Meet Me In St. Louis

Go West, Man! This is the order to Merriweather Lewis as he set out to map the western territory as acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. So we set out, east in our case, to discover the city on the other side of Missouri. And it was quite a trek. These are the photos inside the tiny tram built for 5 on the way up to the top of the arch. It was a gloomy cold day, but views were still inspiring.

Here's Sydney looking for inspiration

Charlie & Logan have excellent seats to get a peek.

And here is the whole gang. "C'mon mom, it's waaay to cold out here to pose for pictures. Can we have lunch now?" It was seriously cold & they were great troopers. We walked the distance from the hotel to the Arch - it was probably 7 blocks. Then walked to our lunch & back to the hotel. This satisfied my craving for some real city dwelling. Who knew? Sophisticated St. Louis. (Don't tell them I said that - Kansas City is definitely a rival.) But seriously, they have the downtown thing figured out.

Listen up, KC, here's the formula:

1) offer fabulous accommodations & tons of it.

2) have large venues downtown that gather crowds aplenty.

4) line the blocks with clubs, restaurants, and shopping.

3) charge $20 a car for parking downtown.

4) offer all types of transport including bus, train, subway, & taxis on tight little schedules ready to serve.



How can this fail? It's impressive. This city really is sophisticated & it's all I want for our own downtown some day.

This is our schnazzy downtown hotel. Our room was on the 18th floor, the pool was on the 3rd. Don't be too impressed, we stayed free thanks to our Marriott points. It's great to have a family weekend getaway. When the weather improves, we're going back. Maybe next time on the train!