01: Metropolis & Shawnee National Forest | 06.06.2023
01: Metropolis & Shawnee National Forest | 06.06.2023
//Part 1
We set out later than planned, but that was inevitable given how early the sun rises in the summer.
Groggily, we managed to gather an excessive number of bags, including a snack bag, for our day trip. The number of bags and cameras outnumbered the humans on the journey, but we had multiple stops to make and weren’t really sure what we needed.
I've spent my whole life living in and around Nashville, yet it took me 41 years to visit Metropolis, Illinois.
We begin
After a quick stop for coffee and breakfast, we drove in the direction of the Daily Planet headquarters via Kentucky, our neighbor to the North.
There wasn't much to see on the highway. We passed many farms, barns, cows, and lots of corn.
Most rest stops were pleasant, with the first one being the nicest, boasting clean bathrooms and lots of maps.
Whenever I go on trips like this, I try to acquire maps and paper ephemera whenever I can. This place had great maps. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it.
It didn’t take long for us to start seeing Metropolis exit signs. When we arrived at the exit, we pulled off the highway and made a sharp right to the rest stop where we saw our first Superman cutout.
Super
The rusted Superman cutout was the kind one could climb on and position your head as Superman’s head for souvenir pictures.
It was kind of dumpy really. Chipped and rusted. The back of the cutout looked less than trustworthy.
While I was sure there was no way we could miss the giant Superman statue in front of city hall, I didn’t know how to get to city hall. So, I turned on the GPS.
When I typed "Superman" into the location search, the statue was the top option. Click. Drive.
A few short miles, and there he was: Superman.
From a distance, Superman appeared to be the size of my thumb, but as we got closer, the magnitude of the statue became incredibly obvious. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Metropolis smells like wet paint. At least, it did when we were there. The town was repainting and touching up the whole place in preparation for Super Weekend, which was happening that weekend.
The town was small and quaint, reminding me a lot of Ashland City, Tennessee, which is also small and quaint. It’s the kind of place where everything shuts down in that city at 6 PM. It kind of looks like Metropolis might be like that too.
As previously mentioned, they were painting, so the sidewalks were getting a fresh coat of burnt orange paint, which I love.
Directly to the left of where we parked my car, there was a bronze statue of Noel Neill, or as we all know her, Lois Lane. Right in front of her was the Daily Planet statue, which I found exceptionally neat, but failed to get a photo of myself.
As we started down the dry parts of the sidewalk, there were black cafe tables with beautiful black and white umbrellas about the place. Some, lined the walkways while others sat patiently on the patio waiting for lunch service to start. I loved these, so I took several photos. Here are the best ones:
There were a handful of people in the town moving about the place. Almost all of them were consumed with painting, touch-ups, construction, and generally taking care of their city, working to make it look really beautiful. And, they did not disappoint.
It was lovely. Everything was decorated in red, white, blue, and gold. Superman was on everything with the exception Thor’s Gym for obvious reasons.
There were excellent Instagram photo opportunities here for folks, so if you're ever in Metropolis, please stand in front of the big Metropolis banners. They are vibrant and very well-painted.
There are postcards available with these banners and much more inside the Super Museum & Souvenir Store. I opted for a neon Superman postcard and, because they had a comic section, this copy of The Artist Behind Superman.
I would also like to point out the magnificent Clark Kent costume display.
Next time: Part 2 of 01. Metropolis & Shawnee National Forest