On Monday morning we packed up our car and headed into the "unknown". We knew that our next destination would be Hesston Kansas, where our daughter is in college, but we didnt' know exactly which route we would take or where all we might stop.
We wound our way through the mountains of West Virginia, and ended up on Route 64 in Charleston, where we began our trek west towards Jenna. There were lots of hills and lots of hairpin turns on those roads for the first hour or so!
Kentucky was the first state that we entered that we had never been in before...
What I remember the most, was the amount of steel bridges that we saw and crossed! It made me think of Eric, who will soon graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering. Steel structures are in his area of interest...
We found a motel just east of St Louis, where we spent the night. We hoped to go up into the arch the next morning, but were unable to purchase any tickets online. Bummer! Or so we thought. We decided to stop anyway, and were pleasantly surprised that we could still buy tickets on sight.
It was a gorgeous day!
I must say that if you are at all claustrophobic (which I am) the ride to the top of the tower is a bit of a stretch. You sit in a small pod with up to four other people, your knees all touching and your shoulders a bit hunched so that you don't bang your head for the 4 minute ride to the top. The view however, was worth it...
Looking east. That's the Cargill grain elevator in the front center of the picture, with a barge apparently loading some grain.
Looking to the west. The St Louis Cardinals baseball stadium is on the far left side of the picture...
The Mississippi River was quite muddy and very high. I have never really seen it up close before to be able to compare it to "normal", but there were several docks just below us that were partially under water. There was also a lot of debris in the water that had been caught up in piles near the shore. A lot of the water from the flooding upstream was clearly making it's way south...
After we came down from the arch, we found a place to grab some lunch, and hopped back in the car for the rest of our trip towards Hesston.
We stopped at a car museum that we saw along Route 70 in western Missouri...
...and made our way southwest from Kansas City just before dark. If you enlarge the picture, you can see a line of fire on the hillside in the distance. It's the time of year that farmers burn their fields...
...a beautiful Kansas sunset...as beautiful as it could be from a moving car window anyway...
Finally, look who we found! We haven't seen her since Christmas!
More next time on our adventures in Kansas and beyond!
I'm sure your daughter was as pleased to see you as you were to see her.
ReplyDeleteWow!, that arch is high.
Some of those old cars are beautiful. I love that first one.
Take care and have a great week. Happy Easter.
Hugs, Julia
What an adventure! I can't wait to see where else you roam. I don't know if I would like the arch much. I'm glad you are both able to share such a wonderful adventure together.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about the arch elevator.. I think I would skip that ~LOL!
What a view though! Amazing!
So fun to see new things and have new experiences and with each other!
Sure happy for you to have this time to spend together :)
Your daughter sure looks happy to see you two.
Smiles :)
~K.
Alica! How fun! Love the pay-off photo at the end of this post. Your view from the top of the arch is breathtaking (although I am also claustrophobic so YIKES). And wow, I definitely want to see the Mississippi River some day. Thanks for sharing these photos and insights.
ReplyDeleteI still love that photo from the top of the arch. I have some photos of bridges from when our son lived in Morehead, KY. I hope you've settled back into the new jobs after your return home.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun stops!
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