We definitely saved the best stuff of the trip for last. Missouri was the highlight, with the city museum, Ulysses S. Grant Historic site and Laura Ingalls Wilder, there was something that everyone loved.
We started out with the Lincoln Boyhood home in Indiana. It was a great half way stopping point on our trek from Kentucky to Missouri. I loved this one. The park ranger was hilarious and the trails and Living Museum (which isn't open when we went) were really cool to see and walk on. This trip gave us a great review and even more information about our 16th president. It was a perfect mixture of education and fun. The only thing that would have made it better was if we could have finished off our trip with his Illinois home and seeing where his law office was in Illinois. Definitely on my bucket list though.
Oh and once again it was cold and wet on our drive so we viewed all of Abe in bad weather again! :) It was worth it though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The City Museum in St. Louis was one of the most incredible places I have ever been. Words don't do it justice. I mean I really don't even know where to start. It is basically a giant playscape for adults and kids made out of old repurposed items from the city. The building use to be an old shoe factory.
There are random holes and slides that you just have to go on to find where they end up. A lot of the tunnels and hole are very narrow so you have the potential to get stuck.
The roof is incredible with a school bus hanging off the building, a Ferris wheel (which was terrifying and we didn't do), and more slides and climbing structures.
There is a cave system that you have to be 18 yrs or older or with your parents to enter. It is dark and lots of narrow holes and tunnels. A very easy place to lose your kid. Thankfully we had written our phone number on all the kids arms. It was a good thing too because we took Bub and he is insane. While playing hide and seek he tried to leave the caves and was held up by a worker who wouldn't let him leave her until I came and got him. Glad they have systems like that in place. It made me feel a little bit safer with my kids running wild and unattended. This was definitely a -pray and give your child to Jesus -place.
We went to the roof first! You have to pay extra for roof access but it is totally worth it!
There is a 10 story slide that winds in a spiral down the entire building.
It wasn't super fast but was really fun. Literally there are no rules here. Everything you see you can climb on and are actually expected to do so.
There were a lot of people wearing knee pads and I wish we would have brought some. There was a lot of crawling on hands and knees.
The roof and inside are not the only parts. They have Monstrosity which is outside in front of the building. It is insane. Climbing in small tunnels suspended in the air to get between airplanes. There are more slides. One that even starts in the building and dumps you outside. There are some very narrow tunnels that made me sweat and feel claustrophobic. Unfortunately when you have 4 kids running crazy you just have to take a deep breath and push forward.
This place was by far the highlight of the trip for the kids and honestly even for me. I had so much fun just playing with the kids. No rules just running and sliding and 7 hours of pure fun. I highly recommend this place. If you are in the St. Louis area or just need a great vacation this place is a must!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We woke up Friday knowing that our trip was coming to an end. Thankfully we had 2 more stops to make before calling it quits. The first was the Ulysses S. Grant National historic Site in St. Louis. This place was incredible. I am a history buff and thought I knew a lot about General Grant but this place taught me so much. We got to see the house his wife grew up in and that they lived in after they were married. It is green, the house is green! I loved it.
The museum had a dress up station with all the places that Grant had been to in his travels. The kids had a great time dressing up and doing the Jr. Ranger program here.
This was a favorite of mine and I am so thankful that we found the National Park passport books early on our trip so that we could add all the fun extras to our trip. It made it into a real road trip with fun random stops. It also added a lot of education for the older two. We had just read about the civil war a few weeks prior so this really made Grant come to life for us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our last stop and the one Carly had been waiting for the entire trip had finally arrived. We stopped at Laura Ingalls Wilder's adult home in Mansfield, MO. The house is in the original condition with all the handmade furniture and bedding that Almanzo and Laura had made. There was also a museum with all her stuff. We got to see original manuscripts of the books, handwritten. Pa's fiddle was on display and they say they take it out and play it once a year for the annual Fiddle Off.
We visited her grave site where people had left pencil and pennies her headstone.
There was also a bust of her in downtown that we had to stop at and see.
It was the perfect ending to the trip. We had such an incredible time. Nothing better than 9 days of uninterrupted time with your family. Traveling and escaping from every day life. We are already planning our next trip!
Overall we visited 8 different states.
Arkansas
Tennessee
Kentucky
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Oklahoma
No comments:
Post a Comment