Domestic Adventures

Did you know that St.Louis is an absolutely gorgeous city? Well, I didn’t. We decided last-minute to spend the night in St.Louis on our way home from Topeka. The day was cool and beautiful and the trees were just glorious in all their autumn brilliance. The Gateway Arch is incredibly photogenic and and I have about a hundred photos to choose from, and while we did not take the tram to the top of the arch, there was still plenty to do. At the base of the span, stairs descend underground to the Museum of Westward Expansion as well as a giant IMAX theater playing a film about the explorations of Lewis and Clark. I could have spent hours just in the gift shop - so many great books! We also had the chance to take a one-hour cruise on the Mississippi River. We sat on the sunshiny top deck eating hotdogs and popcorn, listening to a history of the area.
We had only budgeted a half day for this adventure and I really wanted to spend more time there, but as Trent said, “if you leave a vacation feeling you’ve seen it all and done it all, then it probably wasn’t the best vacation.”

Time with our dear friends is so refreshing and encouraging. We had a wonderful week in Kansas. We kept busy going to the zoo, the library, a children’s science museum, art lessons, gymnastic lessons, kids club, ladies Bible study and more, but the real joy was just spending time with our friends. The kids played outside in the autumn coolness and the grown up sat indoors drinking coffee and chatting. We had lots of good meals togethers, read books, watched movies, and stayed up too late. All in all, a wonderful vacation. Thank you, Hope and David for a wonderful week, and a wonderful friendship!

When faced with driving twenty-something hours with two small children and an infant we decided we should build in at least a day-long break, so we drove as far as Chattanooga, Tennessee the first day.
There is definitely more than a day’s worth of exploring in Chattanooga. We chose to spend our time at Lookout Mountain. We first headed to Ruby Falls. To see the falls more than 1000 feet below the surface of Lookout Mountain, we took an elevator to a cave where our tour guide would lead us through about a half mile of winding caverns. It was during the elevator ride down that I began to doubt the wisdom of bringing Isaac along on this adventure. Will his ears pop? Will he start screaming at the top of his lungs? How loud do you think the echo of that cry will be inside the cave, and how long do you suppose this tour lasts? Oh well, I figured, too late now!
It turns out Isaac did just fine. In fact, he slept almost the whole time. We all enjoyed the caverns full of strange formations and of course the beautiful waterfall hidden deep underground.

The biggest hit of the day for the kids: mining for gems with sluice boxes after our Ruby Falls tour. They both came away with a handful of hard-earned treasures.

After seeing Ruby Falls, we visited Rock City and its absolutely gorgeous walkways twisting high and low, over and through enormous boulders. Mist from the rain still hung in the air making it all look sparkly and fresh. I loved the narrow paths that threaded between mossy walls of rock, and the views from look outs were amazing. We even all dared to cross the swinging bridge leading to a cliff top looking out over seven states. I really wish we had brought a real camera. The camera in my phone just doesn’t do it justice. This is definitely the kind of place that makes you wonder how anyone can think this creation came to be without a magnificent creator.

…but we wish we were! Those Halloween costumes were in part inspired by our recent trip to visit our dear friends in Kansas. Kansas is a long way from Olrando! We drove a total of 2600 miles through seven states, and though at first I cringed at the idea of driving, it was good to get a look at just a tiny portion of our beautiful country and the different landscapes between here and there.
Stories and pictures to come…