Branson

 After spending three nights in St. Louis we traveled south to Branson for three more nights.  Branson reminds me of the Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge area in that there's a lot of "touristy" stuff but there's also a lot of natural beauty.  We had a lot of fun during our time in Branson.  On the afternoon that we arrived we visited a go-cart place.  This place had several tracks- each having a height requirement.  The only course that Owen was tall enough to drive was the Rookie Track. He loved driving the go-cart and had a smile on his face the whole time.  After a few laps he started waving or making faces at us each time that he passed by.

 Olivia was tall enough to drive the Road Course Track.  She also liked driving the cart but seemed to be more serious about her driving.  She started off slow but sped up as she went.  There was also a four story wooden go-cart track that had 1 full spiral, 2 mini spirals, and a blind peak.   It looked like something off of Super Mario Kart.  There was no way that we weren't going to drive on it.  The kids were both too short to drive on that course so Brian and I drove while the kids rode as passengers.  It's been a minute since I've driven a go-cart.  It was pretty fun.

There were many miniature golf places.  We played a round at Dinosaur Canyon.   

 Our hotel had a indoor-outdoor pool.  There was one afternoon where we spent three hours at the pool. Olivia really liked going down the waterslide.  I think she ended up going down that thing fifty times.  Owen went down a few times but he mostly just worked on his swimming (which is getting better).

 Branson is known for its shows, and there were plenty of them to choose from.  We saw The Haygoods and hey, they were good.  These six siblings sang songs from a variety of genres and played various instruments.  The kids gave me a hard time about "making" them go see a show, but they ended up enjoying it as much as Brian and I did.  It was a pretty interactive show and the group sang several songs that the kids knew.

 We ate at several really good restaurants while on vacation but two of the most memorable were in or around Branson.  The first is an Italian place called "Pasghetti's". I'm not going to lie- we picked this place because there was a giant meatball outside that you could walk through.  I thought the food was "meh", but the kids just really liked it.  Because of their insistence, we ended up eating here twice.

 We also ate at Lambert's Cafe.  This place is famous for being the "home of the throwed roll".  Basically, they don't put rolls on your table.  They have a guy who walks around with rolls and if you want one you signal and he throws it to you from across the room.  The food here was good.

City Museum

 I cannot even say enough good things about St. Louis's City Museum.  This is one of the most unique, quirky, and fun places that I have ever visited.  The term "museum" is a misnomer.  This place is really more of a jungle gym on steroids.  The museum uses reclaimed materials to make the most wonderful things.  There are dozens of tunnels, slides, and interesting places to explore.  We spent hours climbing, crawling, and sliding.  There are even tunnels in the floor and in the ceiling.  There are nooks and crannies everywhere- and you can explore them all.  Several times I saw Olivia point out a hole in the floor or wall to Owen, to which he would reply "Let's go in it".  There are no maps, so getting lost was pretty much guaranteed.  But, that was part of the fun.  We all liked the slides, and we went down as many as we could find- including the ten story slide.  I felt like such a kid at this place, and I was not alone.  After all, the City Museum was designed with adults in mind.  We stayed late- almost til closing time- and there is no way we saw it all.  Should fate ever take us through St. Louis again, a return visit to the City Museum will be at the top of my list.

Gateway Arch

The third day of our Missouri vacation began with a visit to the iconic Gateway Arch.  The arch and area around it is undergoing a major renovation.  As a matter of fact, they had just re-opened the tram to the top about a week before we arrived.  We did get to ride to the top, but other areas of the park were still closed (like the National Expansion Museum).  

The arch is the tallest national monument in the U.S., and the tram ride to the top was interesting.  The designers came up with an innovative way to move passengers along a curved track.  The tram system combined the technology of an elevator, trolley, and ferris wheel.  The ferris wheel part was evident as the super-small tram car righted itself several times as we moved up the track.  

The top of the arch offered views of both St. Louis and the Mississippi River.  Luckily it was a clear day, so we had no problems with the view.

Anheuser-Busch Tour

On the afternoon of Day 2 in St. Louis we took the complimentary tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery.  Two things struck me about this brewery- it is large and it is fancy.  After giving us a brief history of the company, our guides led us to the Clydesdale stables.  We saw some of these famous animals as well as some of the old Budweiser wagons.  After poking around the stable for a bit, we headed into a room in the factory where we were given a sample of Budweiser which we (meaning Brian) could enjoy while the guides told us about the seven step brewing process.  I didn't know anything about brewing beer prior to this tour, so I found this pretty interesting.  We were then taken to a few areas of the factory where we could see the machines involved in the brewing process.  Once our tour was over, we were able to redeem the beer tokens that we had received at the beginning of the tour for a beverage of our choice at the Biergarten.  Brian traded his in for some variety of Shock Top and the kids got a Pepsi and lemonade.  I'm not a beer drinker but I hated not to try something that was produced at the factory (I was onsite after all).  The guide helped me choose a drink that she thought I might like (Cidre- Stella). It was okay- not my thing, but I didn't gag.

St. Louis Zoo

Day two of our Missouri vacation began at the St. Louis Zoo.  This is one of the best zoos that we have ever been to (and it was free).  There were many outstanding animal exhibits, but I am going to post pictures of some of our favorites. The one that left the biggest impression on me was the polar bear.  We have seen polar bears at other zoos, but the one here was relaxing up next to the glass and we were able to get really really close to him.  What a magnificent animal!

The kids enjoyed watching the hippos.  Most of the animals were in nice, large habitats- that's always nice to see.

 The penguins were also a hit.

The St. Louis Zoo had several animals that we had never seen before.  Brian really liked the Takins.  He thought they were cool when he first saw them, and then their coolness was solidified when he realized that they could climb.

We spent about five hours at the zoo, and enjoyed our time there.

Spring Break in Missouri

Last year Brian and I decided that we would like to visit all 50 states with our kids before they grow up.  This is a goal that we would like to see happen- doesn't mean that it will, but we would like to try for it.  The minimum criteria that must be met in order for a state to count is that we have to have a sit-down meal in it.  Eating in the car does not count nor does simply driving through a state.  A meal is the minimum.  We had already covered a lot of the southern and mid-Atlantic states prior to this trip, so we headed toward the middle of the country for Spring Break.  We ended up adding three new states (Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas) during this trip- that brings our family total up to 19.

 Day one was our longest driving day.  According to Mapquest, the drive from our house to St. Louis was suppose to take a little over 12 hours.  We thought that that was do-able in a day.  However, we did not count on getting backed up in stop-and-go traffic SEVEN times between home and Nashville.  It took about twelve hours just to get to Nashville.  We ended up driving for seventeen hours straight to make it to our hotel in St. Louis.  It was one of the longest days ever.  The silver lining of all of this traffic was that we ended up going through Atlanta later than anticipated and managed to meet up with Cassie and James for lunch.

We also stopped at Steak and Shake in Illinois for a late supper so that we could count that state.

 The Gateway Arch was certainly a sight for sore eyes after a long day of driving.  We checked into our hotel around 1 a.m. and went straight to bed.  We were exhausted.

Easter

 We had a wonderful time celebrating Easter with our family this year.  On Saturday, the kids dyed eggs and got their baskets ready.  They woke up early on Sunday morning to check out their Easter Bunny loot, and then we got ready to go to Sunday School and Church. It had been raining during the night, but it slacked off enough for us to get our picture by the cross after the service. We ate lunch at Granny Buie's house but were not able to hunt eggs there due to the weather.  It was a great day of celebration.