We decided to head to St. Louis next (we are still in the mode of trying to hit all 48 contiguous states and the arch seemed a good fit). We stayed at a KOA campground just outside of St. Louis. One thing I can say about KOAs is they seem to believe in shade which is big when you have a tent trailer! Anyway, we got there Saturday afternoon, and set up camp and got organized for the remainder of our time there.
Sunday, we went into the city and went up into the Arch itself. You go up in these little futuristic, bubble-shaped, enclosed, space-age looking trams that were built in the 60s and hold 5 people. While we were there we learned about the Arches construction and all about how it was the symbol of the gateway to the west. It was amazing to be up that high and look down! We could see two states from up there, Missouri on west and Illinois on the east.
At the base of the arch is a wonderful Lewis and Clark Museum. We wandered through that. It gave a nice overview of the expedition. There was a timeline all around the edge wall with giant photos of the areas and quotes from people on the expedition, there were artifacts, and a lot of interesting information about the presidential medals they handed out to the Indians. I am reading Undaunted Courage right now about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so that was very interesting to me. We walked down the cobblestone streets a few blocks to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch, and noticed all the streets that were still covered with water from the latest flood. Apparently, there have been several this year.
It was getting very hot and humid again, so I dropped my men off at the Six Flags water park, and took myself to Massage Envy for a massage. After so much time in the car, it was very nice to get a full massage! (Li, thanks for the massage chair! We don't have it in the car. It turns out it is really uncomfortable to sit with it when it is not on, and for that long in the car, but it is GREAT in the trailer! It has its own spot on the couch, and we all have enjoyed getting massages a lot!) After my massage, I joined the boys at Six Flags. Our thoughts were that once the water park closed at 8, we could spend some time in the cooler evening on the roller coasters and other rides. Well, just about that time, a storm blew in. The wind picked up big time, and the clouds looked ominous! We were told that a tornado was only a mile away. People were rushing to the exits. All the rides were shut down. There was plenty of thunder and lightening. We sat in a restaurant there, waiting it out, having our dinner. Big signs were blowing around, the rain started coming down pretty heavy. It was quite exciting! Colin was nervous and wanted to go, but we figured we were better off in a real building, than in our little tent trailer! We finally decided that the main danger was over, and the storm was going to keep the rides closed, so we went back to our little home away from home. We climbed in bed with the sounds of rain hitting the roof, and thunder rumbling and the occasional flash of lightening. It seems we are not in California anymore!
We decided that since it was going to be another hot an humid day, that we would spend the day back at the Six Flags water park. Colin turned out to be quite the daredevil on the slides! Derek spent most of his time at the pirates ship area! It was huge and had all kinds of fun ways to squirt people and dump water on them...right up his alley! We spent the whole day there beating the heat and went back at 6 when the water park closed. Marcus headed off for HIS turn at a massage, while the boys and I had a little down time. I must say that we are sure glad we put that air conditioner on the trailer!!! Marcus got back just in time for the night time reading, and we all climbed in bed, dreaming of spelunking.
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