June 7,8, 2013

Friday June 7, 2013

Hi everyone, today was a travel day - not much to report.   Left Iowa around 9:00 and arrived in St. Louis about 7:00.  Drove almost 500 miles today!!   I must say, Dennis did a great job of driving!!   He made an impressive swerve maneuver to avoid a tire re-tread that another car in front of us actually hit and it flipped over their roof.   I tried not the scream when he changed lanes very quickly!!!!   Great job Dennis!!

                                                          Corn fields every where in Iowa

 

Silos

                                                                    Omaha Nebraska

 

Offut Airforce Base- home to more EC-135's during the Cold War

 

This plane began to land and then peeled back up and banked. Not sure what was going on for such a large plane. 

 

 

Our friendly drivers of FedEx got up close and personal.

 

 

 

Missouri River

 

Chose the Casino Queen RV Park out of a tour book, which turned out to be a winner!!!    Got a great view of the Arch right on the Mississippi River.   Will be here 3 nights.   Hopefully no tornadoes will decide to show up!!

A train track beside the campground as well.

Fixed chicken tenders on the grill after we got here!!   Early to bed tonight - going up in the Arch tomorrow, if we don't chicken out :))).    

Night, night!!

Robin & Dennis


Saturday June 8, 2013

We must have been exhausted from the drive because we both slept until 8 or so. Finally up and a little breakfast, email, talked to Mom, and a little breakfast and we were on our way to the arch.

 Bought our ticket for the metro link, rail transportation to and from the city. Not a bad way to go downtown.  It actually goes from Illinois, across the Mississippi River and downtown. The arch was the first stop for us.

                               It was awesome, what a gorgeous setting right next to the river.

                                                            Line for security check.

 Went through the security check and then purchased our tickets for the ride up. Received a discount, not for the senior citizen rate but because we have a National Park Pass. It was great deal for sure.

Okay, here we go, had to climb in this little pod, basket, capsule, its hard to explain except if you have any signs of being claustrophobic  you might not want to go.

                                                              There were 5 people in here.

All of us had to bend over.

 Your ride is 4 minutes up to the top. Over a thousand steps up. It is 630 feet tall, the tallest national monument. Higher than the redwoods, the sequoias, Mount Rushmore, the Washington Monument, you name it, it beats it.

Look at these views from up  at the top. It has 16 windows on each side, small windows at that, and the floor is arched just like it looks like from the ground. The river shots are of the flooded Mississippi.

                                                             River walk is flooded.

                           The parking lot at the top of the picture is actually our campground.

 

                                                              Flooded helicopter pad.

                                                         Look how small the window is.

 

                                                   The little dots on the grass are people.

                                                                     Tug boat.

                                            City side, the old court house is in the middle.

 

                                         Busch Baseball Stadium-The Cardinals play here.

 

                                                                   The city skyline

                                                           Not much room up here.

630 feet at the top

 The river boats that we were going to do a dinner cruise on, but as you can see, you can't get to them because of the flooded Mississippi.

The shadow of the arch from the top.

                                            Look at the swimming pools on the roof tops.

 

                                                            More of the city.

Up top

Three minutes to get back down and then we looked at the museum.

                                                                 She is in the capsule to go down.

 

Museum.

 

                                                 Pictures down by the river before lunch.

Flooded up to the steps!!!

 

 

 

 

 

From there we went and found a little place to get a sandwich and sit on the grassy knoll since it was just a perfect weather day.

 

 

                                                    Clouds reflected in the building

 After lunch we went into the old court house where the Dred Scott case was originally heard. Watched a movie and saw some of the old artifacts.

                                          1800's staircase made from metal and wood.

                                                                          The rotunda

Then to Busch Stadium where the St Louis Cardinals play baseball to see what we could see. They were out of town so they only had one gift shop open but you could see through the fence to see a little bit of the field.

                                                              Post cards for the family.

 

It was then back on the Metro Link and we headed to Forest Park. It had a the  Jefferson History Museum, a zoo, bike trails, picnic areas, a golf course, and a shopping area. We were given a couple of tickets to ride the trolley around to see all the stops but it never came so we got back on the Metro and headed back to the campground.

 

St Louis Rams

                                                                The Spirit of St Louis

                                                          Golf course next to the park.

It was about 5 pm now so we went into the Casino, which is right next to the campground to check out the place and see what dinner options we had. As we walked in the lounge had a deal, $2 for a 10 inch pizza and draft beer for $1.50 because the Cardinals baseball team won their game against Cincinnati yesterday. Go CARDS!!!! Watched some of the college baseball series and the Belmont Stakes race. Saw Palace Malice win the race and then we road back to Buttercup in the free shuttle.

Checked some email, took a walk around the campground then we sat and watched the sun go down. A little wine, cheese, crackers, and listened to a CD of the Embers.

                                             The metro link we rode as the sun goes down.

Robin is hooked on the rodeo stuff. Fox net work was broadcasting from Jackson, TN so we watched that before bed.
Oh I forgot to include this picture. It reminded me of when I was a little boy. I use to live on Westbrook Ave in Richmond across from Azalea Mall and they had Safety Town. All of you Richmonder's will remember.

Night
Robin and Dennis