St. Louis, Missouri

From Nauvoo we drove to St. Louis to visit Kyle and Dayna, straight into pouring, sheets of rain. We had planned on stopping to see the Gateway Arch, but we made a wrong turn, and ended up driving through the "ghetta" as Lander called it (the driving through the ghetto was by choice). The boys were totally mystified, wondering why there were block after block of boarded up windows, bars, and graffiti. It was totally beyond their comprehension. Once we got back on track we decided to bypass the stop at the Arch. The rain was falling in torrents so this was as close as we got. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to watch a movie about Lewis and Clark that they show there. Did you know that Lewis and Clark launched from St. Louis on their journey west? I thought it would be cool to see where they started and where they ended at the Pacific ocean (that will be for next year's spud harvest vacation). Oh well.

We had a wonderful time visiting Kyle and Dayna, and (of course) loved playing with the cousins. We crammed in a visit to Grant's Farm (originally owned by Ulysses S. Grant). Lander wanted to make sure that we posted some pictures of the animals that we saw on the free train ride through the park and a few other sites there.

Kyle, Kylie, Tre, Lander, Dixie and Jake 

We were surprised to learn that this deer is not an albino, because it does not have pink eyes. According to our guide, they are very rare, but we can't remember the name of them for the life of us!

Anheuser Busch sponsors the park. There is plenty of beer for the taking, for anyone interested. We decided to just pose by it instead of imbibing.