So I called my sister and said "Let's go to St. Louis!"
"Really, are you serious?"
"Sure, I can be ready in an hour."
So that was the fastest trip decision and the littlest amount of preparation we've ever had, but we were on our way to St. Louis.
I shared the back seat of the truck with my nephews.
Chatter, chatter all the way. Earplugs with music, trying to read wasn't so successful.
We were on our way for a weekend of fun, no agenda, no hotel reservations. The first hotel was full so we went across the street to the Pear Tree Inn by Drury (at Union Station). This was a GREAT CHOICE.
The hotel was clean and updated. It had a good view of the arch, free garage parking, free wi-fi, free long distance, free FULL breakfast, etc. etc. We also got free tickets to the Pirate exhibit, IMAX movie, and a free kids tickets to the Arch. Price wasn't bad, especially after all the free perks.
Saturday night we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Long wait but got to listen to lots of 80s music and videos. The boys got to see the full-version Thriller video. I teased Konner by goosing him during the scary parts. He jumped and then grinned at me. Jennifer and I sang to the 80s hits. We embarassed Michael and Kolbee.
We got two hotel rooms to spread out. Kolbee slept in my room. I tried to convince Jennifer and Michael to let Konner sleep in my room too but they said I'd never get any sleep. (He's hard to get to sleep and he grinds his teeth at night. Plus his brother was NOT happy about sharing a bed with him.)
Kolbee said I snored. Pssst - he did too!
The next morning we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel. Did I mention it was FREE! Made it even better. I ate sausage for part of my breakfast. I told the crew later that morning that I liked the sausage but it didn't like me. Konner informed me that "Shashage don't talk Aunt Tracy."
We did a little shopping before starting our sightseeing. Jennifer and I spent probably an hour or so in the Container Store. After all that time, we each spent about $10. Remember - we were in the truck and it doesn't have a cover on it. How were we going to get big purchases home? Ah, but lots of ideas. I'll have to look up the closest store to Murray.
Then we discovered our hotel chain (Drury Hotel) had a package giving out 4 free tickets to see the Pirate Exhibit at the Science Museum and Under the Sea movie at their IMAX. We stopped by the hotel and got our packages. Off to the Science Museum....
For those that don't know, the Science Museum is free for most everything. There are lots of cool, hands-on exhibits on different floors and buildings. This summer, they have a special Pirate exhibit complete with sunken treasure and artifacts. The special exhibit costs money, as well as IMAX movies, but we saved about $120 total with the free tickets!!!!
After that, we drove. And drove, and drove. Our goal was lunch and the Arch. We decided we wanted Pizza Hut so we punched in the directions in the GPS unit and away we went.
Away we went to a delivery-only Pizza Hut. Hmmmm. Still hungry.
Decided to travel to another PH. Turned out the next one was a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo. What that really means is it's a Taco Bell with a choice of 3 individual-size pizzas. We were hungry and ready to stop. Weird experience.
Next, the arch. We were a long way away after our PH adventure run. We kept taking wrong turns and finding more 'photo ops' along the way. All along the way, Konner kept calling off commercial phrases because he was 'reading' business signs/logos. "Subway, eat fresh." "Welcome to Macy's." And he loves Petsmart. He can spot those and Applebees a mile away. And another of his phrases now is "Serious?" It looks funny coming from a 5-year old.
We ended up across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, IL. There were several highway overpasses stacked on each other. Jennifer and I joked with Michael that we wanted to get on "that" overpass because it was the closest one to the river and the tallest and it would offer awesome pictures of the arch and the St. Louis skyline. Well, when all was said and done, we made several wrong turns, and then 'planned' last second exits and now we were on that overpass. No one was behind us so Michael stopped so we could take pics. We were stopped in the middle of the highway. I'm sure we were a funny site to see with two women hanging out truck windows taking pictures.
We made it back to Missouri and made our way to the Arch. As we were turning a corner we spotted Stephanie Jennings and her family. WHAT ARE THE ODDS???? They were waiting to cross the street while we were turning on that particular corner. Remember, this is after many wrong turns and taking pictures. It's a small world.....
We made it to the Arch and parked on the riverfront. It's an amazing site, walking up the huge set of steps between the river and the Arch. The arch stands 630 feet tall and took 2 years to build. Under the arch, there is a Westward Expansion museum that the boys enjoyed. We also watched a documentary on how the arch was built. The boys barely made a peep. Konner's comment was 'cool.' He's really into construction and big equipment.
After waiting 2 1/2 hours, it was finally our turn to go up in the arch. The 'pod' elevator you ride in holds 5 people and looks like a stubby tin can on its side. I meant to get a picture of it but forgot. It takes about 4.5 minutes to get to the top and only 3 minutes for the ride down. From the bottom to the top, the elevator pod rotates 150 degrees from it's original position. Pretty cool. Kolbee was apprehensive and Jennifer wasn't helping matters any. She loves to kid the boys and kept telling Kolbee some "horror" stores about the ride. Somehow he was talked into going.
It was nighttime by the time we got to the top. I had never been in the arch at night. It was beautiful looking over the city lights on one side and over the river and floating casinos on the other side. Afterwards, Kolbee decided he loved it and wanted to go back again. In fact, both boys wanted to go back the next day.
As we were walking back to the car, Jennifer kept taking more and more pics of the Arch at night. She has a really good camera that lets her do that. I bet she took 50 photos just in those 15 - 20 minutes. Yes 15-20 minutes to walk back to our car. Enough pictures!!!!!!! Each one couldn't have had more than 5 degrees of difference. :)
So it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest.
The next morning Kolbee was lagging behind. Jennifer went to wake him up and was greeted by speaking cocoon. "Kolbee is not at home. Please leave a message after the beep. BEEP!" He is our family comic relief!
We ate breakfast again at the hotel (yum again) and then went to Grant's Farm. It's free also, just costs to park. We saw some Clysdale horses - so elegant and HUGE. Then we rode on a tram around the farm. We didn't get to see many animals along the route though. They have this area that's kinda like a little zoo. They have some different animals as well as an elaborate tack room, awards/trophies room, and a room full of old carriages, cars, carts, and fire engines. The adults pooped out before the kids did. We decided to head for home so we could get some rest before going to work the next day (luckily I had the next day off).
Konner and I slept most of the way home. There is nothing sweeter than a cute litlte nephew snuggled up on your shoulder sleeping.
Short, sweet, fun trip with the sis and family. Good stuff.
