st. louis

we packed up and hit the road a few weeks ago for a road trip to st. louis.  this is the first time that i've been to st. louis, and i hope it's not the last time.  it's a great trip, and it is a fun place.  the little people thought so, too!  

we stopped at the original lambert's on the way there since none of us had ever eaten at one.  the food was good, but lambert's is kind of like vegas.....been there, done that, don't have to ever go again!  ha!  

we had a great room with a pullout a couch in the room next to us.  i put the sheets on sideways, and they all crammed on the couch!  

grant's farm was on the list of things to do, and we did it!  i feel like it was sort of a fancy buffalo park.  we all know my feelings about the buffalo park, but i enjoyed the history part of grant's farm and seeing the budweiser clydesdales!

 waiting on the elephant show...

i refused to get in the cage with those nasty parakeets, but my little people loved feeding them and letting them land all over them.  (meanwhile, i'm going to have nightmares after looking at these pictures again.)

we ate at a place that makes their own root beer called fritz's.  william drank so much root beer so fast that he ended up puking and missed out on the root beer floats.  wes made sure not to miss dessert, however!

we can't go anywhere without checking out the pool.

 we spent a lot of one day at the city museum.  this place alone is worth the drive to st. louis.  i can't even explain properly what it is.  it is a 10 story playground with fun everywhere.  they loved the 10 story slide, the caves, the slides, the climbing structures, the skate park room, and just everything about it.   it was a little strange when a kid would disappear and then pop out of a wall somewhere different, but i eventually got used to that!!  william declared that "this is the best thing i have ever done in life."

public transportation is apparently very entertaining.

they have such a neat area around the ballpark called ballpark village.  we enjoyed walking around there and eating.

and we had the best seats in the house at the game!  we were directly behind home plate at the top of the stands, but you couldn't beat it.  it was in the shade, and you could see it all.  plus, we had a walk off homer in the bottom of the 10th to win it, so we picked a great game to go to!

the science museum was a hit!  feeling clouds...

fingerprint analysis...

and of course we hit up the arch.  it was neat to hear how and why it was built.  the architectural design behind it is pretty amazing!

the view from the top!

the ride up and down was a little disconcerting.  they slam you in these tiny little pods with no window.  and when you have little people saying..."what if the cable breaks?  what if it catches on fire?  you think they'd ever find our bodies?"...well, it makes you happy to have your feet back on the ground!!  ha!   

the mighty mississippi...

so there you have it.  what a fun trip!  if you haven't been to st. louis, you should go and have fun.  we will definitely be back!

NYC

at the beginning of may, chase and i got away for a little bit to new york city.  he had a conference, and i didn't want him to be lonely when he wasn't at the conference.  so, i tagged along.  :)

(i don't know if anybody else has struggled with the new photos app on your mac, but let's just say that i have had many words with it recently.  i miss iPhoto, and i wish these tech people would just leave well enough alone.)  all of that to say that my pics are out of order, and that's just how it has to be for now!!!

we saw wicked the first night we were there.  LOVED it!!  i read the wizard of oz to the little people at bedtime recently, so i was caught up on all things Oz.  i would definitely go watch it again, and i hope i get to do just that one day.  i'm sure there was lots that i missed the first time!

times square...

i have been to new york before, but i decided to do every single touristy thing while i was there.  i wanted to make sure i had it all covered, so the next time i go i will be able to focus on mainly eating!!!  ha!  chase was at his conference, so i took off on my own and accomplished it.

empire state building...

new york public library...
(here's a piece of info for your next trivial pursuit game....the two lions out front are named patience and fortitude.)

madison square garden...

macy's...

empire state building from the bottom...

the 911 memorial.  this was pretty incredible to see.  i met a guy from england that was walking to it as well.  it got a little tricky bc of construction, but we found it.  once we got there, he wanted me to take his picture.  then he offered to take my picture.  since i was by myself and all my pics don't have anyone it, i thought it would be nice to actually have me in a picture.  but what is the etiquette for that sort of thing?  smiling didn't seem appropriate.

wall street...

the bull on wall street...

i had been planning on eating this sandwich since i first learned of our trip to NYC.  i hit the subway and found my way to katz's for the best reuben ever!

rockefeller center...

radio city music hall...

the tonight show with jimmy fallon.  i do love jimmy fallon.  next trip, we are going to have to try to go to his show!

central park...

live from the apollo...

grant's tomb...

the empire state building from the top...

a view of the freedom tower and the statue of liberty from the empire state building...

grand central station...

our favorite thing we did was a walking food tour.  we did a combo tour where we combined a tour of the high line with a food tour in greenwich village.  it was awesome!!  the high line was an elevated railroad that ran from the river to the warehouses, but now it's a park.  it's the fastest growing area of new york city, and you can have a one bedroom starting at $5 million.

this apartment complex houses more people than the city of tupelo, and it takes up an entire block.

i didn't take pictures of our food on the food part of the tour because chase makes fun of me when i take pictures of food.  so all you get is a picture of an egg cream.  it was a fizzy, chocolatey drink that is a new york staple.

i didn't take pictures, but along with the egg cream, we also had a bag of chocolates from li-lac chocolates, a really awesome piece of pizza that was so big it wouldn't even fit on the plate from bleecker street pizza, some stuffed bagels from bantam bagels, a chicken pesto sandwich and some rice balls from a really cool italian grocery/specialty store name faicco's, and the best cheesecake and cannolis that i have ever eaten from pasticceria rocco.  full doesn't begin to describe it!!!  it's a good thing we did so much walking along the high line and greenwich village!

greenwich village was really neat with it's tree lined streets.  it didn't feel like you were in new york city at all.  it had more of a boston feel.

it's the huxtables!

and the apartment from friends!

we finished our food tour in washington park.  if you look through the arch, there's the empire state building again in the background.

and since we don't like to stay still for long (or maybe that's just me!), we took the subway over to brooklyn and then walked back across the brooklyn bridge.

posing with the statue of liberty in the background!

i think i did pretty job of cramming it all in while we were there.  i even figured out the passenger trains out of penn station.  we took that back to the airport instead of a cab, and the husband was appreciative of that cash still in his wallet.  and now that i've got it all figured out, i'm ready to go back!!