Day Three – St. Louis, MO!
So we woke up in Perryville, MO this morning. Our Days Inn continental breakfast was a
little lacking, I was disappointed there wasn’t any fresh fruit, but oh
well. There was still hot coffee for
Mommy and Daddy and syrup for Ryan. Yes,
he put it on toast. Whatever. We did, however, draw the line at drinking it. After showers for all, we were on the road
again. We had lots of ideas for St.
Louis, but no set agenda. I had hoped to
be downtown in time to eat lunch, I had found lots of tasty looking
restaurants. So we decided to hit up
Grant’s Farm in the morning before heading into town for lunch and the
afternoon. I had thought Grant’s Farm
would be a sort of glorified petting zoo, but I was wrong! We had fun, but we had no idea what we were
getting into!
There was quite a line to get in the parking lot, followed
by a very long line on foot into the park.
It’s more like Disney-world-theme-park-petting-zoo-on-steriods! While waiting for seriously like thirty minutes
in line just get in, we quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a kill-an-hour
before lunch sort of stop. Grant’s Farm
is named after Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president, who lived on the
property. The Annheiser Busch [beer]
family purchased the land at some point and turned it into the park it is
now. As you entered the park, you’re
herded on trams that take you all around the property and are actually pretty
cool and informative. There’s lots of
animals to see, as well as Grant’s cabin.
Once on foot in the park, there’s lots of animals to see and things to
do. The park itself is free, but you pay
for parking and odds and ends. Trying to
convince three kids that you can’t do/ride everything you see is always
fun! We eventually told them we’d do the
paddleboating at the end, and they were a little better about not asking about
the other choices. There were two pretty
cool shows. The first was an animal
encounters showcasing animals with superhero powers. A beautiful red macaw was featured for his
math skills. There was a numbers board
1-10 and three audience members got to ask him math questions and he correctly
pushed down the right number each time.
Ryan asked him 4+4 and he walked over and pushed down the eight! Smart bird and brave Ryan! If the trainers were cueing the macaw, we
couldn’t figure out how. Chloe’s
favorite of course was the owl. She
loved him and clapped for him. Another
hit was the pig with super strength- he pushed a barrel with his nose. The other show was an elephant show, which
was pretty cool too. Although standing
in line for the show was even better.
The elephant was right across the fence from us spraying himself and
taking an all-out bath in his water. So
cool! We ended up eating lunch in the
park since it was a much bigger ordeal then we had realized it would be. Last was the promised paddle boat ride. Coleson was happy to sit in the shade and be
our photographer :) Thanks Dearie! The kids and I had a lot of fun paddling
around the little lake. Well, I paddled. It’s a workout! There was actually a sticker on the boat that
said “Fast pedaling can cause rapid tiring of legs.” A real, legit sticker right there with all
the other safety warnings. The kids all
wanted to steer, which was of course a little scary, but at least we were
moving real slow. We did see one
unidentified animal in the water. I
thought it was cool, I think it terrified Ryan.
I honestly thought it was a branch or something, it was pretty sizeable,
but as we got within five feet or so, the whole thing disappeared and left
nothing but bubbles. Ryan jumped in his
seat and declared it an alligator. I
can’t imagine, but we forgot to ask the park ranger type guy on the dock what
it might have been. Grant’s Farm was
fun, overwhelming, interesting, tiring.
And boy were we thirsty. I didn’t
see any water fountains in the whole place and when we asked at lunch for a
cup, we were told the soda fountains don’t even water. Oh well, we survived.
So by the time we finally left, it was nearly 3:00 and our
day’s plans were a little mixed up! But
that’s the fun of a roadtrip. We headed
about thirty minutes into St. Louis and saw our first views of the Arch. Wow.
It’s just right there in the skyline with all the buildings. Pretty neat.
We went straight to a trolley tour – the last one of the day started at
four. The kids had been so excited to
ride one, especially after seeing them in Memphis. Our tour guide was great and really knew St.
Louis. It was super informative, and I
really feel like I know the city, and I know how to get around. I’m glad we went and that we went early on in
our St. Louis adventure. But, I’m here
to tell you, 90minutes in a trolley with three kids is waayy too long! At least for the girls. They were climbing all over me and each other
and the whines really kicked in the last 30minutes or so. But overall, it was a fun experience and
hopefully they’ll remember that and not that it lasted so long!
After the trolley, we went straight to dinner. Trips make me hungry! Something about being active and burning lots
of calories combined with not having easy access to my pantry and all the
afternoon snacks it holds :) And
thirsty! We went to Imo’s Pizza, one of
the restaurants I had circled in the handy-dandy tourist guide that I had
ordered and mailed to our house. I’m
cool and old school like that. In my
humble opinion, it didn’t disappoint at all.
Imo’s is a local chain that doesn’t appear to have changed any in the
last thirty years, which only makes it that much more awesome. We ordered at the counter – the largest
pepperoni pizza with an appetizer of toasted ravioli of course. And we splurged on two cokes. And let me tell you, those Cokes, after a long
hot day and served with pizza, hit the spot.
Toasted ravioli appears to be a St. Louis thing, I had never heard of it
before. Supposedly a drunk cook knocked
the ravioli into boiling grease and the rest is history. Quite tasty.
And the pizza is St. Louis style.
A thin crust cut in squares. We
ate all 16” of it. Pretty impressive,
especially considering it took lots of begging and bribing to get the girlies
to eat the two pieces that they did. It
was a fun dinner and I even got to sit next to my hubby in a booth across from
the kids. It’s only fair I finally got a
chance to sit next to Daddy, right?!
After dinner, we checked into our hotel in downtown St.
Louis, right near the Mississippi river and the arch. It’s a crowne plaza and we’re on the 21st
floor! It’s a really nice and spacious
room with quite a view. Tonight it was
Coleson’s turn to leave his phone charger in the car, but at least we could get
to the car and not worry with all that valet nonsense. And since we were back outside anyways, and
only a block from the arch, off wandering we went. The arch is quite impressive! It’s 360 feet tall and 360 wide at the
base. You know, I’m still not sure why
they built it, I keep meaning to look that up and forgetting, but I do know
it’s about fifty years old. There’s lots
of construction going on at the base, it’s going to be very nice when they’re
done, with lots of grass and easier access over this huge highway. It was a beautiful night to be out walking
and exploring and taking pictures. We
even went all the way down to the Mississippi to stick our hands in it.
Our hotel has a rooftop pool. Coleson has no interest in rooftop. And I wasn’t sure what it entailed, so I
didn’t want to take three kids up alone.
Abby had been saying her belly hurt, so she went back to the room with
Daddy to get a drink of water, and I took Ryan and Chloe up to see what there
is to see. Amazing. The arch is right there. And the river and all the bridges and
boats. And it was pretty much dark by
then, so everything was extra pretty in lights.
There were a ton of people in the pool and it felt relatively warm on
our hands. Ryan really wanted to swim,
but it was way too late for us. As it
ended up, it was close to 9:30 before the kiddos got in bed [10:30 EST]. Since I’ve mentioned Coleson’s dislike of
heights, it’s only fair I should mention that I don’t like elevators. I will do them, but the thought of being 21
floors up with nothing below us makes me pause.
I’ve seen enough movies and tv shows... And I'll leave it at that since my kids will probably read this post :) So I convinced Ryan and Chloe that it would
be fun to walk down the stairs from the 30th floor pool to our room
on the 21st! And I actually
thought it was fun. I should also
mention that this hotel has an escalator in the lobby and a revolving door out
into the city, and yes, we’ve used both.
After getting ready for bed, we read a few more chapters in
our family book – Ranger In Time, Rescue on the Oregon Trail. It came from the school book fair, and
something about it caught Abby’s attention, it was the only book she
wanted. We’ve just about finished
it. Later on in our trip, we’ll visit
Independence and learn more about the start of the Oregon Trail. Planning pieces of this trip around things
the kids want to do too has been really a new and fun thing. I love that they’re getting involved, and we
can tie in things that they’ve been learning about and bring it to life for
them. Tomorrow is Forest Park, still
here in St. Louis, and Ryan is really looking forward to the Science Museum
after seeing it in our travel guide!
Nighty night!
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