Amazing Missouri Top Five Attractions

Slap in the heart of America, land-locked Missouri is the gateway between the nation's east and west. It borders no less than eight states: Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. 

The mega-crossroads contains two mighty rivers. One, the Mississippi, defines the eastern boundary of the state. The other, the Missouri, runs west to east, linking the state's two largest cities, Kansas City and St. Louis. 

The state takes its name from the Missouri river, which in turn was called after a local tribe whose name meant 'those who have dugout canoes'. Find out more about the primal Middle America state that claims to be 'close to home, far from ordinary'

Missouri top five attractions 

1. Titanic Museum

If the word Titanic only conjures up images of Leonardo di Caprio, icebergs and deckchairs, this Missouri museum can graphically fill in some blanks. Titanic is a permanent two-storey museum attraction shaped like the boat that was assumed to be too big to fail but sank on its maiden voyage in April 14, 1912. A million miles from the average dusty museum, the Titanic Museum is anchored in water. The 90-minute, self-guided tour you can do through it is meant to give you the sensation of being an original passenger on the ship's fatal maiden voyage.

2. Fantastic Caverns
It's hard not to be suspicious of an attraction with 'fantastic' in its name. But Fantastic Caverns are, well, fantastic. They outshine any of Missouri's 5,600 or so rival caves that make the state seem like a giant labyrinth. The Caverns' strangest claim to fame is its old link with a sinister right-wing cult. During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan conducted meetings and cross-burnings in the Grand Ballroom.

3. Precious Moments Inspirational Park
Precious Moments figurines are porcelain representations of teardrop-eyed children. Many of the figurines depict dead baby angels: children with robes and halos. The park serves as a creche for the dead darlings. You could call the park tacky or kindly see it as a kooky classic. "I have been here several times. Each time I find something new. The fountain show is very moving. Once you know the story behind the figurines and the chapel you understand why so many people love Precious Moments," writes an online amateur reviewer. The Park's creator, 'Mr. Butcher' has studios in the Philippines as well as the US.
4. Edge of Hell Haunted House
This Kansas City amusement park is studded with 'fabricated phantasms' and optical illusions designed to trigger maximum fear. A highlight is a live reticulated python coiled in a crevice of a cavernous turn-of-the-century brick warehouse. 
5. Bonne Terre Mines
Nominated one of National Geographic's Top 10 Greatest Adventures, the Bonne Terre Mines complex is bigger than the old mining hub Bonne Terre itself and deep. The lower three of its five levels form the 27-kilometre illuminated Billion Gallon Lake, which is the world’s largest freshwater dive resort. Billion Gallon Lake was filmed and explored by diving guru Jacques Cousteau, who must have relished the conditions. According to missouribeautiful.com, Billion Gallon Lake's visibility is over 100 feet (30 metres). That's far from ordinary.

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