Friday morning, Sister Ruth Ellis sent us this musical message--and since we were literally heading to St. Louis to meet them and Elder and Sister Cook--it was a perfect "sound bite" for our trip. Even Jena recognized the tune and sang along with us.
The Cooks are serving in Rolla, MO, and are part of the St. Louis Temple district, not the Bentonville one, so we decided it would be fun to join them for a session in the St. Lewis Temple. St. Louis is only about 90 miles from Rolla. Ellises love road trips as well so we all made a plan to gather on Friday at the famous Gateway Arch and then attend the temple on Saturday morning and head back home. It was a lot of driving, but a wonderful get-a-way with some great senior missionaries and now friends forever.
We actually taught Institute in Clarksville Thursday night, then inspected the Clarksville missionaries' apartment, and THEN headed east to Searcy, AR, (about 2 hours) to get a head start on our drive to St. Louis. We got to bed just after 11:00 pm and then up again at 6:00 am to get breakfast and get on the road.
Our lunch stop at a Dairy Queen....
When you are on a road trip, it is always fun to start seeing signs with your destination on them.
Some of our first views of the Gateway Arch....
You can see that it started to rain as we got into downtown St. Louis and it rained most of the afternoon. Thank heavens for good umbrellas.
We had reserved parking at the Stadium East parking--which is right next to the baseball field for the St. Louis Cardinals (before our trip, I looked to see if they played in town that weekend, but no luck. They were out east somewhere.) We arrived a bit early and to avoid paying $6 more dollars for early entry, we drove around a bit....
So we got to enjoy some of the St. Louis Cardinal things around downtown...
And then we missed a turn or at least went into parts of the town that we probably should have avoided, but we got some fun pictures.....
A train bridge crossing the Mississippi River to Illinois...
The original "mural" art.....
The trestle for the train.....
At least we aren't too lost since the arch is just north of us now....
My camera decided to focus on the rain rather than the old Cathedral which stands near Gateway National Park....cool effect....
After we parked our car on the 8th floor of the parking garage, we got this amazing view of the ball park. Now I am not a big fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and I only watch baseball games in October during the playoffs--and usually just the last few innings of close games---BUT baseball and baseball stadiums remind me of my dad--and the fortunate few times that we were able to attend a baseball game in San Francisco where the SF Giants played and the many many times, we watched my dad play and coach in Church softball leagues growing up in Richland, Washington--those memories and others flooded me as I grazed into this beautiful field. Hot dogs, root beer and baseball--I wonder if my dad knows how much I loved those memories!
Sign on the wall.....
We met Ellises and Cooks at a street corner and walked through the rain down to the park....
I have only been to St. Louis once before and that was for a Club House Conference with Davis Behavioral Health--so while we did eat in a couple of fun restaurants, we didn't do any sightseeing or even go downtown. It was fun to see the mixture of the French, Native American, Spanish, and English of the down town and surrounding areas--a true melting pot.
On my first trip, we did see the arch while crossing to our hotel--but I didn't really know much about it until preparing and then going to the Gateway Arch National Park. If you are interested in pioneers and the settling of the west, the museum here is amazing!
As we walked through the security area, it opened into an area with these large screens and right as we entered they were filled with pictures of pioneers in wagons and handcarts going through the prairies. It felt like trek right in front of us. It very well could have been photos and clips from the Church.
Gary and Jena tried out one of the picture spot--a canoe.
The displays included this one with an original Book of Mormon (1840 edition) and some other items from the Mormon Trail. All of the displays related to the "Mormon" pioneers and their trek west were very well done and historically correct.
We bought the combo pass which allow us into the museum, to a movie about the making of the Arch and a ride up the inside of the arch itself. Although I had read some descriptions about the ride, it was much smoother than I could have imagined. I can't fathom how someone could think this system up and then make it actually work. You could see as you rode up and down into the insides of the arch and it was amazing to see the stairs (1076 of them, I think.)
At the top there are 16 windows which allow a view of downtown St. Louis on one side
and the Mississippi River and some bridges on the other side....that is one muddy river.
Sister Ellis shared these photos she took---
You have to go down the direction that you came up...you have about 10 minutes at the top for viewing.
We then headed to lunch at a quaint St. Louis restaurant (which name I nor Gary can remember) for dinner. We sat on the second floor of this very old building and felt like we were really in St. Louis. The food was excellent and the service was as well. It was a great evening with
Jena....
And The Cooks....
and the Ellises....
You should all meet them. They are the best!
Ended Day One in the pretty Clayton Plaza Hotel in downtown Clayton--part of the St. Louis metroplex.
And The Cooks....
and the Ellises....
You should all meet them. They are the best!
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