More Pictures from St. Louis...

I came across more pictures of our time in St. Louis and wanted them to share them.  There are always so many pictures to choose from, but we really wanted you to see these.  

View from the Eads Bridge

View as we walked up

It's amazingly large

The smaller, lighter rectangle is the door

Inside the tram

Welcome to the Top

630 feet in the air

The view was amazing

Branson, Missouri!

Branson Day 1:

After having camped for the past few days sleeping in a bed was amazing. Because of this we slept in. And then lay by the pool. For a while. For once we actually felt like we were on vacation. And the air conditioning! So long story short we did absolutely nothing our first day in Branson. Since we had a kitchen, Jaimie made dinner. Afterward, we went out for ice cream and checked out the nighttime landscape. Go karts and mini golf everywhere.

Branson Day 2:

So I always had this mental image of Branson being like a southern version of Atlantic City or Las Vegas. While that was the case, in that it is very touristy, lots of flashing lights, big restaurants, etc., it’s in the Ozark Mountains. Hills all over the place! Because of this, you can’t ever actually see all of Branson at one time, which is different and interesting. We headed out to our zip lining adventure in the afternoon. 

Branson water tower; the light up at  night

Now, Jaimie had gone zip lining in Costa Rica, but I’d never been. Not knowing what to expect, I was admittedly a little nervous. Our guides were very friendly and, after a brief safety speech, we headed around the back of the main building to the garage. We suited up and got into a van to take us to the top of the mountain. A lot of this experience so far was very much like Zorbing, so I was comforted by the familiarity. 

We had three other people in our group, one of whom was an older woman from Florida who, after traveling to all 50 states last year by herself was now zip lining from state to state. There were seven zips in all with a snack/water break in the middle somewhere. All in all for a 3 hour adventure through the trees it was well worth it at around $129 each. 

Throughout the excursion the guides kept mentioning their large zip. I knew they were upselling, but it still sounded interesting. When we got back to the garage, they asked us if we’d like to do the big zip. Figuring we were already hooked up and considering this ~60 year old woman was going back up, it was hard to say no. Did I mention at the end of the zip was a 100ft free fall? Cuz they did. Repeatedly. I figured we might as well. The long zip was fun. It was a quarter mile, lasting 40 seconds about 100ft off the ground. When you get to the second tower, the only way off is with a 100ft free fall jump. Basically, you are harnessed to a vertical guideline and attached to an inertia brake. What this means is once you hit a certain speed (which probably occurs somewhere around 50ft down), you start gradually slowing down. And I mean gradually. Honestly you don’t really stop moving until you hit the ground. Dear. God. Words cannot describe the feeling of jumping off a 100ft tower. Except possibly for the two expletives that came out of my mouth so loud they echoed off the mountains. Jaimie had the fortune of going after me and my vulgar drop. 

Adrenaline coursing through our veins, we headed back to our hotel, but not before stopping at Fall Creek Steakhouse for dinner. In this restaurant a guy comes out and throws hot rolls to anyone who wants them. We ate our fill and all was well. Until Jaimie got sick. We suspect food poisoning, but we’re still not really sure. Sad times to be had.

Do Not Eat Here

Branson Day 3:

Today we woke up and, because of Jaimie’s illness, we stayed in for most of the day. The only excursion we made out was to… drum roll please… a dulcimer store! Yes, I, in my nerdy musical fervor went to a dulcimer store in the Ozarks! We spent about an hour there learning all about dulcimers and other folk instruments. The guys there were amazingly knowledgeable (which is to be expected as they build their own instruments), friendly and welcoming regarding their niche field. We had a lot of fun learning about all these instruments. And yes. I bought a dulcimer. Walnut sides and body with a sassafras soundboard. She is a beaut. I’m really looking forward to getting home and delving into a whole new world of music. We then headed back to the room (food poisoning and all) and opted to dine in a la Papa John’s. Tomorrow we leave this hilly senior citizen hotspot for Alabama!

St. Louis

We stayed just outside St. Louis because we knew that any bridge we went over would show us the Arch.  Josh chose a route that would give us the best perspective as we traveled over the Mississippi river. The Eads bridge, which we learned was actually quite controversial while it was being build because it was the first time and forged steel would be used in the construction of a bridge and the architect who designed it had never built a bridge before. The Eads Bridge is named for its architect.

There’s a park that surrounds the Arch and tall trees hide it from view as you’re walking towards the monument so until you are right up to it you cannot appreciate how big it really is.  I’m not a good judge of size, but now I understand how high 630 feet actually is.

I realized very quickly that there was a line forming to get into the Arch so while Josh was snagging some more pictures I got on line.  I had read that there was security and it could take awhile to get through and on this particular day it took about 15 minutes.  We also didn’t realize that you could get in through both “legs” of the Arch, so if you’re ever there and there’s a line at one “leg” the other side might be open.

When you enter the Arch you’re actually underground with the Arch overhead.  There is a museum that depicts and explains America’s expansion west, several shops, and two movie theaters showing various things important to the Arch and its history.

We had to wait about and hour and a half for our tram time slot.  They do this in order to keep the people going up in the Arch orderly otherwise it could get crazy.  The museum is free to anyone in the Arch lobby so we walked around in there while we waited for our time slot. 

The museum is really cool.  I never realized how important St. Louis was to America’s expansion westward.  There’s a huge timeline, an explanation of the U.S. governments relationship with the Chiefs of several Tribes, and various entries from Lewis and Clark’s Journals.  All in all it was really informative and worth the time we spent there.

When it was time for us to go on the tram we got into another line where they took our picture and then send us into this area decorated to look like St. Louis back in the days of Lewis and Clark.  We were handed cards with a number on them.  This number corresponded to the tramcar we would be taking up to the top.  I have to take some time to explain the tramcars.  They move like a Ferris wheel cabs, but they are shaped like pods.  There are five small seats inside and a small glass door that even I had to bend down to get through.  It’s a 4-minute ride 630 feet up into the air and it goes by pretty fast. 

The top of the Arch is small.  That’s really the only adjective I can use to describe it.  It’s a small space to walk in with small windows you need to stand on a step to see out of.

The view is AMAZING! You can see at least 30 miles on a clear day and this was a clear day.  On one side there is a great view of St. Louis and on the other side the Mississippi River and all the bridges that lead to the city.  It’s crazy to look straight down from that height. After a few pictures we were ready to head down and unlike coming up the Arch, you don’t have to wait long to go down. 

When we reached the bottom we walked back the car and realized we need to eat in St. Louis.  Josh searched the Internet and found a place that seemed promising.  The Highway 61 Roadhouse is a New Orleans themed BBQ joint.  I had a burger with chorizo, bleu cheese, bacon, and onions and Josh had a BBQ sample platter. Great way to end our time in St. Louis.

We headed south the Branson from there.  Needless to say, we were more than excited to sleep in an actual bed. Our room at the Wyndham Mountain Vista more than met our expectations.  After a shower we very much appreciated clean sheets and central air conditioning.   

Indianapolis

We awoke in Indiana and had breakfast at the first Waffle House of the trip. Get the grits. We then drove to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 amongst other races. Now I’m not a huge racing fan, but when I got my first glimpse of the speedway my inner child came out. First of all, this place is huge. Much bigger than it seems on the rare occasion I see it on TV. The Hall of Fame Museum is in the middle of the track and you drive under the track to get to it. 

This building is in the middle of the track...crazy!

We got there early enough that we had time to check out the museum before our tour started. What a collection of racing history. Probably the coolest part was the large amount of Indy 500 winners they had there, including the first and most recent winners next to each other.

Some of the cars in the museum

Finally our tour was announced and we got on the bus. When we had originally arrived, we saw they offered two tours and weren’t sure if we made the right choice. We soon realized that our tour was the good one. Our tour began with us driving around the track all the while getting history lesson after history lesson. When we got to the start/finish line, we were allowed out of the bus and onto the track. 

One of the many interesting things about the track is that while it used to be entirely brick, it was paved over with asphalt leaving a strip of brick visible at the finish line. We were then brought through the press conference room, media center, winner’s circle and scoring/broadcasting booths.

Josh at the Press Conference desk

We were then brought through the various garage and storage areas. All in all, the tour was completely worth it being about 2.5 hours long and only costing $25 each including admission to the Hall of Fame Museum.

Indy Track Shots

On our way to Illinois we saw signs for the world’s largest wind chime. Obviously we had to stop. The world’s largest anything is interesting. It wasn’t far off the highway that we found ourselves in Casey, IL. On the way, we saw signs for the world’s largest golf tee. Time was short, however, and our day wasn’t big enough for two of the world’s largest anythings, so on we went. The wind chime was huge and you could pull a chain to get it going. (You’d need something pretty strong gusts to get that thing going otherwise.) It turns out the wind chime is on the property of this quaint little café (where they sell wind chimes and wind chime memorabilia). Feeling guilty just gawking and running we went in and bought some cookies. I asked them about the world’s largest golf tee and if the townspeople were just going about making as many of the world’s largest things they could. She didn’t deny it.

Josh in front of World's Largest Windchime

We then headed out to our next campsite before St. Louis. Like every other KOA, the people were friendly, the grounds were attractive and the facilities were clean. The only issue with our stay was there seemed to be some type of racing going on nearby till QUITE late in the evening. Oh well. At least there was no rain. Off to St. Louis!

Sandusky to Fort Wayne to Indianapolis

Heinz Factory, Fremont, Ohio

We woke the next morning in Sandusky ready to get on the road. Unfortunately, everything was still wet from all the rain.  We hung the tent on a picnic table and rolled the tarp up in such a way as to keep the wet inside.  It was not going to dry by the time we needed to leave and we needed to be on the road to Fort Wayne and then Indianapolis!

The drive to Fort Wayne was almost uneventful.  First we decided to go to the Arthur B. Hayes Presidential Library.  On the way there, we stumbled upon a Heinz Factory.  Josh really wanted a tour, but alas they do not offer them.

While driving through Fremont. we realized that they may have been hit harder by the storm than we had been in Sandusky. There were tree limbs everywhere and some off the streets were blocked off.  Utility workers were everywhere and people had started to clean up their properties.

Upon arriving at the Hayes Presidential Library, we decided to walk around the grounds before going on a tour of the library and museum.  It was really interesting.  Hayes had named trees in honor of politicians and dignitaries who visited the house.  Each tree contained a plaque designated the person who had it was named for.  Other trees just contained the name of the type of tree.  This was the first time I had seen a ginkgo tree in person and I recognized it's fan shaped leaves immediately.

Grove at Hayes Presidential Library

President Hayes, his wife, and several of his family members are buried on the grounds.  There is a monument to them there.

As we continued our walk through the grounds we came across the house of the Hayes Family and then we found ourselves again in front of the library.  The women in front was kind enough to tell us that the library had no power and was closed for the day.  She also relayed to us the tale of when the storm hit Fremont:

When they realized how bad it was they took all the visitors and employees down into the basement.  When the storm had passed and it was safe to emerge they walked outside only to realized that one of the older trees on the property had fallen down, on the parking lot, and crushed four of the guests' cars.  

Needless to say Josh and I were glad that we had arrived a day later.  It would have been a shame for our trip to end before it had really started.  Our thoughts and prayers do go out to the nice people of Fremont, Ohio.  We hope they have a quick recovery.

Our next stop was to be Fort Wayne, Indiana.  On the road I researched things to do there.  Josh was so excited to get there he got pulled over.  I won't divulge the  amount in which he was exceeding the speed limit, but let's just say it was too much to be let off with just a warning.

  

 After that little set back, we headed to Fort Wayne.  My research resulted in one thing that Josh thought warranted our time; Johnny Appleseed's gravesite.  The best part about the gravesite is that it's off of a road named after a man named Harry Baals. I couldn't make that up if I tried.  The site itself wasn't much.  There was a sign explaining who Johnny Appleseed was and what he had done for the people who were settling in this part of the country.  You walk up a small hill that is flanked on either side by fruit trees and his grave is at the top.  

Johnny Appleseed Gravesite

After this it was on to Indianapolis.  Below is a picture of our campsite at the KOA in Mount Comfort which is only 20 minutes outside of Indianapolis.  To date, it is the nicest KOA we've ever stayed in and we highly recommend that if your ever in the need of a place to stay near Indy that you stay there. They have cabins for those of you who don't like to rough it which include full kitchens and flatscreen televisions.  We stayed in our tent...