By double arches, I don't mean this:
I mean seeing this twice:
St. Louis is one of the relatively few places I've been to more than once. On one of my families cross country road trips we stopped in St. Louis and I remember getting out and walking around the Arch. When Amber and I stopped there on our road trip it was really fun to see a familiar thing.
St. Louis is one of the relatively few places I've been to more than once. On one of my families cross country road trips we stopped in St. Louis and I remember getting out and walking around the Arch. When Amber and I stopped there on our road trip it was really fun to see a familiar thing.
Our plan for St. Louis was to stay with Amber's cousins. It
turns out they had some water damage in their kitchen and had to do some
unexpected remodeling...so, they put us up in a hotel for the night. So we had dinner with the cousins, watch some of the Olympics, and got a good nights rest.
While I enjoyed St. Louis both times I was there, I have to say that my favorite Missouri memory is related to Branson, Missouri.
We stayed in a time share that was walking distance to Table Rock Lake. It is a GORGEOUS place!
I remember feeling so grown up because my parents entrusted me with helping my youngest brother and making sure he didn't slip and fall on the slippery rocks on the lake bed.
The best part was that my parents found out that the local amusement park, Silver Dollar City, had this great deal. If you go after 4:30pm on one day, you get back in the second day for free! It was perfect. My parents dropped the three older kids off (approximately 12, 9, and 7) and we rode as many rides as we could so we'd know the best ones to repeat the next day.
The worst part is that I wore shoes that ended up giving me a blister - between going on lots of wet rides, and walking back to the time share, I didn't stand a chance. Luckily, there were no rides that required close toed shoes, so for day 2 I just put on flip flops and stuck bandaids over my blisters and we were smooth sailing! (the bandaids ended up being a BAD idea...but that is a sad story involving swimming in the lake later in the day with the bandaids still on, and seeing really cool silver, spiny fish using goggles, and getting back really late and not thinking about taking the bandaids off after the quick shower - so, I ended up with infected blisters. Sad, very painful few days followed - but back to happier things!).
Our favorite ride, hands down, was Wildfire - an awesome roller coaster that the Silver Dollar City website describes like this:
Our parents always gave us a roll of quarters that we could spend on trips like this. Our money to do whatever we wanted with (and a great way for them to not have to buy us souvenirs - they would say "if you still have money, go ahead!"). We pooled some of our quarters to try our first funnel cake. Yum!
Between the increased trust and freedom of having some adventures just us kids and the actual events - all day amusement park sandwiched with lake swimming - I look back at Branson as one of my fondest family trip memories.
And, we topped it all off by seeing the the Dutton Family perform. My dad bought a CD from them, and I always wish it was mine...
While I enjoyed St. Louis both times I was there, I have to say that my favorite Missouri memory is related to Branson, Missouri.
We stayed in a time share that was walking distance to Table Rock Lake. It is a GORGEOUS place!
I remember feeling so grown up because my parents entrusted me with helping my youngest brother and making sure he didn't slip and fall on the slippery rocks on the lake bed.
The best part was that my parents found out that the local amusement park, Silver Dollar City, had this great deal. If you go after 4:30pm on one day, you get back in the second day for free! It was perfect. My parents dropped the three older kids off (approximately 12, 9, and 7) and we rode as many rides as we could so we'd know the best ones to repeat the next day.
The worst part is that I wore shoes that ended up giving me a blister - between going on lots of wet rides, and walking back to the time share, I didn't stand a chance. Luckily, there were no rides that required close toed shoes, so for day 2 I just put on flip flops and stuck bandaids over my blisters and we were smooth sailing! (the bandaids ended up being a BAD idea...but that is a sad story involving swimming in the lake later in the day with the bandaids still on, and seeing really cool silver, spiny fish using goggles, and getting back really late and not thinking about taking the bandaids off after the quick shower - so, I ended up with infected blisters. Sad, very painful few days followed - but back to happier things!).
Our favorite ride, hands down, was Wildfire - an awesome roller coaster that the Silver Dollar City website describes like this:
Silver Dollar City's WildFire®, the high-flying, multi-looping, cobra-rolling coaster that travels up to speeds of 66 mphWe rode it again, and again. Often multiple times in a row. Not only was it fun - the view was great:
Our parents always gave us a roll of quarters that we could spend on trips like this. Our money to do whatever we wanted with (and a great way for them to not have to buy us souvenirs - they would say "if you still have money, go ahead!"). We pooled some of our quarters to try our first funnel cake. Yum!
Between the increased trust and freedom of having some adventures just us kids and the actual events - all day amusement park sandwiched with lake swimming - I look back at Branson as one of my fondest family trip memories.
And, we topped it all off by seeing the the Dutton Family perform. My dad bought a CD from them, and I always wish it was mine...
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