Get me Outta This Town!

So, the plan was to go to breakfast, then onto the Arch . . .that was the plan. One hitch . . . Ian didn't want to go up in the Arch. Started out as a conversation that he didn't want to go up one side and down the other and turned into he just didn't want to go up that high. Try as we might, we couldn't change his mind. . .talk, cojole, wheedle, etc. So after the buffet that took forever, we
headed over to the arch and got tickets for the riverboat ride and for Andy and the girls to go up the Arch. These pictures are of the kids (and Andy) while on the Riverboat.

















We enjoyed seeing the sights on the Mississippi river. Alaina kept saying "One Mississippi, two Mississippi . . . " as we rode along. Then it was time to split up. Allie tried to back out . . .she was lazy and didn't want to climb all those stairs again. But we got her to, and the girls, while apparently scared part of the time, went up the arch, while Ian and I had lunch.


Then it was time to head onto Chicago. . . . or so we thought. We couldn't get out of St. Louis! They were doing construction on part of the bridge and we couldn't take the exit we needed to take to get to it . . . got sent on a detour that turned out to be the most poorly marked detour I'd ever seen. We assumed we'd turn around and hit the highway coming in the other direction .. .but it wasn't even that simple. It wasn't one of those little turnaround things. . . we went several blocks away from the highway before we turned back around. How an out of towner was supposed to know this, i'm not sure! I know Andy ticked off a lot of people getting in the right place. Probably not as many as the little white convertable that pulled off on the bridge and blocked traffic though.

Alaina slept a good portion of the time, thank goodness. And I had another migraine starting .. .another relpax and a nap for me.

We hit Chicago about 9:00 . .. just as things were gearing up for Venetian. Exits blocked, etc. We did finally get to our hotel . . .another Embassy Suites, and we got Giordano's Chicago style pizza delivered. The kids had never seen pizza like this before! ::vbg::













Things I learned on the way to Chicago:
-- When in St. Louis, get to the buffet early.
-- Don't assume the kids will want to do something just because it looks cool.
-- Let that lost person on the highway in front of you . . .they probably didn't see the signs!
-- Make sure you look out the windows.. . you don't wanna miss the lighted palm trees on the boats!
-- Zantac does help . . .even with Chicago style pizza.
-- Kids will all cram in a sleeper sofa bed, even when they don't have to.

(Read below for previous days)