Joe and one of his cousins organized a gathering of relatives that we haven't seen for a few years. Bill B. and his wife Patti, with their grandson Landon, were there- we had gone to Boettler park
and then to dinner the night before with them, too. Bill is one the friends of Joe has had the longest- we try to visit with them every time we get to Ohio. (Bill, Cory, Koen and Joe attempted to play disc golf at Boettler Park. Apparently, the path is merely a mowed area in a bunch of bushes. Bill ran into a web that stopped him and Joe took a photo of the lovely, LARGE, yellow and black spider that had created it. Bill and Cory lost two of the discs; they played three holes and then the insect and arachnid population drove them out!)
There were lots of cousins, Joe's sister and other friends- it was a nice get together, even with the torrential downpour! There was a large porch that held many of the adults, some were in a covered patio area- while the kids were inside- some playing video games and others just playing. (I made a peach-blueberry crisp. Sadly, since the kids liked it, many of the adults didn't get to taste it! It was gone in a flash.)
Joe went golfing twice- once with a friend from High School and once with one of his cousins. He had fun- though he was less than pleased with his scores in the games. While he (and Cory) were out early golfing, I helped Kristen make some dinner recipes and freeze them. She is trying (practical girl that she is) to save money by having food in the freezer on late work nights- so they can just pop the meal into the oven and go. I hope it works for them.
I made my chicken enchiladas for dinner on Sunday evening (more left overs for them) which were a hit. I made a large pan- 20 enchiladas- and there were only 2 left at the end. Joe's nephew and his mom were over, so there were 8 of us eating- Kira and Koen each had 2 and a half!
We headed out on Monday morning- well, around 10:00 by the time we got gas- and made it, in spite of more crazy pouring rain, to Terre Haute by around 5:00.
There was plenty of time to hit the pool, cook up some hamburgers, roast some marshmallows, and send the kids to the showers. We were not overly inundated by mosquitoes there, for a change.
Tuesday, we were on the road by 9:00, including a stop for gas. We called ahead to be sure we could get into our campsite early (many places don't want to let you in before 2:00!) so we could get to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. We were on schedule to arrive at the camp site pretty early, so when I saw a sign about Lincoln history, we stopped in Vandalia, Illinois.
That was once the capital of Illinois- and important because it was the first place that Lincoln served in government. It was a pretty building- we saw where Lincoln served in the House-
and then walked down the street to a museum that has many Lincoln era items. It was a pretty cool hour.
We headed on to our stop in Granite City, Illinois- St. Louis was only around 10 miles south of our camp. We got the camper squared away and headed for town.
The arch could be seen for a few miles as we got close, and Kira started to panic a bit. It is HUGE!
I didn't realize how high it actually is- nor did I understand the actual process to get to the top. I have to say, for all of the readers of the Percy Jackson series, the author didn't have personal experience up there! :o)
It is an amazing piece of architecture- there is no other way to describe it. It looks a bit lame in photos, so I wasn't expecting to be so impressed- but it is impressive.
The tram that takes riders to the top has 8 cars. There are seats for 5 in each car. It is less like an elevator and more like stairs in the process. It takes 4 minutes up and 3 minutes down- and you can stay in the viewing area at the top for as long as you want. Someone referred to the tram cars as marshmallows- and that description is relatively accurate. You climb through a small door- 4 feet tall by 20 inches wide- into the car and sit on seats in an area about 4 feet in diameter. Ducking is required! The climb, which is the part that Kira was freaking about, wasn't too bad (I didn't look out the little windows- no need to freak myself out!) and was as short as promised.
The viewing area was pretty small- and if you were so inclined, you could lean out over the stairs and see AAAALLLLL the way down to the bottom. I wasn't. :o) Kira was!
She loved it up there! She didn't relish the ride down, but she thought the top was great. Koen loved all of it.
I think Joe enjoyed it immensely, as well. I thought it was pretty cool, too. All in all, one of our better experiences this trip. (We stopped and picked up steak to grill for dinner. Sadly, there was no grill at our camp site, but they let us use one in the tent area. There were SO many mosquitoes- we toughed it out, including roasting marshmallows- but Joe was bitten on the face enough that it swelled up overnight. That part was NOT fun!)
We left Granite City early- before 9:00- and headed toward Abilene, KS. That was our almost-halfway to Denver stop. We found it- not a KOA this time- to be a bit buggy. Apparently, Missouri and Kansas have been pretty wet for a while, and the mosquitoes love it! We all have bites that itch like mad. Hoping that our stay in Denver will be mosquitoless!
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