Shortly after we arrived, we were provided with fresh-baked cookies - who wouldn't love that. We stepped out in the local area and walked what was a very short distance to this amazing, historic with red-brick lined streets. So many lovely restaurants and shoppes - it was hard to stop perusing the brick streets to finally decide where we are going to have dinner. We decided upon a local restaurant that serves their own microbrews, dinner was great. I absolutely love this area and highly recommend it to anyone.
We slept blissfully and woke up to have a hearty Continental Plus breakfast which included biscuits with sausage gravy and even Belgian waffles - a lovely way to start the day.
Our first stop was the historic St. Louis Arch. Having seen the Arch before from a distance, yet never up close - it truly was an amazing experience. Each base to me runs roughly 30 feet in diameter, which helps to settle the mind about its' durability. You actually walk underneath the Arch to enter it. Tickets were inexpensive - $10 per person and we proceeded immediately to go up, up, up!
The space you enter is surprisingly large and my mind was at ease. We walked through an area with photos and information about the original construction of the Arch. We sprint through the area because we were under the assumption that we needed to catch the next shipment up top. We ended up in an area reminiscent of the waiting area for rides at amusement parks. They made the announcement about claustrophobia and using flashes with camera's. The doors open and the woman in the lane next to us says 'um, I am not going in there - no way!' It was slighly amusing - here's a shot of our pod. Let's just say, it was definitely tiny - almost spaceship-like in appearance.
The ride up reminded us of what it must feel like working in a mine, but with a window view which was fascinating. You could see the inner workings of the Arch and how it is constructed. We arrived up top in a few minutes to find this amazingly, large space. There were several windows to view the topography of St.Lous and considering it was a monument as the gateway to the West - it was interesting to take measure of the East View and the West View - West was definitely more built up. Another thing that I found especially nice was that you were not rushed to leave, we are allowed to spend as much time as possible up in the observatory. After a half hour we took the trek down to solid footing which included a museum that is acutally under the Arch. So much to see, we spent over an hour there.
Our next stop was at a historic rest stop paying tribute to the original Interstate built in America - I-70. I ever realized that the first Interstate was in the Midwest. As we waited for our next Suite Stop, we enjoyed the beautiful weather until we found out that we were heading to Perche Creek Golf Course to take our hand at a round of miniature golf! I love miniature golf and was doubly happy to win!
Hadass was not overly thrilled to not win, but she was a good sport about playing - it was her first time ever!
We hopped back in the Ford Flex supplied by Avis and drove to our final Suite Stop of the day, which is the Country Inn & Suites, Kansas City. I already am comforted by the fact that I know I am going to have a restful sleep - the staff again was so friendly and the hotel spacious and beautifully decorated. We are not sure where we are headed tomorrow on our Road Trip Across America, but you can follow us at http://www.talkofthecountry.com/ where we are going to continue to report our travels - join us!
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