Saint Louis In June

 President Grant (He looks pretty good in color!)

 This was the slaves quarters at the Grant farm

 Apparently this green color was all the rage in the 1870s

 This was a big lizard at the zoo

 I really liked the porch I wish we had one like this in Texas

This is the atrium of the snake house at the zoo. That is what Daryl checked out while Greerson got up close and personal with all the snakes

 At the Muny waiting for Thoroughly Modern Millie to start

Greerson was enjoying a snack while we listened to some singers entertain before the show started

 This was a window in the Union Station

 This is the outside of the City Museum

 Several Opera posters in the City Museum

 The bank vault and Big Boy in the museum

 Some of the architectural elements they displayed

 This room was of particular interest it was filled with mounted insects and animals. Daryl didn't think the racoon looked vicious enough!

 This was a creative use of ties, notice they line the ceiling.

 This was the underwater part of the museum. It was really unique.

 City Park in Downtown

 The fountain was pink for the Cancer Race for the Cure

 The Gateway Arch

 These are the windows at the top of the arch. They are really not very big as you can see in the other pictures.

 the ceiling really is pretty low!!!

The view from the top

Greerson at 630 feet in the arch

 This was in the city museum

 This was the city park downtown with children playing in the fountain.

 We saw rabbits in downtown Saint Louis!!!!

 This was the door which was incredibly short to get into the comparment to ride to the top.

 This is Greerson at dinner Wednesday at Charlie Gittos

Christa's company had a meeting in Saint Louis Missouri so Greerson and Daryl decided to tag along. Christa ended up working the entire time, but we all had a good time anyway. We arrived on Wednesday night and Christa's uncle Doyle and aunt Sheryl met us for dinner at a local Italian Restaurant and introduced us to toasted raviolis. We enjoyed visiting with them and getting a tour of the downtown from them. Thursday morning Daryl and Greerson set out for the Jefferson Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch). It was a huge task to get there (it was across the street from the hotel). They enjoyed walking around the grounds and checking things out. Greerson managed to persuade Daryl to go up in the Arch despite his clostrophobia. It was a true challenge. The door to the chamber was 4 feet tall and there was room for 5 people in it. On the way up Daryl sat in the middle and could sit all the way up. There was a window in the compartment and that helped him considerably, but coming down he had to sit by the door and the compartment is curved and he had to slump forward for the five minute ride down. After they got to the top Daryl was a bit concerned because there were a lot of people there and the ceiling seemed really low. He immediately found a window and started taking pictures this calmed him down (which is amazing since he has a thing about heights and was 630 feet in the air). After they came back down they toured the museum underneath the Arch and then stopped in for mass at the local church nearby. They made it back to the hotel and ate lunch and decided to relax that afternoon. That evening they checked out the downtown area. The city was preparing for the Race for the Cure  and had dyed the fountain pink and placed pink flowers everywhere. Friday they ventured out to the City Mueseum, which is difficult to describe. The museum is a collection of all sorts of things from Saint Louis. It has airplanes and cranes and fire trucks on the outside. Inside is kind of themed. There is an under water portion with moss (made out of silk) hanging from the ceiling and turtles and fish in tanks and a big whale that the kids can slide down and come out of the mouth. On another floor they had an exhibit with architectural elements from various buildings that had been torn down in the city. They also had a train that kids could ride and a bank vault that we came through. If your ever in Saint Louis see it for yourself! After exploring the City Museum they headed over to Union Station for lunch and checked out the whispering wall.  Then they picked up Christa and moved out of the Hyatt into the Springhill Suites. (this was a smart move considering thousands of people were invading downtown for the race the next day). That evening was awesome. The Muny (St Louis municipal theatre) is an awesome outdoor amphitheatre in the park that presents professional musicals. Thoroughly Modern Millie was onstage and they got to see it with Leslie Uggams. She is a little long in the tooth, but she can sure sing! Saturday morning they spent at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. That deserves it's own post and will follow. In the afternoon they went to the Zoo and then had St Louis pizza for dinner and watched the Three Stooges. Sunday morning was spent at Grant's Farm (President Ulysses S. Grant). Then hopped on a plane back to Dallas.