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!

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.