Vacations…defined

It began like any other day…not!  We left early (according to Jessica) at 6:00 a.m. Grandpa Knight drove us to the Airport, then we flew into St. Louis, rented a car (Jessica wanted the red PT cruiser… Arlon wanted more leg room, dad paid the bill so Black Ford Fusion it was!

With a little help from “Maggie” our trusty GPS…we arrived downtown St. Louis just in time for the St. Patty's day parade.  As we walked down the slightly drizzly, breezy, sidewalk…I had just a small thought of the beautiful 78 degree weather we had left at home.  But the hot dog w/sauerkraut, and the view of the Arch, gave me the shot of adrenaline I needed to begin our adventure!  (all the naked statues didn’t hurt the mood either :)

Jessica posed for pictures pretty well…at least for the first 20 or so,

after that we got a little…

Attitude!

We headed across the street to see the St. Louis Arch, The tram was filled for the day so we bought tickets for the next day then perused the Museum.  Jessica got to meet up with her old friend from a student essay, Grover Cleveland.  She wouldn’t bust out the Grover Cleveland song from “The All American Genuine Family Band” though…missed Summer just a little bit, she wouldn’t have hesitated!

Arlon was totally into the structure of the Arch…

being a welder and all, it was a great tribute to his profession!

Jessica, very impressive…

a buffalo picture for Ron! Dad just keeps getting happier…Jessica lovin it…sorta.

Checking out the baseballs at the “ All American Legion” display…do you think Jessica will look back at this trip someday and think…boy that was fun!

We piled back into the car and went to check into the hotel.  Jessica was down for the count,

until I suggested checking out a local mall then eating dinner.

The mall was pretty much deserted and creepy! Alot of empty stores… and the ones that were open…scary, but it was a mall and Jessica got to ride the magic school bus and a pink motorcycle…what more could a girl want….lol! But dinner made up for the mall.  We had decided no chain restaurants, only local eateries…so we went to…

Mainly because Jessica like the small sign underneath…we made laughed about it enough, the food would have had to be really bad to ruin dinner…but fortunately, it was very good!

YUM! So far so good…and day one ends!