Great American Road Trip: Day 1--St. Louis

I warned told you I was going to share some pix from our recent family vacation to Yellowstone National Park.

We actually left on Memorial Day, so The Husband and BabyD wouldn't have to miss their annual pilgrimage to the Indy 500 for Race Day. We don't mess with daddy-daughter time.

To get everyone fired-up for our trip, we decided to make the first day a (relatively!) short drive, and take in the Gateway Arch of St. Louis. That put us on the road for only four hours (which was plenty, considering we NEVER seem to leave until about lunchtime, anyway, when we go someplace--I trust this is God's way of providing opportunity for Type A Me to practice patience... but I digress...).

The girls were actually quite excited to see the Arch.

It was evening when we made it to there.

By the time we got to the top, it was after dark, which made for some fabulous views.

This is what took so long...

Like father, like daughter.

There was a LOT of this going on during our trip!

But, that's to be expected when you look at this:

Yes, that's The Husband's camera bag... all 42 lbs of it!

He didn't appreciate us making fun of it.

But, how could we resist?

That Bag had to have it's own seat ticket to ride up to the top of the Arch!!!

 Here's That Bag, riding in the little barrel elevator to the top.

Glad to report:  It wasn't afraid of the heights or tight spaces.

Now, I'm going to have to do something about getting some of the really good photos of our trip to post.

The Husband and the girls had access to the really good cameras and assorted lenses. I, however, was making do with my Itty Bitty Nikon--which I am NOT dissing, by any means, because it's compact and does a great job, fits in my pocket, and doesn't need it's own passport to travel!

Our biggest challenge in St. Louis was finding a place to park this rig.

The waterfront parking, along the Mississippi was under water.

So, we had to park by Cardinal Stadium and hoof-it, which was fine.

The big question was: If you take up three spaces in the parking lot...

How many do you have to pay for?

We only paid for one.
And we didn't get towed.
So, we were scoff-laws right from the beginning. But, that made our adventure all the more memorable!