Anyhow...enough of that..we arrived home early Saturday AM (1:30a) from a wonderful trip up to the midwest. We left on 8/8 to drive up the back roads of Texas/Oklahoma and over to Missouri. We stopped off in Catherage, MO to visit the Precious Moments Chapel.
http://www.preciousmoments.com/content.cfm/park_chapelWow! This was a "not planned" stop and we did it on a whim, but boy was it a gorgeous adventure!
We drove onto Springfield, MO that afternoon and managed to squeeze in the Bass Pro Shop. This was a 300K building and museum dedicated to the outdoors. It was immense and if only we were a camping, fishing, hunting family! We did enjoy looking at all the animals, waterfalls, and other "outdoor" items on display!
Thursday, 8/9 we woke early to drive to Mansfield, MO. Here we spent 2 hrs. touring the homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder. When planning this trip, this was the only destination I wanted to see on our way to Minnesota. With much apprehension, david agreed. Much to my surprise, David said while driving home from Nebraska that this was one of his favorite places we saw! Almazo Wilder built a magnificent home for the monies they had and the ability he had with his limp leg. He built the kitchen to fit the 4'11" Laura. Most of the home had original wallpaper, flooring, and furniture.
We drove into St. Louis about 3p on 8/9. We spent this afternoon walking around downtown, viewing the Arch during the day. We stayed in an awesome hotel. One of our rooms overlooked the Busch Baseball stadium and the other room overlooked the Arch. We managed to listen to the PM Cardinal game on TV while watching from the window. About 9p, the city of St. Louis blew off the most spectacular fireworks display over the Arch. This was the highlight of the evening! The Arch had a wonderful Lewis and Clark museum in the basement and it had hours of history!
David, Lauren and Davis in front of the Arch.
Friday, 8/10 we woke early to hit the first ride up to the top of the Arch. I was fearful of going up in the little elevator. It was a magnificant site once we rode up the 4 min ride! We left the Arch and headed out to Grant's Farm. This was another "must see" we heard about that was great fun! The farm was owned now by Budweiser family. We left the farm and head to the Budweiser brewery to tour. The kids did awesome on this 2 hr tour! It was so interesting the architecture, the smells, the landscaping and of course the free beer at the end! The kids loved the 50 deg. chilling room!
We left Budweiser at 2p to head over to the City Museum! Wow! What another amazing adventure here! We spent 3 1/2 hours playing in this building that created 4 floors of every type of climbing, sliding, hiding, adventure for kids!
We ended this day purchasing tickets off the side of the road to go to the LA Dodgers /Cardinal game! David struck an awesome deal and we sat on the second deck 1st base! The seats were sweet and the experience was great!
Are you tired yet? Friday was packed from 8am-11p nonstop!
More of our Midwest trip to come.....
