Spring Break 2012

I know, Spring Break was a month ago and I'm just now getting around to writing anything about it.  Well we had really, really wanted to go back to Florida to visit my family and the beach, but I only was able to get the first weekend of Spring Break plus Monday and Tuesday off from work since  I started a new job recently and couldn't take vacation time yet.  Ryan had to be in school till Friday evening, so that left us with four days.  Since it's a twelve hour drive to Navarre, we decided to either go camping or go to St. Louis. We decided on going to St. Louis (and a good thing too because it ended up raining most of the time).  Saturday we headed up to Missouri.  When we got there it was pouring rain and it was hard to find the hotel, but we managed.  Blanca was terrified of the hotel lobby, elevator, hallway, etc. because she is the biggest baby ever.  But she recognized what a bed was and at least was fine in the room.

We headed down to the Loop(a commercial district that consists of several blocks) near Washington University for dinner and ate at Pi Pizza which was amazing! It's President Obama's favorite pizza place.  We just took it easy and perused through the numerous shops that night.  The next day we went to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens which were huge and beautiful! Best gardens I've ever been too.

Japanese Garden

 We stopped at an Italian sandwich place on the Hill(an Italian neighborhood).  Then we went to the Art Museum in Forest Park which had an amazing collection.  We also took Blanca to a sculpture garden which was pretty neat.

We caught a late night show at BB's Jazz, Blues, & Soups in downtown and listened to a pretty cool band and ended up buying their album.  Monday we went to the Zoo and spent FOREVER trying to park! St. Louis seriously needs more entrances to Forest Park.

Cutest baby elephant!

The highlight of our trip was going to the City Museum.  If you have never been and are in St. Louis you must go! It's basically an enormous playground made of recycled materials housed in an old warehouse.

This is the outside portion of the museum.  You can climb high up into the plane!

I wish I could have taken some better pictures, but  I was terrified my iPhone was going to fall out of my pocket and fall fifty feet below me and die, so I left it in the car.  On the inside is a huge playground made mostly of cement, re-bar tunnels, wood, and other stuff. It's by no means a safe place.  It's full of hidden passageways, tunnels, and small places adults like me can easily get stuck.  It's like man made indoor caving.  The coolest, most magical place I've been to since Disney World.  Here's their website where you can find more pictures.  http://citymuseum.org  I also googled some pictures.

Climbing in those metal tunnels at the top was kind of terrifying.  It also swayed in the wind!

This is part of the inside.  There's more underground and above too in the tree house.

Moral of the story...go to the City Museum!!!  I was so sore after our couple hours of playing here which involved mainly crawling on my hands and knees or belly, climbing, and pulling myself out of holes.  I obviously am no longer 12 years old and impervious to bruises or sore muscles.

Nursing my battered body, we then went to the Gateway Arch and rode the tram up the inside of the arch to the top.  

The tram is a very small little capsule with no window that is packed with five people.  Ryan hated every single minute of the four minute ride to the top.  When we got up there, you could feel the swaying of the arch, which he found even more disconcerting.  I really had to pay attention to feel it swaying. The view was very impressive and very high.

Our trip was far too short and we had to head back Tuesday.  We went back to Forest Park and walked around for a little.  Then sat in more traffic to get out of Forest Park and stopped for lunch and some Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.  Six hours later we were back in Arkansas wishing we were still on vacation.  The next day was the end of Spring Break for me as I had to go back to work and Ryan had to start homework.  Even though I was sad not to get to go to Florida, I am really glad we got to go to St. Louis.  It is a really cool city with a whole lot to do!