For a few years now, my mom has been talking to Mykiah about where she grew up. Grandma would wistfully say, "Sometime, I'll take you there and you can see it yourself." And we'd all nod our heads. That would be great.
Finally, I invited myself (and Chesney) along and decided we'd have a girls road trip out to where my mom grew up. It's a long drive for my kids, who are used to nothing more than the 4.5 hour drive to Branson. In order to make the drive go down a little easier, we decided we'd stop the first day somewhere fun and explore.
It came down to St Louis or Hannibal, both located in Missouri. And if you ask a teenage girl which she'd prefer -- a big city or a quaint little town -- she's going to pick the big city. Every time.
So we stopped in St Louis last Thursday. We stayed in Crowne Plaza hotel, right across from the Gateway Arch. This was the view out our window.
Well, it was the view if you went to the corner and leaned out to the right. Which is fine with me because I, my friends, am afraid of heights. I could not step within a few feet of that window. It actually had windows along the bottom that you could open. Why?!? Freaked me out.
We hadn't been at the hotel long when we decided to go over and check out the arch. It had rained as we pulled into St Louis and the Arch area was not busy at all. We were practically the only people there.
By the time we were done taking pictures we were a) cold and b) ready for some fun. I suggested Union Station. I have great memories of Union Station ten years ago. Fun shops. Excellent choices for dining.
And now it's practically empty and apparently run amok with beggars. The saving grace of that excursion was that there is a Hard Rock Cafe on the grounds of Union Station.
My girls have never eaten at the Hard Rock. Brady has but he was 11 months old at the time, so it probably doesn't count. In fact we made a rule on this trip that if you haven't eaten somewhere in the last two years, you've never eaten there.
So we bop on over to the Hard Rock.
We ordered some appetizers and Mykiah had the anti-cobb salad, which is like the best salad ever. As we were winding up, our server (who knew it was Mykiah's first Hard Rock visit) asked if we'd like out picture on stage. And then the bartender starts handing over guitars.
This picture isn't quite as funny as the one where my mom and I are holding the guitars, but what a treat for my girls. Mykiah called it her best day ever (she has a lot of those). We went back to the hotel, watched So You Think You Can Dance, and marvelled at this...


