St. Louis Vacation Day 1: Travel & Arrival Day.
Well, after weeks of planning, Vacation 2024 has begun. I spent all day yesterday running errands to get ready for it: cleaning out my car, buying snack food, air fresheners for my car, battery cables, and even a new battery. That last one was pricey and wasn't quite on my list, but my old battery was +4 years old, and I just didn't want to risk it dying on this long trip.
Saying goodbye to the cats was hard, especially Pippa. I think Mayim and Esme will be just fine without us, but I'm worried that Pippa will be freaked out. She was completely feral not that long ago, and she was never really socialized, so I doubt she's going to interact with the cat-sitters like Esme will. But I'm hoping that if she sees Esme do it often enough, she might eventually copy her. Fingers crossed.
I reinflated my tires and topped off my coolant in the driveway early this morning, just before we left, and we almost loaded up the car in the driveway, too. Then Sara reminded me of how paranoid I am about not letting anyone know that we're leaving, and I drove back into the garage just to load up. The drive up was very long but it was all smooth. I'd printed out directions and studied them pretty closely. The Texas part of it was through an area that's really economically depressed. There were a lot of small, flat towns full of derelict houses and boarded-up businesses surrounded by fields of different crops. We pulled off, bought gas, used the restroom, and switched drivers in a town at about the halfway point, and after that, the views became really pretty and hilly. Sara and I both packed USB drives full of lots of Indigo Girls songs and other music, and she spent a lot of time trying to teach me to tell Amy and Emily's voices apart.
We finally arrived in St. Louis with no problems, and right at our hotel's check-in time. Our hotel is in the downtown area and has really great views of the Arch and the Wheel at Union Station (we plan to visit both). Our hotel also has an indoor swimming pool, and I can't tell you how stupid I felt when I realized that I forgot to pack a swimsuit! At least I didn't forget something else more important.
We walked to Tootie's on Washington Avenue for lunch, and then Sara booked us tickets to an evening laser light show of Prince songs at the planetarium in Forest Park. We didn't really have anything on the itinerary for today, since we weren't sure exactly how long the drive would take. Forest Park is a really beautiful park not far from our hotel, and it was really pretty in the perfect, cool evening weather. We walked around a little bit before the show started (and we'll visit again later). The planetarium was pretty cool, too. We all leaned back in reclining chairs and looked up at the ceiling, where they projected giant images in different neon colors in time to Prince's hits. They have shows for some artists that I like better (like The Beatles and Taylor Swift), but I like Prince, too, and this was the only show that wasn't sold out.
I drove to Forest Park via the Interstate, but I drove back via the street so I could run into a Target and buy some swimming clothes (and I almost killed ran over some pedestrians in the Target parking lot). St. Louis public schools start again next week, and the back-to-school season wasn't the best time to go shopping for a swimsuit, but I did find something. We drove through a really nice urban neighborhood called The Grove that had lots of murals and beautiful old buildings.
Saying goodbye to the cats was hard, especially Pippa. I think Mayim and Esme will be just fine without us, but I'm worried that Pippa will be freaked out. She was completely feral not that long ago, and she was never really socialized, so I doubt she's going to interact with the cat-sitters like Esme will. But I'm hoping that if she sees Esme do it often enough, she might eventually copy her. Fingers crossed.
I reinflated my tires and topped off my coolant in the driveway early this morning, just before we left, and we almost loaded up the car in the driveway, too. Then Sara reminded me of how paranoid I am about not letting anyone know that we're leaving, and I drove back into the garage just to load up. The drive up was very long but it was all smooth. I'd printed out directions and studied them pretty closely. The Texas part of it was through an area that's really economically depressed. There were a lot of small, flat towns full of derelict houses and boarded-up businesses surrounded by fields of different crops. We pulled off, bought gas, used the restroom, and switched drivers in a town at about the halfway point, and after that, the views became really pretty and hilly. Sara and I both packed USB drives full of lots of Indigo Girls songs and other music, and she spent a lot of time trying to teach me to tell Amy and Emily's voices apart.
We finally arrived in St. Louis with no problems, and right at our hotel's check-in time. Our hotel is in the downtown area and has really great views of the Arch and the Wheel at Union Station (we plan to visit both). Our hotel also has an indoor swimming pool, and I can't tell you how stupid I felt when I realized that I forgot to pack a swimsuit! At least I didn't forget something else more important.
We walked to Tootie's on Washington Avenue for lunch, and then Sara booked us tickets to an evening laser light show of Prince songs at the planetarium in Forest Park. We didn't really have anything on the itinerary for today, since we weren't sure exactly how long the drive would take. Forest Park is a really beautiful park not far from our hotel, and it was really pretty in the perfect, cool evening weather. We walked around a little bit before the show started (and we'll visit again later). The planetarium was pretty cool, too. We all leaned back in reclining chairs and looked up at the ceiling, where they projected giant images in different neon colors in time to Prince's hits. They have shows for some artists that I like better (like The Beatles and Taylor Swift), but I like Prince, too, and this was the only show that wasn't sold out.
I drove to Forest Park via the Interstate, but I drove back via the street so I could run into a Target and buy some swimming clothes (and I almost killed ran over some pedestrians in the Target parking lot). St. Louis public schools start again next week, and the back-to-school season wasn't the best time to go shopping for a swimsuit, but I did find something. We drove through a really nice urban neighborhood called The Grove that had lots of murals and beautiful old buildings.