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A Trip to the "Gateway City"

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Contributed by: Robin Ricci on 6/22/2008

On last Wednesday the 18th of June, my mom, my dad, myself, and my brother took off for a wonderfully monotonous car ride to St. Louis, Missouri for my mother's convention.

Between the sprawling landscapes filled with the same never ending corn fields, and the lull of my brother's game boy I managed to sleep away the twenty one hour trip to "Mound City". (In case you were wondering it was named that because of the abundance of Native American burial mounds that used to cover the city.)

Upon arrival, despite a certain dinginess of our surrounding, the arch looked nonetheless breathtaking in the shimmering moonlight. Apparently various other conventions were being held in the city and as luck would have it the hotel was over booked despite the fact that my parents had put a deposit on it. After spending the night looking for a hotel, we managed to find a Marriott by the airport.

Troubles still ceased to yield to our tired family for the only room they had left was one with a king bed. Four people in a bed talk about snug. The next morning me, my father, and my brother went to the pool which was very nicely set up. It was extremely fun until the pancakes my brother ate for breakfast decided to come back up and join the party.

The pool had to be emptied and fortunately the pool cleaners did not know who the culprit was. After taking a break at the hotel and getting cleaned up we headed for the arch, the pride of St. Louis. The arch itself was modeled of the architecture of the bridge that was know as the "Gateway to the West" because of it's exquisite design. In order to get up to the top of the arch, five people were squeezed into a little pod with five seats and no windows.

It was a long trip and and as I exited the pod (as if I wasn't dizzy enough) I hit my head on the door, which was far from normal size. I must admit that even the stars swirling around my head weren't enough for me not to see the gorgeous view from the top. I could see a Cardinal game being played in Busch Stadium and the hotel we were staying at.

After looking at a quaint museum, and eating lunch at a wonderful pizza place we headed back to hotel to pack and move to the Hyatt at the Union Station where we rested for a new adventure. (And I do mean adventure, for everything seemed to be a surprise.)

The next morning we ate breakfast with my mom and prolonged the swimming for fear of another pancake surprise. We headed to the zoo after the rain has ceased and had quite the enjoyable time. The train, Build-A-Bear Workshop, the simulated log ride, and the gift shop were among my brother's favorite attractions while the penguin exhibit, and the newly born leopard were among mine.

After exploring all of the interesting animal exhibits we headed back to the hotel where a debate ensued about what to have for dinner. After going to the Ameristar Casino for dinner we discovered that a marathon for breast cancer would close down Market Street (the only way out of the hotel) the next day until two o'clock. We took advantage of the prolonged departure and took a dip in the pool and played glow in the dark miniature golf.

We left for home at three o'clock, and when it seemed the worst was behind us it seemed that history decided to repeat itself for once more we were out on the road until twelve o'clock going through every booked hotel in Kansas to find a place to sleep. The king bed came back into play at the Holiday Inn only this time we got the room with the broken air conditioner on top of it.

Now, having just pulled in just this morning, I look back on our hectic trip and not only laugh but scold my parents lack of planning. Over all it was a fine trip and while the car trip to and from our destinations were not completely wonderful, the places we visited in St. Louis were more than desirable.

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Robin Ricci

Highlands Ranch

Robin Ricci has posted 22 stories and 4 comments since joining on 6/4/2006. Robin Ricci 's average story rating is 4.92.

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