Year Four - Days Forty-Five and Forty-Six - Home!

Summer’s View

Driving day today to head south – glad to be a couch potato today, as we are all sore from yesterday  - LOL! We made it to Cordele, GA to spend the night at a KOA. Tomorrow we are hoping to make it all the way home! Yay!

Last day - We made it home! Yay! Sam was super excited and we were all looking at what had changed since we last drove through town!

Thank you all for joining us on our trip this year! We could feel you with us in spirit and it helped us enjoy ourselves! Until next year, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! :)

 

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Forty-Four

Summer’s View

Today was the day for the ropes course adventure and zip lines. Sam is just under the age limit for the full course, so we did the junior course, which is actually just the first two of four different levels of the ropes course.

Three hours later, all I can say is, thank goodness we didn’t try to do the whole thing! J Whew! This thing was CHALLENGING! There were a couple of the areas where I could barely reach the ropes and wires, so Sam was amazing that he did it! Wow! Now, I am pumped and ready to get better at it for next year! J

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Forty-Three

Summer’s View

Sam and I went to the Science Center today for a day of fun and learning. This place was pretty big, and Sam had a blast! There was a colossal playground/climbing gym that just kept going up – it peaked at a point that actually went through the roof for a view of the city and river from up above, about six stories up! Needless to say, we closed the place down, and Sam wore himself out! J

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Forty-Two

Summer's View

Driving day today – we are heading further south! We made it to Nashville, TN for a couple of days of play. We are staying at a campground that has a huge waterpark and even bigger outdoor ropes course and zip line area. The waterpark is closed for the winter, but the ropes course is open on weekends, so we will check it out on Saturday.

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Forty-One

Summer’s View

Sam and I went to the St. Louis Zoo today, as the weather is supposed to clear up and stop raining, finally! It was still chilly, and the sun never did show, but we had a great zoo day! This zoo is really big, and we barely made it through before they kicked us out to close at 5:00 pm!

We managed to find a few new animals and insects we had never seen before, and we had fun watching the baby elephant steal hay from the larger elephants. J There was a pair of lions, and it must be mating season for them, because the male lion went on a roaring fit every few minutes. We finally caught him in action once, and he was too funny! After roaring for a while (and you can hear their roar up to five miles away) he flopped over on his side like he was exhausted! LOL

 

Year Four - Day One Hundred and Forty

Summer’s View

We went to see the famous St. Louis Arch today – woo hoo! Sam is excited to ride to the top and look out!  Another cold and rainy day, with lots of construction downtown around the Arch, so it was a bit of a challenge to find a place to park and walk over to it.

We watched the cool movie that showed the construction of the arch in the early 1960’s – what an engineering feat!  Afterwards we toured the Museum of Westward Expansion which chronicled the Lewis and Clark Expedition, among other things. 

 

Then, the ride up! They were not kidding around when they asked if anyone was claustrophobic at the ticket counter! The trip up takes four minutes and five people sit inside a barrel shaped pod (barely fitting inside).  Yikes!

The view from up above was spectacular, and we could feel the structure swaying a little – a lot like being on a cruise ship in choppy waters. The ride back down was only 3 ½ minutes, and a little less stuffy feeling since there were only three of us in the “pod.” J

 

Afterward, we stopped for some food and brews at the stadium and watched the Cardinals play the Giants (on the big screen).  We left when they ended the ninth inning in a tie, but heard later that the Giants won.

We then went to the Lemp Mansion to check out some ghostly activities, and found they were giving a tour with real ghost hunters and infrared cameras we could all film with, so we were in! Sam was super excited! We had just seen a Ghost Adventures episode a few days earlier where they had explored the Lemp Mansion. It is listed as one of the 10 most haunted places in the U.S.

Our tour was cool, and Sam and I bought copies of our recordings so we can review them at length to look for paranormal activity. He was really into it, having his own EVP sessions and asking the tour guide questions. Even the tour guide made a comment about what a great little ghost hunter he was! J

Year Four - Days One Hundred and Thirty-Eight and One Hundred and Thirty-Nine

Summer’s View

We headed south, going around through Escanaba and down through WI.  After two driving days, we are in St. Louis, MO for a couple of days of sightseeing. As usual, it is cold and rainy. We actually drove through some pretty strong storms today. KOA for the next couple of days just west of St. Louis.