Homeward bound

Happy 4th of July everyone! We must be ready to come home ... this was the first morning that I didn't have to wake either of the other two. We'll head down to get some breakfast and then hit the road.

Our Saturday was pretty busy. St Louis really does the 4th. They have concerts along the river under the Arch and a big parade. (John Legend played last night and the B52s were playing tonight.) All of this made it interesting for us to try to get where we wanted to go. We eventually made it downtown and parked at the ball park. Walked around Busch Stadium and took some photos on our way to the Arch. (That's Audrey and I with a statue of Ozzie Smith, one of my favorite shortstops) The Arch is actually the Jefferson National Expansion Monument and it's amazing. We got in line to go through security then got in line to get our tickets to go up the Arch. We watched a documentary about how they built the monument. As with most feats of engineering, those guys were crazy! Then we took the little pod cars to the top. Five people fit in these little cars and it takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to go back down. There were lots of people already up at the top so it was kind of hard to get around. There was an air show going on on the river side so we could see the planes fly by. Then we could look down and see how tiny the people look. There's a great museum that you could spend alot of time in. But with all the people and the fact that we hadn't had lunch yet, we'll have to come back to do it justice.

We went back outside and had funnel cake and curly fries for lunch. Along with sweet tea and frozen lemonade. Found a place in the shade to eat and people watch. We wandered around for a little bit but it was pretty hot.

About 4:30 we headed over for the baseball game. We had great seats along the first base line a couple of sections up. It was 91 degrees at game time but our seats were in the shade and stayed in the shade as the sun went down. It's a beautiful view of the city and the Arch from the Stadium. The Cardinals were beat by the Brewers 12-5. For a while it was 11-0 and the lady in front of us apologized to us that we had to witness the thumping but at least they came back.

We were able to stay in the stadium to see the fireworks. However, the view was obstructed and Audrey complained bitterly. They were ok fireworks, they didn't last very long and I'm pretty sure even Westerville has a better finale. It was pretty late when we got back to the hotel.

It's been a fabulous trip. We've had amazing weather and have seen beautiful sites. Thanks for reading our blog and we'll see you soon!

Almost over

We're in St Louis tonight (and Audrey and Brian have gone to the pool.) We stopped at Grant's Farm on the way in this afternoon. It's owned by Anheuser-Busch. It's the farm where the Clydesdales are bred and raised. We saw a couple of foals. It's also sort of a zoo with a Deer Park with all sorts of animals. Audrey bottled fed some goats and had her first snow cone (wild cherry.) She also enjoyed another carousel ride. Also on the grounds is a log cabin built and lived in by Ulysses S Grant. His in-laws were the original owners of the property and when he married into the family, they gave him 80 acres. (thus Grant's Farm)

We're staying in a Hampton Inn ... I checked us in this afternoon and they gave me room keys. We unloaded the Pilot onto one of those baggage carts and came up to the room. Tried to get in and the keys didn't work. Went back to the desk and they redid the keys. This time when I tried to use them, I could hear people in the room. I knocked on the door and spoke to the man. Then went back downstairs to the front desk. They don't exactly know what happened (ha!) but they gave us another room and these keys worked and there was no one already in the room. So, we're leaving to go next door for dinner and Audrey had forgotten her headband. I said I would go back and get it. As I'm coming back down the hallway, I see a couple messing with their room keys and sure enough, it's the people we almost walked in on and I have to ride down the elevator with them. They were talking about having their keys redone and I admitted that I was the one who tried their door. We were able to laugh about it because it had happened to the man before except he was the one who had walked in on someone else. (yoy!)

We're going to a St Louis Cardinals baseball game tomorrow. It was supposed to start at 3pm but it's been moved to 5:35 to accommodate tv scheduling. There's also some sort of street fair downtown around the St Louis Arch. We hope to be at the Arch pretty early before it gets too busy.

Toto, we're still in Kansas

We left Colorado about 8am this morning and arrived in Topeka about 7pm. (don't forget, there was a time change in there) We got on 70 east about 10am. I commented to Brian that, other than our stay in St Louis, we'd be on 70 east for the next 4 days. No photos today, not that we didn't see beautiful country, just didn't take any pictures. We saw a man this afternoon with spurs on his cowboy boots. I told Audrey that he was a real cowboy. She said, "why is he eating in McDonalds?" Good question. Audrey and Brian have gone for a swim. I think they've been in the pool every night the past two weeks.