Meet Me In St. Louis

I can't count the number of times I've been to Gatlinburg which is a rather short distance from Bowling Green, but we have managed to miss the opportunity to see some other cool places close to home.  St. Louis is one them.  After recent visits to Boston, Atlanta and Chicago, we are LOVING big cities.  We took a mini-vacation with the kids to St. Louis over Spring Break. I found a room at the Drury Inn near the arch with an indoor swimming pool, hot tub, free breakfast AND dinner.  Our room was super awesome too.  It was a two-room suite with two queen beds in one room and a sleeper sofa, refrigerator and microwave in the other room - lots of space. We left Wednesday afternoon and arrived around 7:00ish.  The arch was literally right at our back door.  After we got settled, we walked over to get a better look at it.  I don't think I have ever seen anything that cool!  It's literally takes your breath away.  I have to admit looking up at it made my heart BEAT out of my chest, my palms sweat and my feet tingle - 630 feet in the air. 

It was fairly late when we got to St. Louis, and the kids were really wanting to go swimming in the indoor pool.  We headed back to the hotel and got their suits on.  There is a scene in the movie Titanic where the ship is sinking and everyone is scrambling to race to the top of the boat while others are already in the ocean swimming.  It's a sad scene with all of those survivors ending up in the ocean - but the scene and the masses of people in the ocean all concentrated in one area, reminded me much of what it was like in the Drury indoor swimming pool.  I'm certain the pool was WAY over capacity and was teeny tiny.  There was zero room to swim or do much of anything.  The kids lasted about 10 minutes before they were ready to go back to the room.  Matt and I were just as excited.  The chlorine in the room was strong enough to make your eyes water, and there was no where to sit.

We hadn't made any concrete plans for the week but had an idea about the things we wanted to do.  Since the weather looked sketchy on Thursday, we decided it was the perfect day to visit The City Museum.  We also made the worst decision to walk over there because it was a short distance from our hotel.  We managed to stumble upon the City Garden

Igor Mitoraj - Eros Bendato or the big sideways head sculpture with my son's finger up the nose.

 

Jim Dine - Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels - the sculpture which looks just like Pinocchio to me.

 

The swirly wheel (left) and the sink stopper (right) is what I have named these sculptures.

Tom Claassen Untitled (two rabbits) or FIVE rabbits if you count our crazy, rabbit-ear giving kiddos.

I thought this was the BRIGHT spot in our LONG walk to the museum.  The kids were pooped by the time we got there, and I immediately noticed about 4-6 school busses parked out back.  I imagine the average kids love the City Museum, and I know that I would have loved it as a kid.  My kids weren't fans.  I can't really put my finger on it, but Karson didn't like all the crawling and climbing and banged her legs and knees up pretty good.  People covered the entire facility - it was super crowded.  All Isaac could think about was when we would be going in the Gateway Arch (he had that on his brain since we'd arrived).  It was very humid inside.  I climbed and did my best to try and encourage the kids to take off and explore.  They were attached right on our hips.  At one point, one of the workers convinced me to go down in this tiny hole called the dungeon which was tight and super narrow.  It was also a one-way tunnel where you had to hunch over and "feel" your way through.  Karson followed right at my heels, but Matt and the boys were chickens.  The worker took them over to where the tunnel ended.  I have never been that glad to see light and get out of that - Matt actually had to hoist me up.  The concrete rock was too slippery for me to get secure footing on. The dungeon managed to lead up straight over to the 10-story slide which required lots of hiking up a spiral staircase.

 We spent a combined two hours at the museum, and that was plenty of time for our crew.  They were ready to leave after about an hour, but we MADE them continue to explore and look around.  (In all seriousness) I would highly recommend this attraction to any tourist visiting, but there's a good chance we will never go back. Weirdos.

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug ~ Tommy Boy

We were all pretty hungry by the time we left and landed at Bailey's Range.  A friend had recommended it to us, and it totally hit the mark.  The food was wonderful, and I could not stop eating.  I was secretly happy the boys didn't have big appetites because once I finished my burger, I started chowing on theirs.

With full bellies, we made our way back to the hotel but decided to stop at the Old Courthouse to purchase our tickets for the Arch and paddle boat tours for Friday's agenda.  It was actually a better deal to purchase them at the courthouse than online.  I had perused the website and debated on when to purchase tickets and decided to wait.  I'm glad I did because it saved us close to $20.  It wouldn't have bothered me if all the tours were full - the idea of going up in that arch made me ALL KINDS of nervous.  We managed to secure our spots for 12:10 and the paddle boat tour for 1:30.  We headed back to the hotel in the late afternoon, and the kids wanted to do some more swimming.  We basically had the entire pool to ourselves which was nice.  We spent the evening chilling at the hotel, watching TV, playing cards and what has become Isaac's new obsession...

It cracks me up playing with Karson and Isaac.  They are both on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Karson is all about the degrees, wealth, furthering her career - Earn It and Learn It and Isaac is all about getting married and having babies, getting a mansion and sports car - Love It.  They like to play with tons of years too which makes the game last FOR-ever.  It's a fun time away from the electronics though =). 

 

After breakfast on Friday morning, we decided to spend some time exploring the Old Courthouse which was right across the street from our hotel.  The interior is breathtaking, built between 1839-1862, it was a significant historical place where Dred and Harriet Scott sued for freedom from slavery and Virginia Minor fought for women’s right to vote. We got to see a couple of the restored courtrooms and exhibits describing how St. Louis served as a hub for early settlers moving west.  We also visited the gift shop, and the lady behind the counter told us about a few places we should try and visit during our stay.  I will say this about the residents of St. Louis - every single person that we dealt with during our time there was incredibly nice, friendly and helpful.

 

The package deal that we purchased included a movie, trip to the top and paddle boat tour.   We started our tour with the 30 minute movie about the construction of the arch.  Something about watching the video DID NOT put my mind at ease, besides the fact that none of the workers died while constructing it (that's cool).  After the movie, we killed some time in the gift shop and grabbed some quick snacks before getting in line for our impending death ride up.  It is terrifying looking up at the arch from the ground and riding up 630 feet in that rickety pod is the worst.  However, after you are at the top of the arch, it's actually not that bad - more like being in an airplane.

We spent about 10-15 minutes up there before getting back in line to ride the pod down.  We were cutting it super close to our paddle boat tour and were supposed to be in line for it about 15 minutes early.  Once we got back down to the ground, we raced over to the docks to catch our boat.

DO not, I repeat, DO not waste your money on the paddle boat tour. The worst.  Matt was completely and totally absorbed in the PGA Masters tournament.  The kids were pooped and snacked on popcorn, completely zoned out.  The highlight of the tour was when I was in line for snacks and this curious little girl ran right passed me in line, realized she'd gone too far and got behind me with her mom.  She looked very familiar, but I couldn't place her.  I turned around and briefly glanced at her mother (without staring) to see if I knew them.  I had one of those ah-hah moments a few seconds later and realized the mom was the daughter of one of my ticket office co-workers, Debbie, at SKyPAC (who was also Matt's 5th grade teacher from Alvaton back in the day).  I'd only met Debbie's daughter once or twice so I didn't want to seem weird walking up to her and saying something.  BUT, I couldn't help myself.  I didn't get to talk to her in line but after we both got our concessions - and both got settled - I went up and said something.  Small world!  Small, boring world on the paddle boat tour - BLAH!

We spent late Friday afternoon at the St. Louis Science Center.  FREE admission, and our kids loved it twice as much as the City Museum. 

 

We spent time doing experiments in the lab, digging up dino bones, everything was hands-on, and they were thoroughly entertained and actually took off exploring (unlike the museum where they were glued to our sides).

 

 

At the recommendation of the gift shop attendant at the science center, we ate dinner at Zia's.  I've read the "the hill" is the best place for Italian food, and we were in the carb-filled heart of it Friday night.  She said it was her favorite place, and we really enjoyed the fresh, homemade pasta.

We weren't entirely sure what to do on Saturday, which would be our last day.  We thought Grant's Farm sounded like fun, but it was also opening day which meant it would be packed.  Miles had mentioned wanting to go to the zoo.  Now, as the parent of three kids, we have been to loads of zoos and aquariums.  I have reached that point in my life where I feel like if you've seen one zoo (or aquarium), you've seen them all.  We've been to the Louisville zoo quite a few times and have also been to the aquarium in Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach.  Miles has always been little though when we've gone to those places, so I'm not sure how much he remembers.  I didn't want to rob him of the opportunity to visit the St. Louis Zoo which is also FREE.  We landed there on Saturday morning, and it was also a trip Highlight!  I would recommend the zoo to anyone.  It was better than any zoo I've ever been to (which isn't saying much because Louisville is the only one I can think of).  After the zoo, we grabbed some grub and got on the road.  St. Louis was a blast!  We loved it and hope to return for a visit in future!