The St. Louis Zoo was lots of fun. We got there about 9am and stayed until 2pm. It was very hot and humid, leaving us sweaty, panting, and dripping by the time we got back to the car. Esther's favorite part - riding the carousel. Nathan's favorite part - the elephants. Heather's favorite part - the sea lion show and the penguin house, which was freezing!
The Zoo is located in an area of town called Forest Park. It's a large green park where the 1904 World's Fair was held (remember the musical Meet Me in St. Louis?). Forest Park now has golf courses, tennis courts, museums, the zoo, lakes, pathways, boating, etc. It's well taken care of and just beautiful.
We went back to the hotel for a rest, took a quick dip in the pool, then headed down the street to the Golden Pancake for "Happy Face" chocolate chip pancakes and Country Fried Chicken. Yummy! Daron, meanwhile, was having shrimp gumbo.
Tuesday morning we slept in. Well, the kids got up about 6am (yikes!) and I tried to sleep some more while they watched cartoons. We finally got out of the hotel and saw the St. Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum - both free museums at Forest Park. And the Art Museum is located in the only building left from the World's Fair. Beautiful collection at the Art Museum and a fascinating exhibit on Charles Lindbergh and also the 1904 World's Fair.
Our lunch was at Bixby's, a nice restaurant at the Missouri History Museum. Perhaps not the best choice for two very tired kids. As it was, they were not very well behaved and were rather embarrassing. But probably no one really noticed but me. But the food made it all worth it. Paprika and citrus hummus with vegetables, baby spinach salad, foccacia bread with melted gruyere cheese and portabello mushrooms.
Daron got back about 3 o'clock and we picked him up. At the hotel, Daron and Nathan took a nap while Esther and I ran around the hotel doing laundry, eating popcorn, and hanging out. Dinner was at The Fountain on Locust, an art deco period restaurant with great sandwiches, salads, and ice cream sundaes.
This morning we rushed to the Arch overlooking the Mississippi River and rode a tram all the way to the top. It was pretty nifty - like a little escape pod from a space ship. Not a great place to be if you're claustrophobic, but a good way to meet new friends! We met a nice couple from Maine. You stand at the top of the arch at 630 feet and peer out tiny viewing windows, trying not to think about the slight swaying feeling you have. My sister, the civil engineer, would remind me that the swaying is a good thing. Yeah.
Our next stop was the Lumiere Casino ... to meet a trolley. We were the only ones on the guided tour and it was very informative as we drove around the city learning about the origins of St. Louis and the historic buildings. My favorite story was about Mr. Laclere, the founder of St. Louis. At one point, he went further up north to build a fort and left his son, Shoto, in charge of building homes and a trading post. The son faithfully accomplished his task, starting to make friends with the Indians and getting things under control in their new settlement. Shoto was 14 years old!
After the trolley tour, we ate lunch at Fitz's, home of Fitz's bottled root beer. Can we say yummy?! The only unfortunate thing was that we drank so much root beer we had to bring the rest of our lunches in to-go boxes!
Then we picked up Heather Lorraine at the airport and now we're on our way to the hotel. We should be there within the hour.
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