Saint Louis to Home

We left Denver and hustled to St. Louis.  We left Denver on Monday, President Obama came on Tuesday, and a snow storm on Wednesday.  We heard they were coming and we were out of there!



The first thing we noticed when we got to Saint Louis was a blimp.  What’s that blimp doing flying over St. Louis?


This is the St. Louis RV Park, just a big old paved lot in a great location,  walking distance to downtown.


We never heard of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.  Do you know what it is?


It’s the Saint Louis Arch and, again, I was dumb enough to follow Bob and up we went. 


They call these things pods and they stuff five people in this little pod for a trip up the Arch.  It’s a tight fit in there.  Tall people hunch over and large sized people have to suck it in!


We made it up and this is the view looking over Saint Louis from the top of the Arch.  I swear could feel it swaying, but Bob said it was imagination.


Here we are:  happy Bob and apprehensive Sue. 


Oh, that’s why the blimp is flying over Saint Louis.  The Cardinals were playing in the World Series.  It was hard to tell because they just don’t have the spirit Pittsburgh has.  If you were ever in Pittsburgh on game day when the Steelers, Pens, or even the Pirates are playing you know what I mean.  Pittsburgh fans are awesome, and you end up leaving town cheering for the home team, proudly wearing black and gold.  Go Steelers!!  I was also quite miffed because the Mighty Yankees were not playing in the World Series.


These steps lead to the top of the Arch.  When you get off the elevator you walk up (or down to get back in the pod).


This is a Saint Louis pizza.  We heard they were great and decided to try one.  The crust is as thin as a cracker, crispy, and the cheese is PROVEL, which is a combination of provolone and velveeta.  Yep, it tastes like it sounds.  It’s not my kind of pizza.  


See how thin the pizza is?  You have to eat it fast so the crust doesn’t get soggy.


After eating that huge pizza it was time to tour the Budweiser factory.  We were walking but we were offered a ride in this Chevy Cruz.  Chevrolet was giving free rides around town.


These are all the brands marketed by Budweiser.


The wagons were on prominent display.


So were the Clydesdales, and they certainly are some pampered horses.


Their straw was piled at least two feet deep, and this barn smelled good.  Honest!


Each horse has his (or her) own private stall with their name above the stall.


Now for the fun part of the tour, the beer making part!  Unfortunately my camera battery died and I couldn’t take a picture of my pumpkin beer at the end of the tour.


Of course we had to visit the sight of the Saint Louis Worlds Fair.  It’s now called Forest Park and has a Worlds Fair Museum, ball fields, a zoo, a lake for boating, at least two golf courses, and really nice running and biking trails.


This carriage was used to transport visitors to the Fair.


This is just a reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis, but they did have a large exhibit on Charles Lindbergh featuring his many awards and letters which was really interesting. 


A cute statue in  the park.


There were at least two wedding in Forest Park the day we were there.


This isn’t at the park, it’s inside Pappy’s Smokehouse.  The guy driving the Cruz told us the food here is much better than Saint Louis pizza.


Yum!  He was right!  The ribs had a dry rub and they served barbecue sauce (three kinds) on the side.  I think these were the best ribs I ever ate. If you ever go to Saint Louis go to Pappy’s Smokehouse.  You’ll be glad you did! 


Sigh, our last campground.  It’s home tomorrow.


We’re home again, and the camper is parked in our lane waiting for it’s next trip.  Actually we’ve been home for about a month but it’s taken this long for Bob to take the picture.  There’s no hurry anymore.  Retirement is sweet!

Colorado

It was hard to leave Moab, because there were so many things to do and see around there, but we’re anxious to get to Denver because we have something special to look forward to when we get there.


We spent a few days in Fruita, Colorado on our way to Denver and took a hike on the Trail Through Time, a trail with dinosaur fossils and a dinosaur dig area.


Bob is looking in the area that is a “dig” sight in the summer months.  When the people that dig here leave they cover the place with dirt so people like Bob don’t disturb their hard work.


Bob thinks this lizard is really cool.  I think it’s rather creepy.


The dark part in this photo is part of a dinosaur's rib cage.


After our day on the hot, dusty dinosaur trail we decided to do something a little refreshing, so we took our bikes and rode the wine trail!  Yes, free samples are given at EVERY WINERY!!


We bought a few bottles, and by the end of our day my basket was hanging way down.  It was really hard to ride in a straight line with all that wine in my basket! The vineyards were so pretty.


In this vineyard you had to walk through their barrels of wine to get to the tasting room.  It smelled so good!!


All the barrels were labeled, but no samples in this room.


We had our fill of wine and are now driving over the Rockies to get to Denver.  They had snow a few days before we drove here, but thankfully the roads were bare. 


This is very high, but not the highest Pass we crossed.  We forgot to take pictures of the other summit elevations.


We camped at the Cherry Creek Campground in Denver, and this is a photo of some of our neighbors.
 

Denver is not too far from Colorado Springs so we decided to check out the Olympic Training Center.


It was really nice, and they had a path with representations of all the sports in the Olympics.


The field hockey exhibit was especially nice.


Team USA practices here.  The gym was huge, and it was divided into basketball courts, volleyball courts, etc.


While our guide was explaining the different features of the gym I noticed inspirational messages from sports people on the walls of the gym.  They had a very nice quote from Joe Paterno, but I didn’t get a picture of it. 
  

The swimming pool was fantastic! 


This is the athlete’s dorm.


This is our big surprise!!!  Beth had to come to Denver for business and she came a few days early so she could spend time with us. 


No medals, but we tried the medal stand out anyway.


We went past the field hockey exhibit again and checked it out more carefully.


Do you see what we saw?  That’s Angie Loy, front and center!  She played for West Perry, Old Dominion, and the USA, and she’s great! 


They had a large display thanking donors.  I’m sure these donors gave a lot of money and look who’s here…HIGHMARK!!  Thanks Highmark!


Olympic torches were on display, behind glass.  I would have loved to be able to hold one of these.


This sculpture is right outside the training center.  It represents the athletes of the world and I thought it was really nice.


After leaving Colorado Springs we took Beth for a ride up Pike’s Peak on the cog railway.  


Those cogs will take this train up that mountain, and, hopefully, down again.


It takes over an hour to get up there so Beth had her coffee and map ready.


Look another Balance Rock!  They’re everywhere!!


You can see Colorado Springs on the way up.


We’re getting above the tree line, and the trees look smaller and we can see further and further away.


We’re here, and Beth still has that coffee.  Everyone says you can feel the effects of altitude here and they sell donuts that make that feeling go away.  I told Beth that she’ll need one of those donuts.  She claims she won’t.  We’ll see.


Let’s go get some donuts!


OK, OK, so Beth didn’t need a donut.  I didn’t either, I just wanted one.  Honest! 


There was snow up here too!


It looks like we’re on top of the world from up here.


That’s our train.  You can also drive up, or hike, but remember, it’s STEEP!


I like this one a lot!!


We had a great time with Beth during her visit to us in Denver.  We hope she can do it again in another city.