St. Louis, Day 4

It is nearly midnight & I leave for the airport in four hours. I have yet to decide whether or not I am going to go to bed at all... Anyways... We went to the Golden Pancake for breakfast again & then we headed to the City Museum. It was a pretty strange place... The building it is located in was supposed to be demolished & in order to save it, it was turned into the museum. It is very interactive & full of things to climb on, both inside & out. We were there for a couple of hours & then headed to the Laumeier Sculpture Park. It is a 105 acre park that is full of statues & sculptures. We walked around for an hour or so & it was pretty cool. It had rained the day before so there was a lot of mud in the area. We were nearly out when I slid in the mud & landed on my hands & knees. It was pretty talented. The worst part about it was that I was holding my camera at the time & dropped it when I fell. Luckily it was okay... Just a bit muddy.

After my amazing fall, we headed to a laundromat because Ang needed to get all of her laundry done. We spent an hour or so there & then headed to Kampsville to drop Ang off. We stopped to eat dinner & then got to Kampsville at like 8pm. We said farewell to Ang & headed back to St. Louis. I'm sad to leave Miss Ang, but I am ready to get back to my own bed. I am also ready to get away from this weather! Anyways, that's about it...

St. Louis, Day 3

Another day in St. Louis! We went back to the Golden Pancake for breakfast this morning (yes... it was delicious) & then we did a bit more shopping. The main thing we wanted to do today was go to the top of the Arch. We had to park rather far away because there was a fair going on. Anyways, we got into the Arch at about 2pm & then bought tickets to ride to the top. It was super busy so our tickets weren't until 4pm. We basically had to hang out for the next couple of hours if we wanted to go to the top. Which, obviously we did. While we were waiting it began to pour rain & there was a severe thunder warning. Because of this they announced that no one could leave the building & then they had some technical difficulties. Anyways, we weren't able to go up the arch until like 5:30... So you load into these tiny little cars (photos below...) and take a five minute rickety ride to the top. We were all pretty unsettled because it was creepy. We got to the top, looked out some tiny windows, & went back down. Was it worth it? Umm... I guess. I probably wouldn't do it again but it is one of those things you have to do at least once.

We didn't leave the Arch until 7pm & by that time it was pouring rain again. But we decided to brave the weather & walk to the car in the rain. By the time we got there we were all pretty soaked, so we stopped by the hotel to dry up a bit & then headed to dinner. We ate at CPK & then went to see Transformers 3. It was alright. Mindless entertainment at its best... It had some funny parts, some cheesy parts, lots of explosions... You know... The usual. Anyways, tomorrow is our last day with Ang. We have to drop her back off at Kampsville by the end of the day & then early Tuesday we fly home. I'll be sad to leave Ang but super excited to get away from this weather. It is awful! High temperatures combined with lots of humidity is not my thing. Who knew I would be excited to get back to Utah?

St. Louis, Day 2

This morning we headed to Chris' Pancake House for breakfast. It was good, but not nearly as good as the Golden Pancake. After breakfast we meandered around town & did some shopping. Ang needed some stuff & it is so hot here I wanted to get some capris. We ended up at a mall & went in all sorts of stores. I'm not much of a shopper but I did pretty good. I tend to get a bit grouchy at malls... Anyways, we also got a pedicure at the mall which was nice. I haven't gotten one in ages & it's good to get one every so often. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory & then headed back to the hotel. We are now trying to decide if we want to hit a movie. However, a boxing match is on & we all want to know who wins (random, right?). Anyways, that's it for today. Pretty boring... I know.

St. Louis, Day 1

Well, I am in St. Louis. It sure was a long night! So we left for the SLC airport at about 5pm & our flight was supposed to take off at 8pm but was delayed about an hour. We got to Phoenix around 9:30pm (local time...) & our next flight didn't leave until midnight. I, of course, was unable to sleep on the plane & was pretty miserable by the time we landed in St. Louis at 5am. We took a shuttle to Hertz, got our rental car, & ate breakfast at the Golden Pancake. They honestly had the best pancakes I have ever eaten. In other words they made a good name choice. Anyways, after breakfast we called our hotel to see if we could check-in early & then headed that way. Fortunately, we were able to check in at about 7:30am & then we crashed. Hooray for sleep.

When we got moving again, we explored St. Louis a bit before heading to Kampsville. We were supposed to get Ang at 6pm & it was about an hour & a half drive. The route we took followed the Mississippi River & it was beautiful. The water is very high, so lots of trees & even a few buildings are currently flooded. I had seen flood damage when I went to New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina, but I have never seen active flooding. I can't imagine living in a place that basically floods every summer! And apparently, this flood season isn't nearly as bad as last years. Crazy.

Anyways, we grabbed Ang, drove around Kampsville a bit, & then headed back towards St. Louis. We got dinner at an Italian restaurant & are now back at the hotel. It was great to see Miss Angie & nice to see where she has been staying. Not too sure what the plan is tomorrow, but we are probably going to be pretty low key. Ang needs to do some laundry, maybe we'll go shopping, see a movie... That sort of stuff. I hope to get some shots of the flooding later in the trip, but we'll see! I got a few shots of the river & of both the sunrise & the sunset. Anyways... That's all for now!