ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

I had long, long, LONG been wanting to go on a train trip and wish the US had trains that ran as efficiently as Europe to make it easier to do so. Every time I had checked previously, it was going to be too expensive and take way too long so we'd never done it. As I was looking at our time off over break, I thought it might be nice to try to fit in a few days in St. Louis after Christmas. We hadn't been to St. Louis in probably 10 years which means Blake had never been. In addition, since my mom was recently laid off, she was able to go with us.

In early December, I booked the train tickets and then used Priceline.com to get a hotel for us. Plans were set!

So early on the morning of December 26, we set out for Union Station in Kansas City to catch our train.


We were moving along right on time and made our way through Union Station to get to the ticket desk.



Then we get up to the ticket counter and......the line went out the doors. Apparently there was some kind of backup - too few people working, broken down kiosks, more than normal travelers, I don't know, but the line was LONG. People were everywhere.


Luckily they let us move to the front of the line since our train was due to depart in 10 or 15 minutes.

Out on the platform ready to board the train...



Once on the train, I wasn't sure what to expect. Blake and I sat in a row together and got comfortable including setting up the GPS on his window to track our progress. He thought it was hilarious to set it on automobile mode and watch is constantly try to recalculate to get us back on roads. Ahhh....geek humor.


This is blurry but Payton had my laptop watching a DVD while Blake has his portable DVD player in his seat. The strip along the wall that had two outlets per row was SO great especially for watching DVDs.


Along the way, we took pics at each stop. Each little town's stop was charming.






Side note: I don't particularly like rural areas but they seemed much more lovely from the train. From the car, not so much.

The train seemed to kind of rock us all to sleep and Blake even took a nap mid-morning for a while. The trip did take longer than scheduled so we were on it for around 6 hours total.

Arriving in St. Louis.






Once we arrived, we went to the taxi stand to find a large enough taxi for all of us plus our luggage.

Side note: it was my goal to navigate using public transportation and not have our own car on this trip. We were staying in the downtown area plus everything we did was within a couple of miles. I think it's interesting for the kids to see different ways of getting around.

We found a minivan taxi fairly quickly and we were soon on our way to our hotel.

We arrived at our hotel, Crowne Plaza Downtown, and got our keys for our room on the 28th floor. When the front desk asked how many keys and I told them we needed 5, they said "uhhh...we aren't sure that's possible" but in fact, it was. Just easier if everybody has their own key.

The view from our room...


At this point, we were starving so we headed a couple blocks from our hotel to Caleco's for some Italian food. Apparently there is some St. Louis style food - pizza and toasted ravioli - that I wasn't previously aware of so we had to try it out.

Caleco's was yummy and St. Louis style pizza (basically thin crust) was FANTASTIC. We had good service, they had a train that circled above, an aquarium, etc.

I think we probably went back to the hotel and took a nap as we had been very tired from getting up so early. Of course, the kids had to make a contraption (a zip line) across the room for entertainment. Other fun things to do in the hotel room: make a paper airplane and sail it down 28 floors out the window and jump between beds. Grandma is pretty silly but I'm not quite sure she ever got used to the constant flurry of activity around her. I haven't either and I live it everyday!


That night, we took a cab to St. Louis' Union Station which is not where their train goes into anymore but was once the busiest train station the world.

It's a beautiful building but for all intents and purposes, it's just a mall.



Blake's ever-growing independent streak had him taking the escalator alone a couple of times to get pressed pennies.


Side note: When Payton was around 4, we started encouraging her to order for herself, ask for change at counters, just generally do things independently. Of course, because she is Ms. Independent, she did them. Blake, however, is an entirely different human and refuses to speak to anybody or do anything on his own...until this weekend in St. Louis. He went to counters and asked for change for a dollar, he ventured on the escalator....he's only 3 years behind his sister but he's getting there!

His favorite (and very affordable!) souvenir. Had to get some to add to the Pressed Penny Collection book.


Beautiful building...






As Union Station was nearing closing time, we started walking toward the exit and a strange and freaky thing happened. Blake saw the bungee cord trampoline things and said "I want to do that!!!" and then I went like this:

You may or may not know this but my kids are CHICKENS. They don't ever want to do ANYthing which has been a huge disappointment to me. Andy and I went on our honeymoon to an amusement park that has the most roller coasters in the US and love rides and then we have kids who don't.

But this day, I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough. Blake and I were both going to do the bungee trampoline thingies!








Side note (this is a whole blog posts of side notes, I know, but it's ok): The weight limit posted said 25-200 pounds. I would pay $20 to see a 25 pound person (a baby!) do the bungee trampolines. How funny would that be?

We started out jumping so high and it was so fun and I was flipping forward and backward and all around. Then I kind of started getting nauseous from all the movement (I'm getting old, people) and the sight of Blake jumping 20 feet in the air was scaring me. My BABY was jumping to the second floor. Even people walking by were commenting "omg, I can't believe how high he is." Yeah, thanks, people. I can't believe it either!

So after our turn, Payton decides she wants to go. I faint again. She's much more cautious and timid than Blake is and very much likes to sit back and observe before doing anything. She decided she'd give it a try. Blake also went again because he was determined to try to flip this time.



After this very exciting fun, we finally headed out and got a cab to take us back to our hotel. The next day had much fun in store including the arch, City Museum and a night out on the town without kids.