Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

St Louis will likely end up as one of our highlights which is really saying a lot since we barely even decided to go. The only reason we even considered it in the beginning was because Charlie specifically asked to go see the arch that he had read about in one of his books. Then when we finally had enough time to catch our breath and realise that we really did want to try and see all 50 states, we realised we would need to go to Missouri.

Our first night we decided to check out Hogtown Smokehouse for dinner. We had no groceries, no desire to go to a grocery store, and it was within walking distance. It turned out to the beginning of some of the best food we have had on our travels. The kids all gave it a huge thumbs up, the sandwiches were absolutely incredible and the local brews were tasty too. Turns out St Louis has more than just the arch to offer.

Since we really only had one full day in St Louis (thank goodness because it was like minus a million degrees) we packed it all in to the one day. We headed to the Missouri History Museum in the morning for the Martin Luther King Day celebrations. The kids got to do a scavenger hunt, their children’s section was fairly interesting, we had another amazing lunch and admission was free.

We left the museum to head to the arch for a video tour and ride up the ‘escalator-elevator-ferris-wheel’ barrels that run inside the arch. The video, while informative, could use a little updating and then they basically repeated all of the information on the ride up to the top of the arch. Charlie enjoyed it though. The top of the arch is just about the same as any other tower we have ever gone up – it turns out that the thing that you recognise most from the skyline is the thing you are currently in and when you get up there you don’t really recognise anything else.

To continue our streak of professional sports we ended the evening at a Blues vs Flyers game back downtown. After some pretty annoying delays with parking we eventually made it with most of the first period left. The Blues lost the game and to be honest it was one of the most boring hockey games I’ve ever watched. Again though, the food was amazing. Jacob and I split what was probably the best sandwich I’ve ever had – they’re so good they sell out! We got the last one before the first period was over.