St. Louis Misery

OUR NOT-SO-FUN TRIP TO ST. LOUIS

In stark contrast to my Oregon Post, I feel it necessary to report on our last adventure. Cameron had some training in St. Louis with a little extra time so he thought, 'hey, the family should come with me!' I've been missing the days of spontaneity when Cameron and I would just pick up and leave to a city we've never been to, so I thought, 'Why not? Free hotel, not much to do at home- let's do it!' Our decision was final and we quickly packed up Sunday night for a short 2 day trip. This was obviously not well thought out and I'll tell you why.

Trouble from the Beginning

Our first mishap was when we discovered we left the kids' bag at home. We realized this as we pulled up to the airport. This should have been my first cue that this trip was not such a fabulous idea. We had packed in such a rush after church to make the flight, that the kid's bag, which was fully packed with clothes, diapers, a must-needed stuffed elephant, toothbrushes, etc., was left behind. Cameron decided that they could live without it and we could just buy a few clothes and diapers when we got there. Sure, why not?

Flight Anguish

This is just another reason the trip was off to a poor start, for me anyway. Have you ever been in a plane when you've had fluid in your ears? Oh my gosh. When we made our decent into St. Louis, the tremendous pressure in my ears was more than I could handle. I thought my eardrums were going to burst and that blood would spurt out like an angry old volcano. Sorry for the graphic details, but man did it hurt. It lasted for about 30 minutes and got worse before it got better. Even after we landed, my right ear was completely plugged with lingering pressure which didn't subside until the next morning. .....Please avoid this if you can! If you are congested from a cold at all, I strongly recommend taking cold medicine before or during your flight!

Hotel Freeway

Well, one our first mistakes was not checking to see if our hotel would be near, well, anything. It was not. Nothing to eat, no little shopping area, not even a sidewalk. Just near a really busy road and a freeway. We managed to find a tiny little gas station where we bought some milk and cereal for the kids to eat for breakfast, and thank goodness, some diapers. It didn't take long for both Cameron and I to realize that this wasn't such a good idea after all.

When we decided to go initially, I was under the impression that Cameron only had a little training, and more time to spend with us. This was not so. Turns out he had training from 11:00 in the morning till about 9:00 at night. (Yes, we could use a little work on our communication skills). So I got to try to entertain two small children in a tiny hotel room with no toys. I don't think I need to provide any more details to you moms who know just how miserable that would be. Even if I did want to attempt an outside activity such as playing frogger on the nearby street, it rained all day. Why did I just assume there would be something to do? Of course there was an indoor pool but we forgot the kids bags, remember? Usually I'm up for any kind of adventure and am eager to scope out an unfamiliar city. But for some reason I was really hesitant this time to take both kids by myself to a big city I had never been to. We considered renting a car but declined when learning it would cost us $100 per day.

Finally Some Time Away from that Blasted Hotel

Finally, Tuesday morning, we had half the day to go see the city till we needed to catch our flight. We made our way into the city on the metro. I know I'm in no place to judge since I saw only a tiny part of the city for only a few hours, but wow. Most of what we did see was totally run down, dirty and wreaking of urine. And, a good share of the people we dealt with were just plain rude. Has anybody been there? Did you have a better experience?

The trip wasn't a total loss however. We got to see the massive arch and spent some time in the Expansion of the West Museum. It was pretty well done and was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Needless to say, we never found a place to buy some clothes for the kids which means they did spend 3 days in the same clothes. (Colby spent the 3 days in the very outfit he wore to church on Sunday. Poor kid!).

I'm pretty sure St. Louis isn't on my list of "must visit again cities," but we did learn a few valuable lessons which I will reiterate.

1. Never pack in a hurry, especially if you are packing for children.

2. If you're not renting a car, call ahead to make sure the hotel is near, AT LEAST, a place to eat.

3. Take cold medicine before your flight if there is ANY possibility of an ear pressure equalization malfunction.

4. Being spontaneous isn't all it's cracked up to be when it involves children. Leave that to your single, prior to child rearing or retired days.

5. Little boys can wear the same underwear for 3 days. I'm not saying it's pleasant, but it can be done when desperate. Hey, it could have been worse. Colby could of had an accident... Good job Colbs!