Day three,

Day 3 began with the quest for the mythical IHOP. We had a GPS system that directed us to the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we drove around for a while, consulting the GPS and Google and finally ended up eating at Denny's. Across the street from our hotel.

The food at Dennys was excellent and this was the only place on our trip that had paper towels in the bathroom. I hate those hand blow dryers so I spend a lot of time walking around letting my hands drip dry, but not at Dennys! I was having a biscuits and gravy craving this vacation so I ordered that every single morning. I was also having a Krispy Kreme craving, but was not able to indulge that one. It’s probably a good thing.



Then we went to Cahokia Mounds. Apparently the St Louis area was once the site of an ancient civilization called the Mississippian culture and they were mound builders. This is the huge Monk’s Mound. We climbed up it. I think it was 156 steps? I lost count but that is what my daughter said. A little later, we passed the St Louis landfill. Apparently we come from a mound building society too.

After the Cahokia mounds we went to the City Museum. This museum is essentially a huge playground and is unlike anything else we’ve ever seen. Pictures cannot do this giant 4 story play structure justice. There are 2 airplane fuselages, a castle turret, giant slinkies to climb in and tubes and slides everywhere. It’s fun, but a bit stressful for the parents who’d like to keep their kids in sight, because there are nooks and crannies all over the place that a lot of parents cannot fit in and the kids will be out of sight at times. It was totally wild. The kids absolutely loved it, every one of them, from 21 months to 16. I even climbed through a few tubes and slid down a few slides myself which may be why one of my knees feels a little stiff this morning . . .


Before we went, I packed some games and things to amuse us during the down times and the driving and we enjoyed all of these. We played Taboo, Mad Libs and Zeus on the Loose. We listened to Hank the Cowdog and Ray Stevens on CD. We also learned to play a game I’ve had for about 6 months but hadn’t played. It’s called Fluxx and the rules are very, very weird and change constantly. There are 23 different ways to win. The kids and I couldn’t figure it out on our own, so I took it along on this trip hoping my brothers-in-law, sister-in-law and husband could figure it out and they did. We had a lot of fun with it. Our other fun things were getting in the hotel pool each night, and watching my adorable 21 month old nephew just being his cute self.