Hannibal Family Travel Review: Sawyer's Creek

Sawyer's Creek: A Family Travel Review

We visited Sawyer's Creek after touring Mark Twain's Cave in Hannibal, Missouri during the spring of 2007. Sawyer's Creek and Mark Twain Cave are across Hwy 79 from each other, just two miles south of Hannibal. Since Hannibal on a Tuesday in mid-May isn't exactly bustling, we didn't have to fight any crowds. Be aware though, regional school districts like to come to Hannibal on field-trips this time of year - so expect their presence - but enjoy it if you time it right and avoid the students.

Sawyer's Creek is a multi-interest destination that offers amusements, shopping, dining, and beautiful Mississippi Riverfront scenery - and the new owners have returned it to a point of pride for the Hannibal community. The previous owner (prior to March 2007) wasn't a very good partner to the community or his visitors. Once you seen Sawyer's Creek for yourself, you'll see why the new owners have done the Hannibal community a service by bringing the destination back to prime condition.

The staff at Sawyer's Creek treated us well. Everyone was friendly, and made us feel welcome whether we were spending any more money or not.

Our primary interest was the amusements. We wanted our family to play together after a long road trip. So, instead of purchasing tickets to the amusements individually, we purchase the two-hour wristbands for each member of our family and. Since we were essentially the first customers at Sawyer's Creek that Tuesday morning - we road the bumper boats, played miniature golf, and launched water balloons at each other to our satisfaction in under two hours. It was well worth the reasonable price-tag. Due to rain, we didn't have time to ride the child-sized train - but we instead made the transition to the restaurant for lunch.

The restaurant at Sawyer's Creek is called the "Riverview Cafe" and offers both an open-air balcony, and inside dining overlooking the Mississippi River. In fact, if your timing is right, the Mark Twain Riverboat will cruise downstream from Hannibal and turn around to return north - directly in front of Sawyer's Creek. If you're dining at the Riverview Cafe you'll have a prime view of the Mark Twain Riverboat during the turnaround.

The day we visited, the special was a tasty pasta with chicken and spinach, which I ordered. My husband ordered and enjoyed the sizable tenderloin and fries. Our son had the chicken fingers and applesauce. The service was phenomenal. I was pleased that small town Hannibal could find such attentive and polite staff, while larger metro areas can't find such quality workers. Our son also enjoyed the complimentary coloring book, and the borrowed crayons while we briefly waiting for our meals to arrive.

After lunch, we walked through the Wine Shop, which feature's Hannibal's largest selection of Missouri wines. If we'd planned better, we would've sampled a few of the wines, unfortunately, we'd lingered a little long already and needed to get back to Hannibal to catch the next Mark Twain Riverboat cruise. Downstairs from the Wine Shop is the sweet shop, where we purchased an old-fashioned peanut-butter cup to share between the three of us. It was massive, and a tasty sweet treat.

We left Sawyer's Creek happy and satisfied. We'd played on the amusements, relaxed on the Riverview Cafe balcony, shared a good meal, enjoyed a sweet treat, and enjoyed the personable service of every Sawyer's Creek employee who engaged us.

We look forward to returning - and recommend that if you're on that part of the Avenue of the Saints (that lovely stretch between Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and St. Louis) that you strongly consider refreshing yourself at Sawyer's Creek.

For the latest information, visit the website for Sawyer's Creek is: SawyersCreek.com

We sincerely hope that you've found this Hannibal family travel review helpful for planning your Mississippi River vacation along the Avenue of the Saints.

5 Mommy-Stars out of 5