ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

On Saturday, December 27, we headed out to the Arch. The temps were unseasonably warm and we just had to walk a couple of blocks to get there.

View from the patio area at our hotel.


Walking toward the Arch



At the base of the Arch



Once inside, we got tickets to attend the movie to explain how the Arch was built and then take the tram up to the top of it.

While we waited for the movie to begin, we headed to the museum which is arranged in stages by decade. I would love to tell you what any of it meant but I didn't bother to check. A few museums interest me but this one did not. The layout was interesting though.





At this point, it was time to go watch the film about the construction of the Arch. The film was old but very interesting. They expected a dozen people to die in the construction but not one life was lost. Watching how the structure was built was terrifying though. Amazing what they overcame to construct the very unique shape.

Then it was time to ride the tram to the top of the Arch. Blake was slightly terrified and of course had to know how it was constructed and how it worked and all of that.

Waiting to get into tram #1


Each tram holds 5 people so we had 1 for all of us. It was snug in there!



An attempt at a photo of the shaft on the way up


Once at the top, the tram stops and you get out and walk up some steps to get to the very top of the Arch. There are small windows to look out (maybe 18 inches wide by 6 inches high?) and these pictures were taken through those windows.






While at the top, Blake looked like this and refused to look out the windows.


He may have had some validity to his fear since we were swaying back and forth and the employees announced that we needed to hurry back down due to a TORNADO WARNING.

O.M.G. It was a freaky few minutes as we swayed and swayed and the workers were telling people to hurry to get back. We finally got back down and decided to hang out in the base of the Arch because it's underground and safe.

The tornado warnings passed but there was still a torrential downpour of rain. We debated what to do because we wanted to get to our next stop and knew if we could just get a cab, it would be more fun to be at our next stop while it rained outside rather than hanging out doing nothing. We decided to brave it and we went out in the rain.

We intended to just find a cab as close as possible but what happened was we got so drenched, we had to head back to the hotel (wringing ourselves out before entering of course).

Payton and I in the elevator after being drenched. Hard to tell but we were soaked and dripping and our jeans were so heavy from carrying so much water. (btw, she has on multiple layers of shirts or else I wouldn't be able to post the pic.)


After changing clothes and shoes and drying our hair, we head out to look for a cab except this time we make sure it pulls under the awning at the hotel so we limit the amount of rain that can soak us.

We eventually get to our next destination - the City Museum. We've been to St. Louis a few times and done the typical kid activities like the zoo (predictably, I hated it especially because it is so huge but most people love it), Science City, etc. but this time we were trying out this other museum which was located downtown.

I thought this museum was AWESOME. Crawly spaces, slides that were 7 stories tall, interesting little nooks. You could just get lost in the place exploring all the different areas. My mom said somebody on drugs obviously created the place. I say I'd like some of those drugs thankyouverymuch.

Some pics of our afternoon at the City Museum.



Random organ player dude who played in the shaft where you climb the 7 story slide so the whole slide area could hear this music. It felt like we were in a Tim Burton movie in this area.


We climbed the 7 stories of stairs to go down the slide. The light at the bottom is organ player dude.


Blake and I sitting at the top of the slide waiting for our turn. My hair - still soaked!


The slide was so long and windy that it made me dizzy. Andy took a second to walk when he got to the bottom of the slide due to dizziness. Blake looks thrilled as usual but he did like it.


Then it was off to explore some new areas...

Swinging from a rope in the Skateless Park area


A ride on the train


Snacktime


Blake played a real song on the piano. Makes me sad he won't practice and won't get to continue piano lessons right now. :(


Payton was brave and crawled through the tunnel arch thing with Blake. I was afraid she'd get stuck in some of the windy parts.



Next stop was an artsy area where the kids weren't interested in making their own ornaments. They wanted to play with BLOCKS. At home, they ignore blocks. At the museum we paid to get into, they LOVE them. Figures.



Found another pressed penny machine!


It's hard to see in this picture but those twisty/windy/slinky looking things have my children in them climbing from the third floor to the second floor. I really thought they'd get stuck but they didn't.



The City Museum was crazy fun and I'm glad we did it.

After that, we headed back to the hotel for some downtime and then that night, the 3 adults walked to The Landing which was a few blocks away and consists of various restaurants and bars and clubs. We were trying to find a place that Andy remembered liking and when we discovered it was closed, we instead went to a dueling piano bar which is usually popular with all ages. We had fun there and then headed to a restaurant because we were starving. We ordered great food including some pulled pork nachos that I'm still craving. Yum.

Have I mentioned that I was sure I'd be able to use my wifi camera in many places and never once found a place that had open wifi to use? I had really hoped it would be available in this area and never found anything. Instead, I entertained myself electronically by texting my daughter a series of old-style messages such as:

Dearest Payton, I hope this evening finds you well. We are enjoying our evening out tonight without children and hope that your brother will be slumbering soon. Sincerely, mother.

She didn't find it funny but I did.

It had been a long day and we headed back to our hotel room to get to bed. We had a day of touring the Old Courthouse, a brewery tour, a trip via subway, a concert and packing to head home the following day ahead of us. We needed some sleep!