Yesterday we were in St. Louis and got back to the hotel so late, after midnight, that I couldn't blog. So I want to document it before I forget it all!
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We woke up in Kansas City, early, and ate breakfast at our hotel. I cannot say enough about Drury Inns. Free breakfast AND dinner, popcorn in the lobby, fun swimming pools, excellent staff, and a friendly atmosphere. Remember, at that first one, the atmosphere was a little TOO friendly, but the front desk guy told me it wasn't always a party scene, and he kept the rabblerousers in the lobby until the wee hours so they wouldn't bother anyone upstairs. Smart!
Anyway, we were finished with breakfast and at the car place when they opened at 8 am. I told my sob story: flashing emissions light, five kids, cross-country road trip, boo hoo. An hour later, after playing in the gravel and buying clearance socks across the street at CVS, we were on our way. Thank heavens for tender mercies. The guys at the garage were excellent, and assured me that that scary light would not come on again.
We hated to leave Kansas City, there was so much we left undone. We would have loved to go back to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. Instead, we drove to St. Louis, where our Drury Inn was even better than the last! A block away from the St. Louis Arch, with a view of it right outside our window, for $98 a night, with breakfast and dinner included. So, we drove straight past our hotel to the arch, where we walked around, ate funnel cake fries and took pictures. We then went on a ferry ride up and down the Mississippi River, which the kids liked. Certain things that I had mentioned to them before the trip, like the ferry ride, stood out to them, and they remembered. So we did it, and it was great.
Another thing the kids really wanted to do was the City Museum. After the arch, we dined - for free, I can't get over that - at our hotel. My plan had been to do the late night at the City Museum, and we stuck to the plan. I cannot tell you how glad I am that we did. The City Museum was unreal. It's in what seems like an abandoned warehouse, and there are tunnels, slides, caves, secret passageways, cafes, stages, museum displays, whale sculptures, outdoor tunnels.. I can't describe it. I said it's equal parts abandoned warehouse, m. c. escher sketch, Tom Sawyer's Cave and Studio 54. We didn't mean to stay until midnight, but we kinda did. A major highlight was the ten-story slide. To get to it, you have to find the caves, find a way up, hike 7 flights of spiral stairs and then slide all the way to the bottom. Babies can't go, but kids have to have an adult, so that means me hiking all the way up with Tizzy and them hiking all the way down. My legs were so sore the next day! But seriously, I would plan a trip to St. Louis JUST to go to the City Museum. It's one of those places that makes you think, "Why aren't I THIS kind of parent EVERY day?" But there is nothing contrived or pompous about it. No plaques about recycling or global warming or coral reefs, no lines for rides, no overbearing micromanager parents following kids around with juice boxes. It's just a big, awesome playgound that looks like something out of Edward Gorey's imagination. And right there in the middle of it, there are these cool bars, by the way, where it's like the Florida Keys. All my kids, and myself, were sweaty and exhausted by the end, and we all want to go back. Right now.
The kids fell into bed with a view of the St. Louis arch, Tizzy with her shoes on, she was so out. It was a good, good day.
.jpg)
We woke up in Kansas City, early, and ate breakfast at our hotel. I cannot say enough about Drury Inns. Free breakfast AND dinner, popcorn in the lobby, fun swimming pools, excellent staff, and a friendly atmosphere. Remember, at that first one, the atmosphere was a little TOO friendly, but the front desk guy told me it wasn't always a party scene, and he kept the rabblerousers in the lobby until the wee hours so they wouldn't bother anyone upstairs. Smart!
Anyway, we were finished with breakfast and at the car place when they opened at 8 am. I told my sob story: flashing emissions light, five kids, cross-country road trip, boo hoo. An hour later, after playing in the gravel and buying clearance socks across the street at CVS, we were on our way. Thank heavens for tender mercies. The guys at the garage were excellent, and assured me that that scary light would not come on again.
We hated to leave Kansas City, there was so much we left undone. We would have loved to go back to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. Instead, we drove to St. Louis, where our Drury Inn was even better than the last! A block away from the St. Louis Arch, with a view of it right outside our window, for $98 a night, with breakfast and dinner included. So, we drove straight past our hotel to the arch, where we walked around, ate funnel cake fries and took pictures. We then went on a ferry ride up and down the Mississippi River, which the kids liked. Certain things that I had mentioned to them before the trip, like the ferry ride, stood out to them, and they remembered. So we did it, and it was great.
Another thing the kids really wanted to do was the City Museum. After the arch, we dined - for free, I can't get over that - at our hotel. My plan had been to do the late night at the City Museum, and we stuck to the plan. I cannot tell you how glad I am that we did. The City Museum was unreal. It's in what seems like an abandoned warehouse, and there are tunnels, slides, caves, secret passageways, cafes, stages, museum displays, whale sculptures, outdoor tunnels.. I can't describe it. I said it's equal parts abandoned warehouse, m. c. escher sketch, Tom Sawyer's Cave and Studio 54. We didn't mean to stay until midnight, but we kinda did. A major highlight was the ten-story slide. To get to it, you have to find the caves, find a way up, hike 7 flights of spiral stairs and then slide all the way to the bottom. Babies can't go, but kids have to have an adult, so that means me hiking all the way up with Tizzy and them hiking all the way down. My legs were so sore the next day! But seriously, I would plan a trip to St. Louis JUST to go to the City Museum. It's one of those places that makes you think, "Why aren't I THIS kind of parent EVERY day?" But there is nothing contrived or pompous about it. No plaques about recycling or global warming or coral reefs, no lines for rides, no overbearing micromanager parents following kids around with juice boxes. It's just a big, awesome playgound that looks like something out of Edward Gorey's imagination. And right there in the middle of it, there are these cool bars, by the way, where it's like the Florida Keys. All my kids, and myself, were sweaty and exhausted by the end, and we all want to go back. Right now.
The kids fell into bed with a view of the St. Louis arch, Tizzy with her shoes on, she was so out. It was a good, good day.
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