Vacation 2008 - Part II - St. Louis

Things you should know about our trip: a) there were 10 of us traveling together in two cars and b) half of those travelers were 14 or under. We drove Terry's truck, which was a good thing considering all the things we thought we needed for the two week adventure, and my sister's family drove their minivan. Okay, so we left OKC on Monday and headed northeast toward St. Louis. Would you believe the 10 of us were ready, completely packed, and on the road by 8:30 am? You already know my family (Terry, Tela, Nicole, Ryan and Me). My sister's family includes Donnie, Chelle, Kaily, Ayden and Camden. I'm sure that I have talked about them before, but I don't think I have formally introduced them to you yet.

Our first stop was a restroom break at McDonald's in Vinta, OK. The only reason it is worth mentioning is that this particular McDonald's used to be the largest one in the world and is actually built over the interstate. Since we were stopped anyway, we raided the snack basket to tide us over until lunch.

By the time we hit Springfield, MO, we were getting hungry so we decided to stop at the nearest Steak N Shake. I really wish we had these in Texas. I learned an important lesson with this first stop. When asking Mio (my friendly little GPS) for the nearest location (especially if you are looking for a particular restaurant, store, gas station, etc), be sure the location actually falls on the route. I just picked the closest Steak N Shake. By closest, Mio means closest "as the crow flys", as my sister would say. So we ended up way farther off the interstate in Springfield than we really needed to be. Sadly, enough we passed two other Steak N Shakes on the way back to the interstate with one being right off the interstate. Fortunately, everyone was in good spirits and didn't mind the scenic tour of Springfield all that much.

We didn't have to stop again until we reached our hotel in St. Louis. We stayed in a very nice Town Place Suites. All 10 of us stayed in a two bedroom suite with one bathroom. It wasn't bad at all. Chelle and Donnie got the bigger room because they had to set up the bed for the baby, but Terry and I got the room with the TV. Not that we even had time to turn it on, but it was there if we wanted to watch it.

No time to rest though, once we were settled in we headed for the Gateway to the West, the St. Louis Arch. Terry, Tela and I had been there before, but Nicole and Ryan had not. Terry and Tela had absolutely no desire to go to the top of the arch so I went up with the kids. They were not at all scared and rather enjoyed looking out over the city.

It was time for dinner and we had spotted a White Castle just down from our hotel so that is where we headed next. Terry's Mom was once managed a White Castle so going there brings back some fond memories of her. As you can see, he also likes the little White Castle burgers. It was tough getting that Crave Case away from him. After dinner, Donnie took the kids to the pool and I went to do laundry. The plan was to wash our dirty clothes at Chelle's house before we left, but her brand new washer quit working so we were out of luck. By the time that was finished, we were all pretty much wiped out and headed to bed.

Before leaving St. Louis on Tuesday, we visited the St. Louis Science Center. Admission was free and they had all kinds of hands-on science exhibits. I was disappointed that the DNA section was being remodeled, but there were lots of other cool things to do. They had an actual child mummy on display. That was pretty creepy.

Once we left the science museum, we wanted to have some lunch before heading to Cincinatti. I learned another valuable lesson concerning Mio. Mio cannot distinguish between an actual restaurant and business office. Mio showed a Pasta House just down the street from the museum. It ended up being a corporate office for Pasta House. Tried the next one on the list and it ended up being a catering facility. So we ended up eating at Denny's.

With full belly's and empty bladders, we were ready to press on to Cincinnati.