Monthly Archives: June 2021
City Museum Of St. Louis . . .
About 9am a whole bunch of us headed over to St. Louis to visit the City Museum of St. Louis. And by ‘whole bunch’, I mean 18 of us in 3 different vehicles. We’d bought our tickets online a month or so ago, since you have to buy them for a certain entrance time, in our case 11am.
The word ‘Museum’ in the name is kind of a misnomer. Rather than a museum in the conventional sense, it’s more of an eclectic collection of random items, ranging from firetrucks, Ferris Wheels, a 24-foot metal praying mantis, two Sabreliner 40 jets, a school bus that hangs over the side of the building, all connected together by caves, tunnels, aerial walkways, giant crawl-through Slinkies, ladders, and pretty much anything you can imagine. And 3 or 4 different slides, including one 10 story one going from the top floor to the basement.
Oh, and a log cabin that belonged to the son of Daniel Boone.
And right in the middle, on the 5th floor, are condos selling for over $600,000.
One of the things you notice immediately when you enter the building, are all the beautiful mosaic floors, all with animal themes.
And they seamlessly ‘flow’ from one room to the next.
In fact animals are a main feature of the place, from elephants on the roof,
to their distant Mammoth cousins.
That’s about it for today. It’s late and I’m tired, but there’s a lot more, so I’ll pick up where I left off tomorrow.
But a final shot of all the kids with us today.
And yes, I did have to swap some heads.
Thought For The Day:
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.” George Carlin
Family Traditions . . .
I’ll catch up on yesterday’s long, rainy trip later, but I don’t want to fall behind keeping up with what’s going on now.
We all headed out for breakfast about 9am to the local Denny’s in Vandalia, IL, which is actually part of the Pilot Truck Stop here.
“We all” consisted of Jan and I, Jan’s sister Debbie and her husband Jim,
and Tana and Gwen, Debbie’s daughter and granddaughter.
Gwen just graduated from high school a few months ago, and is already in college, majoring in psychology, taking after her 2nd cousin, Miss Piper.
Then it was on over to Rural King and WalMart for some shopping. Rural King is kind of a cross between Tractor Supply, WalMart, and a local feed store, and sell pretty much anything farm related, from farm equipment to bales of hay, to baby chicks and rabbits. And of course, boots, overalls, and hats.
And a lot of fun to wander through.
Then it was on over to WalMart to stock up on food and supplies for the total of 15 people that will be descending on here this afternoon, including Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, who will be arriving later this afternoon,
Debbie and Jim have about 10 acres out here in the country south of Vandalia, and Debbie’s green thumb is evident everywhere you look.
Off to the right is a large pond with fish and turtles for the kids to feed.
This is Trudy’s Garden.
It’s dedicated to Trudy Underwood, Debbie and Jan’s mother.
And these are two shots of the front of the house.
I once told Jan that the reason she doesn’t have a green thumb, and has been known to even kill plastic plants, is that Debbie ended up with both her share AND Jan’s.
And it shows.
Later, after a great dinner, all the kids and grandkids played games at the table.
Mister Landon, being out numbered by the girls 7 to 1, wisely observed from the side. At least at first, But was soon in the middle of things.
More tomorrow from the City Museum in St Louis.
Thought For The Day:
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, AND wrong.” – H. L. Mencken
