Jeffrey has been giving me grief for years about not going to visit him when he lived in Pittsburgh, so we finally made a plan to visit him in Indiana. It's a 13 hour drive, so we decided to break it up into two days and do a little sight-seeing along the way.
Our first stop was Saint Charles, Missouri. We walked Main Street, ate dinner at Salt and Smoke, enjoyed ice cream on a bench outside Riverside Sweets, and checked out the Lewis and Clark statue on our walk along the Mississippi River. I loved all the historic buildings!
Even the bathroom was cool, haha. You can even spy Colby's shoes under one of the stalls :)
First day of our road trip was complete! The kids were awesome little travelers and we finished our 39 Clues book series.
We started the next day at the Saint Louis Zoo and fell in love with the penguins. We found out that the zoo and all the museums in Forest Park were free, so we were determined to make the most it it!
As I took the final picture in the penguin house, a penguin dove in and splashed the fam, haha.
The zoo was on the smaller side, which meant smaller enclosures and more opportunities to see the animals up close. (Good for us, probably not so much for the animals.)
Since Kevin rarely goes to the zoo with us, the kids wanted to take a pic of him on the gorilla. He didn't want to climb on it, but the kids loved the pic anyways!
Some nice older gentleman insisted that I get in the picture as well, but he didn't notice the giant sun glare through the whole thing.
The beautiful Museum of Art. This was a first for Brooke and Colby and it was fun to show them works by artists they've actually studied in school (Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet). They were also intrigued by all the Egyptian artifacts and the gold and silver platters and ornate objects.
We didn't walk over to this giant statue, but it was standing tall outside the Museum of Art.
Then it was off to the Cardinals Game. The stadium was in the middle of downtown and you could see the beautiful St. Louis arch in the background.
We were dripping sweat the entire game, which made us really appreciate the Ranger's new stadium. I much prefer to watch baseball with a little AC!! All was well, until we realized that Brooke didn't have her watch. I quickly tracked it, and it showed that it was still in our hotel room, about 30 minutes from where we were. We had already checked out and needed to go in the opposite direction after the game, but after calling the hotel and confirming that it was still there, we changed plans and went back to retrieve it. I was the one that unplugged the charger from off the nightstand, but somehow her watch fell behind and nobody noticed. I gave Brooke a hard time that she didn't think to look for her watch when I handed her the charger, but it's fine and the lesson was learned.
We showed up to Jeffrey's house a little later than we planned due to our detour, but the cutest sign was waiting for us on the bathroom counter.
On Monday, we headed to Indiana University to tour the campus where Jeffrey teaches. It was a hot day, but the campus was gorgeous and I loved all the architecture. The kids loved the lounge on the seventh floor of his building so they could play. Uncle Jeffrey is definitely a fun uncle and entertained all of Colby's requests for a competition.
The grounds were stunning and it was really fun to see my little brother in his element. I'm super proud of him and all that he has accomplished. He didn't love his time at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (maybe partially due to Covid and all the travel restrictions), but he has really enjoyed this position at Indiana University, so I imagine he will stay put for a while.
My kids are used to taking "cousin pics", so we had to take a few with Ellie and Owen.
After the tour, we ate at BuffaLouie's (on campus), then enjoyed the afternoon/evening at their house. It even cooled off enough for the adults to enjoy a few rounds of croquet in the backyard.
On Tuesday, we went kayaking on Monroe Lake. It started out well, but became pretty difficult when we left the lagoon area where we had stopped to relax and let the kids play. Brooke and Colby determined that they wanted to be in a kayak together, but as we left the protection of the lagoon, the wind was whipping and we literally had 2 foot swells to kayak through. Let's just say that the difficulty of the task was too much and we had to go back to one kid/one adult per kayak.
We didn't bring phones on the journey, so I had to get a few more pictures before we went on our adventure.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Brooke because she was SO excited to start our adventure.
Much to Jeffrey's distain, I made everyone wait at the end while I retrieved my phone for an "After" pic! I wanted documentation that we survived that epic wind. I was the only one that tipped out of the kayak, and it happened in the calm lagoon because Colby tried to climb in and tipped the thing over. Go figure, haha.
We went hiking in the Deem Wilderness on Wednesday. Our loop was supposed to be 4.3 miles, but we somehow added an extra mile in there for good measure. We couldn't find the caves and the kids were wanting to give up, but we eventually found them and we all agreed that it was worth the extra effort.
The kids also came home with the coolest geodes and we only had a few ticks!
As we struggled near the end of the hike, we started talking about how we had earned ourselves a treat and Scoops did not disappoint! It wasn't quite as good as Bruesters, which we had after Tuesday's adventure, but a cold treat is always a good move.
On Thursday, we drove 2.5 hours to Cincinnati to check our King's Island (a theme park). It honestly felt like a Disney property with the beautiful landscaping and buildings and it was just SO clean!
The scariest ride was probably the Drop Tower, which takes you 315 feet in the air and keeps you there for what felt like an eternity! I've done rides like this in the past, but this was definitely the tallest and I was having to consciously remind myself to breath so I didn't freak out. But the view from up there was pretty incredible. It was green for as far as the eye could see!!
The kids LOVED this water ride! Madi and I rode it with them the first time and we didn't get too wet on the drop, but as we rounded the corner to head back, a huge geyser sprayed near the back of the boat. I screamed, and when another one sprayed right behind me, I jumped up and tried to move to the other side of the boat. The worker quickly said, "Please stay seated while the ride is in motion" over the loudspeaker and Madi and I were hysterically laughing. The kids didn't let me hear the end of that one!!
We rode Orion, one of only seven giga coasters in the world. Apparently there's a class of roller coasters having a height or drop of 300-399 feet, and this one was 300 feet! A group of us planned on riding it earlier in the day, but Brooke opted out and didn't want to wait alone, so I stayed back with her. (A very sore subject! She was excited to ride it, but as we waited in line, she changed her mind. I was trying to assure her that she could do it, but she became kind of feisty and was speaking very rudely to me. Looking back, I know her behavior was coming from a place of fear, but it made it hard for me to be patient with her.) I really wanted to ride it, so I was grateful that she had the courage to try it later so that I could go as well!!
The drop didn't feel as scary as I thought it would, but it was SO fast! Like 91 mph fast. My eyes were definitely watering by the time I walked off of that ride.
We happened upon a cool trick show (Trailblazers X-theme), headed to Camp Snoopy (and took a pic in honor or Ms. Batie who loves Snoopy), visited a candy shop, then tried to squeeze in a few more rides before the park closed down.
The Banshee had been closed all morning, opened with a crazy long wait time, closed again, and opened just in time for us to ride it. It was SO fun and definitely a highlight. We rode it twice as a group, and the kids ran back to ride it a third time together :) As we walked out of the park, we saw the fireworks and light show, then started our 2.5 hour drive back home. It was a full day and we were exhausted by 1:30 AM, but definitely a fun day as a family.
We all slept in to recover from our late night, then Colby convinced me to let him eat some of his giant (and overpriced) gummy snake from King's Island.
The rest of the day was spent playing hot wheels, trying to play with Buster (who was exhausted from doggy daycare), and playing games.
I am not a big fan of dogs, but it was kind of ironic because Buster really liked me and would lay by me on the couch. I teased Jeffrey that Buster was picking me over him :)
Auntie Madi taught us how to make sushi, which the kids loved. Well, they loved the process, they didn't actually like eating it, haha.
That night, I learned how to play pickleball and although I was pretty terrible at the beginning (my tennis instincts weren't helping), I eventually improved. Such a fun way to end our time with the Clarks!
I have always wanted to go to Nashville, so we decided to head home through Tennessee. Our first stop was Broadway Street and I loved the vibe.
We waited in line for 40 minutes to dine at the Pancake Pantry and it was 100% worth the hype. I usually opt for a savory breakfast, but I figured I should go with a signature dish and the french toast was delish!
Colby wasn't super hungry, so he ordered the "chocolate chip bears" off the kids menu. Well, they also brought him the stack of pancakes that they cut the bears from, haha, so it was a lot.
My stomach was instantly sick after we left the restaurant, probably from over-eating, so I had to make a pit stop into a bar to use the restroom. I felt SO sick, but I eventually met up with the family. Within a few minutes, Colby had to use the bathroom as well, so it was a whole ordeal. But I loved walking into the shops and I especially loved all the country tees. I was also tempted to buy another pair of boots, but I refrained :)
We saw the cutest truck on the way back to the parking garage...
Next stop: the Nashville Parthenon. I knew it was a 1:1 replica of the one in Greece, but since I've never been to Greece, I wasn't prepared for the beauty or size of this structure! We enjoyed the audio tour outside, then went inside the museum to see the giant Athena. It looked nothing like the one in the Percy Jackson movie (since apparently they filmed that offsite), but it was cool nonetheless.
When we walked out 40 minutes later, it was dumping rain and we were soaked for our 3 hour drive to Memphis. The kids were exhausted the next morning...
We walked Beale Street on Sunday before driving home and although it was early in the day, it definitely lacked the vibe that Nashville's Broadway Street had. But we tried the pulled pork from The Pig (a recommendation from Kevin's boss, Craig), so mission accomplished.
We walked into a few shops, but Kevin and I were eager to start the drive back home.
As we were driving out of town, we spotted the coolest looking Bass Pro Shop I have ever seen. It looked like a giant glass pyramid, so we decided to stop and check it out. How often do you see a giant pyramid store?? They had some pretty cool fish inside the ponds as well.
It was such a fun roadtrip and I absolutely loved experiencing new places as a family. I also really enjoyed the time we spent with Jeffrey, Madi, Ellie, and Owen. I wish we lived closer to them so we could make regular memories together, but I'm grateful for ones we DID make.
