11th Anniversary: Adventures in Air and Sea

 

Thanks for reading along with our mishaps from yesterday! I just shake my head and laugh now, but it didn’t feel funny that day!

            We saw that the rain wasn’t really letting up, so we decided to drive over to Union Station and see the fun things happening there. I had researched it and saw they had an aquarium, mini golf, some snack shops, a ropes course, and a huge wheel (Gondola…Ferris Wheel…whatever you like to call it) with enclosed cars. I figured we could spend a few good quality hours there! Plus, their site talked about a fire and light show that was really good, too!

            So we made our way over and strolled through to find out what we might want to try. We almost accidentally joined a conference taking place (whoops!) and decided at last that we would spring for the aquarium/wheel combo ticket. We normally try to do free things on trips, but my free ideas were outside with the rain, so we sprang for tickets.

            I’m a bigger fan of aquariums than Ryan is, but even he agreed that this was the most fun one we’d been to yet. It was fairly interactive and had some unique offerings. Here are some pictures from our time in there:

            After that, we got an ornament for our tree and some coffee for a mid-afternoon snack.

            The Fire and Light show never materialized, which didn’t surprise us too much after the way the day began.

            We made our way over to the giant wheel, which was a complete act of bravery for me. I am terrified of heights, and this one is hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh! 200 feet in the air! There were good and bad things about our ride. The good – GREAT – part was that since the weather was so lousy, there wasn’t a line. In fact there wasn’t another soul on the entire wheel when we rode it. We didn’t have to share a car with anyone. (The cars seat up to 8. We had our own.) The bad part was the rainy weather meant it was tough to see out the window at all – because it was laced with rain. And the clouds made it hard to see far in the distance.

            Maybe that actually helped me. I had to pray my way around the first time, but after that, I did pretty well and was even able to look outside without holding Ryan’s hand!

            We were sad for the things we didn’t get to see there because of weather (Mini golf was out, as was the fire and light show, apparently.) But it really was a fun way to spend part of a day. It would be one of the things we would recommend if you’re planning a St. Louis trip. They also have a Build a Bear there, and while we didn’t go to that, it could be fun if you have kids or have never been to one! (We did Build a Bear before our wedding.)

            The end of the day certainly redeemed the first part. When we were done with our adventures, we went back to the Airbnb to eat food we brought with us and watch movies.

            Never fear, though. We were not done collecting stories!