However, the effects of the Great Depression left the theatre’s auditorium seats empty. Even though the theatre survived the economic downfall, the numerous changes in ownership ultimately hindered the creation of a successful business. Instead, multiple owners let the place fall into disrepair, never updating or making repairs because of the cost of restorations.

“In 1994 I picked up the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and on the front page there was a photograph of the Tivoli Theatre box office window with a handwritten note in it that said ‘Closed Forever,’ and that just broke my heart,” Edwards said.

Edwards, who also owns the restaurant Blueberry Hill, said he wanted to restore the theatre because of its historical value to the area. After seeing the photograph of the Tivoli in the newspaper, he decided he couldn’t allow a place that had been a part of the St. Louis landscape for so long to end up as rubble. Almost immediately, he entered into negotiations with two banks to take out loans for the restoration process. In the end, the renovations would cost approximately two million dollars. Today, the Tivoli theatre is registered as a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

There’s something about the first at-bat for the home team that creates a feeling unmatched the rest of the game. Fans are yelling with excitement. They are screaming with hope. Reality elsewhere doesn’t really mean anything. The Cubs — the reason we are here — have struggled all season, and now they’re well behind the Cardinals in the division race coming in.

Nobody seems to care right now. Nobody remembers the standings when that first guy carries his bat to the plate. No, the fans always scream hard for that first batter.

The Cardinals head to the outfield after a double-play ends the first half of the inning, and here is Tyler Colvin, our rookie who earned his way onto the team with a strong camp showing, strutting to the plate to lead off for the home Cubs.

And suddenly it’s happening. Two months ago, we were buying the tickets. Yesterday, we were driving 10 hours through traffic, across states. This morning, we were sitting in a Wrigleyville bar immersed in the rivalry, fans of both teams thrown together in tight quarters. One hour ago, we found our seats, and we stared in awe down onto the field. About 20 minutes ago, my brother, Drew, looked at me, and I looked at him, and without actually speaking, we both confirmed that yes, this is real. We are finally here. And now here is Colvin stepping into the batter’s box, and the ballpark is alive.

Ball. Strike. Ball. Anticipation builds.

Foul. Foul. Wild cheers.

Ball. Foul. Rampant energy.

On a full count, Cards pitcher Blake Hawksworth throws a sinker on the low, inner portion of the plate. The crowd is buzzing as Colvin swings. He connects. We jump to our feet. Everyone jumps to their feet. Gone? That looks like it might be gone! The ball sails eight rows up into the left center-field bleachers. Home run. 1-0 Cubbies. Pandemonium at Wrigley.