Muscatine Sunsets

by Kari
(Muscatine, Iowa)

Mark Twain said the sunsets in Muscatine Iowa excelled any he'd seen anywhere else in the world. When asked about sunrises...he admitted that he hadn't seen too many of those.

When Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was 18 years old he lived in Muscatine with his mother and brother, who owned the local newspaper. He also, encouraged by his big brother, wrote some fictional stories for the local Muscatine Journal. Unfortunately, he used several pen names that are mysteries to us, so we don't know which stories are his. It was very popular in those days to write fictional tall tales for the newspaper...which makes the search for an original 18-year-old Samuel Clemen's story even more frustrating.

Muscatine sits smack dab on the shores of the mighty Mississippi and undoubtedly, some of his experiences in Muscatine and the river here were influential in his writings.

Because of all this and the fact that Mark Twain was also a globe hopper, like our family, we've sort of "adopted" Mark Twain and enjoy including some of his travelogues on our site. See: Mark Twain as Globe-Hopper.

We can observe and soak in the beauty of these Muscatine, Iowa sunsets on any day of the year right from our front porch.

We're lucky!