St. Louis Vacation (PART 1 of 3) Wednesday April 27

We left the house at 6am.  *yawn*

It was about a 5h drive to get into St. Louis.  My original plan had been the Zoo all afternoon, but it was raining cats and dogs, so we went to the St. Louis Science Center instead.  OOPS, forgot to take any pictures there!!!  All in all, it was just O.K.  We had to pay $9 for parking but the entrance is free, thankgoodness.  Then we went to old Union Station.  Wow!  How beautiful!!!  We watched a little video, very informative!!  They have a museum too, which of course we walked around in :)  We got to sample some fudge at the fudge store.  The guy works right in front of everyone tempering the chocolate!

Our hotel was the Sheraton about 1.5mi from the Gateway Arch.  If we were on the other side of the hotel we'd be able to see the arch, but we weren't... oh well.  It was a fabulous room!!!  I booked on hotwire so I had NO idea before we got to either hotel what they'd be like, I just knew I got GREAT prices for where we were!!!  This room had 2 beds plus a pull-out sofa.  You can't see in the picture, but it has a nice city view too.

The pool was HUGE for a hotel!!!  At least, the hotels we've ever stayed at... It was on the 13th floor.  eek!  I'd be soooo afraid if I knew we were under it, but I didn't try to figure it out.  I didn't want to know... LOL  We were on the 8th floor.

Our original plan for dinner had been the St. Louis Gast Haus, a German place I got a certificate for on restaurant.com but it was CLOSED for Easter WEEK!!!!!  gggrrrr...Their website did not mention the closing.  So, we ended up at the Old Speghetti Factory.  It was yummy.

St. Louis Vacation (PART 2) Thursday

Gateway Arch stuff all day today, and surrounding area.

I'm stading riverside.  Oh man!!  The river is HIGH!!! There is no way to get to the riverboats even because of the riverfront flooding!  The South Tower area was flooded, but thankfully the North Tower wasn't and we could do everything we wanted.  The museum under the arch was quite interesting, but I think they liked the Leevy Mercentile the most! LOL

In the tram going up the Arch

Cityside from the top of the Arch

Riverside from the top of the arch.

At the top of the arch.

Old Court House.

It was really scary getting up all those stairs to take this picture!!

Standing in front of the Old Court House.

We also saw the Old Cathedral and walked around the area.  We were in this area all day long.  Lunch was sac-lunch in the van in the parking garage so we wouldn't have to leave the area at all.

St. Louis Vacation (PART 3) Friday

hhmmm...  Well, we went to Cahokia Mounds second today but apparently I downloaded the pictures backward.

There are a LOT of stairs leading up!!  You're looking directly down the top flight to the landing, then there is another flight below.

Christian thinks he's real funny...

Look!  You can see the Gateway Arch from the top of Monks Mound!!

Better view of both flights of stairs.  The kids andTom are up in the right corner.

See :)

Coming down the top flight.

This is known as Woodhenge.  It's a circle of 36 poles with a center poll (where Christian is.)

 St. Louis Zoo, which is what we did FIRST on Friday morning.  We stayed at the Fairview Heights Ramada Inn the previous night.  It was okay, not nearly as great at the Sheraton.  Standard, and the pool was tiny.

Again, Christian thinks he's sooo funny...

So, now many times do you drive down the road and see VERY ODD stuff??

I sure wish I had a better picture, but there is a Flinstonemobile in front of this guy's house!!!  As large as a full-sized human would need to use it!

And how about a tractor on top of a silo!!!!!  I hate that it's so dark, but it was 8pm afterall...  Dad says this was featured on some tractor show he watches.  Since I don't watch those shows I'll have to take his word for it.  Both this tractor and the Flinstonemobile were in Illinois.

Happy 11th Birthday Sweet Sophie