St. Louis

August 23^rd, we actually got to see St. Louis in decent daylight! Normally, we arrive in St. Louis at the end of a long day of driving on our way up north. This time, we were stopping to see some sights and friends!

After breakfast, we headed out to see the Gateway Arch! We’ve driven past it several times, but you don’t appreciate how big it is until you’re actually close to it.

I thought it would be similar to the Washington Monument where you basically go up, look around, and then come back down. But underneath the arch, there is a museum, theaters, and lots more! We started off by doing what was most important: going up in the arch!

You ride up in these tiny little elevators, which are like little pods that seat five people. If you have claustrophobia, I would definitely not recommend doing this! The ride up takes several minutes, and every so often, the pod tilts as it goes up the side of the arch.

The view from the top is spectacular!

It’s dizzyingly high.

After we had spent a few minutes admiring the view, we went back downstairs to learn more. We watched a couple of films, including one on the building of the arch. I simply cannot fathom the building of the arch. The video footage was making me cringe as they showed the workers on the top climbing around! We also looked around the gift shop and mercantile, and toured the museum before calling it a day.

Even all the kids in our family combined cannot span even one side of the arch! That’s how huge it is!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

We went back to the hotel for a few hours, and then freshened up for dinner. We had a very special opportunity: I was finally going to meet my long-time pen pal! R and I have been writing since we were 9 and 8 years old, respectively. We started writing because our church supported her family when they left to become missionaries in Russia. We have kept up over the years, and when her family moved back to St. Louis a number of years ago, we thought maybe one day we’d get to meet face-to-face.

What we didn’t think would happen was that my family would move to Texas and we would finally connect after we drove through St. Louis a half-a-dozen times on various trips up north! I had met her parents when they visited our church in Michigan, but after 10 years of corresponding, R and I were finally meeting for the first time!

We met up at a Mongolian Grill for dinner. For those of you who have never been to one before, they have a whole buffet of raw meats, vegetables, sauces, and more. You put everything you want in a bowl and take it up to the grill. It’s a huge round, stone-type surface. They take your bowl and stir fry everything up!

Photo Credit: Roma.

My plate. It was delicious!

For dessert, some of us had cheesecake rangoons, while others split chocolate cake.

Josiah had s’mores! They brought out a little grill (with a real flame!), marshmallows, skewers, graham crackers, and chocolate and away he went. I think the sunglasses were to protect him from the intense heat. J

It was so good to see Mr. and Mrs. H again, and to catch up with R! They are such a fun family, and I always feel like I connect well with missionaries. J

R and me. She has been one of the only constant friends in my life, and I’m so blessed by my friendship with her! Time and space don’t matter; we will always be friends!

Photo Credit: Roma.

The next morning, we packed up one final time and started on the final leg of our two-week journey. Along the way, we stopped at Culver’s for lunch and Pizza Hut for dinner. We made it home at a fairly reasonable time, but we were still plenty tired! We had enjoyed our trip so much, but there is truly no place like home! J