Elan has turned 18 and is leaving for Colorado for 10 months, so Amanda decided we needed a road trip to celebrate.
I planned exactly zero for this trip. Katy arranged our tour time at the City Museum and paid for tickets and we all sent her money. Amanda picked where we camped and got all the campsites together and made our mining tour reservations and we all sent her money. I just drove north with gear and clothes and that is about all I have put into this. Well, and I got new front tires, but that would have happened anyway.
Ben and I arrived hours ahead of everyone else and got set up, went to get him some dinner and made a run by the store for a few things.
Everyone else came in through the afternoon and got set up. Matt and Chandler arrived very last.
Friday we got up and hung out for a while, then I decided we should go to the zoo, which is free, so we did. It's a great zoo, well worth checking out!
After the zoo, it was time for the City Museum. We stayed 6 hours and though the kids could have done 6 more, it was also pushing midnight. Back at camp, everyone crashed.
Saturday morning, Matt and Chan left early to go back home and everyone else managed to get up and ready for the mine tour at 10.
Afterward, it was Mexican food time, then a nap back at camp, then a group suicide attempt via rope swings and shallow water. Dinner, marshmallow fire, shared tales of personal injury-the little kids wanted LOADS of gory details, nothing short of at LEAST blood was deemed worthy.
I crashed out at 9 and Ben and I were first up Sunday. No one else was stirring, so we packed up and finally, Katy popped out of her camper. We said our goodbyes and headed back into St. Louis to do the Arch. Everyone else headed home, though we beat them in, even with a few hours at the arch and adding 2 hours to the drive. I guess traveling without little ones means longer stretches of drive time.
The photo file from the zoo did not survive the upload. I had pictures of prairie dogs on there, too. :(
First up in pics is the City Museum.
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| Amanda is VERY excited |
At any given point, you can see 900 feet straight down to the floor below.
These are things you are meant to walk on.
Katy and Amanda
Eyrin, Eamren, Inde
Kurt and Robbie
Eyrin and Inde
We sat in the bus drinking cider and watching the sun set.
I didn't drink cider because it was after 4, which is pretty much the worst part of fasting.
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| top of the elevator |
This is right next to the bar and just before the 10 story slide.
14 (16?) inch wide slide that goes who knows where. The basement was scary and I didn't go back after I finally figured the way out!
This is Ben, my baby, crawling through chicken wire caging about 60 feet above the ground. I was actually a bit giddy watching him
The view from the castle turrets
I probably sound like everything there horrified me, but I really did have a good time. There is plenty to do and see without wedging yourself into tiny spaces or dangling out over huge drops.
If heights/tights are not your thing, there is still much to see and do here. Just go your own pace.
Keep in mind there are no outside food or drinks allowed and inside drinks are almost comically expensive-$4 for a tiny Gatorade. We spent more on drinks for the 4 of us than we did on admission.
There are refills available for $1 on most open cup drinks, like tea, but keeping up with the cup (a thin plastic thing) isn't much fun.
Leave bags, jackets, basically anything other than keys, wallet, and phone in the car, it's $10 to park right at the museum, $5 to park down the street a bit. We paid the extra to be able to run back and forth to the car as needed. I'd do that again and leave a cooler in the back to guzzle cold drinks as we needed.
Knee pads were vital for me, Ben wore them, Matt did not, Chandler ended up with mine and wished for her own. Just pay the $5 for the Ace brand ones in the sports section at Walmart. They will make your knee pit sweat after an hour or so, which is preferable to having huge bruises on your knees for a week. If you went to do the caving section, I'd say a helmet would not be overkill. Everyone knocked their head at least once and we mostly were just passing through. There are tunnels and spaces galore to squeeze through, you could stay just there the whole day, knocking your head into all kinds of hard surfaces.
Headlamps were suggested, but we never used ours, even in the creepy basement.
There was a good bit of info on the website about needing ID to prove age for roof access, but it never came up at all.
The Ferris wheel on the roof requires no additional ticket itself, though overall roof access is an extra $5. This is because it isn't always open. So you aren't paying for more than you get. And, some people don't want to go up there even if it is open. The roof has the bus, a bar, that weird climbing thing, a preying mantis, the dome and spinny chairs, some tables, a big fountain, 3 slides, the Ferris wheel, and the views.
If heights/tights are not your thing, there is still much to see and do here. Just go your own pace.
Keep in mind there are no outside food or drinks allowed and inside drinks are almost comically expensive-$4 for a tiny Gatorade. We spent more on drinks for the 4 of us than we did on admission.
There are refills available for $1 on most open cup drinks, like tea, but keeping up with the cup (a thin plastic thing) isn't much fun.
Leave bags, jackets, basically anything other than keys, wallet, and phone in the car, it's $10 to park right at the museum, $5 to park down the street a bit. We paid the extra to be able to run back and forth to the car as needed. I'd do that again and leave a cooler in the back to guzzle cold drinks as we needed.
Knee pads were vital for me, Ben wore them, Matt did not, Chandler ended up with mine and wished for her own. Just pay the $5 for the Ace brand ones in the sports section at Walmart. They will make your knee pit sweat after an hour or so, which is preferable to having huge bruises on your knees for a week. If you went to do the caving section, I'd say a helmet would not be overkill. Everyone knocked their head at least once and we mostly were just passing through. There are tunnels and spaces galore to squeeze through, you could stay just there the whole day, knocking your head into all kinds of hard surfaces.
Headlamps were suggested, but we never used ours, even in the creepy basement.
There was a good bit of info on the website about needing ID to prove age for roof access, but it never came up at all.
The Ferris wheel on the roof requires no additional ticket itself, though overall roof access is an extra $5. This is because it isn't always open. So you aren't paying for more than you get. And, some people don't want to go up there even if it is open. The roof has the bus, a bar, that weird climbing thing, a preying mantis, the dome and spinny chairs, some tables, a big fountain, 3 slides, the Ferris wheel, and the views.
It is close to the arch, but you can not see the arch because of the building with the green roof.
From the mine:
These have held for 100 years now.
the mine is open for diving and though it's technically a cave, it's considered open diving.
It's all lit from above, which makes it easier for divers to orient themselves than it would be to have lights under the water as well.The mine has 5 levels, the bottom three are flooded.
On the third level, there are still buildings and an old movie theater.
The Arch:
630 feet wide
The drive home:
Crossing the Mississippi
it rained just enough to spatter my side windows.
It was still an amazing sunset!
