Wednesday, December 13, 2023

11th Anniversary Trip...Headed Home

 


Thanks for reading along about our trip. Hope you’ve enjoyed the stories along the way!

We awakened on our last day in St. Louis to…rain. Of course!

I don’t think we’ve ever before stayed in a place where we had to haul luggage down a hall, into an elevator, up a flight of stairs, outside, up another flight of stairs, and through a parking lot to get to our car! And of course, when we were in the midst of trying to pack said car (which had IKEA boxes in it by this time) it wasn’t just raining – it was POURING. So fun! Ryan did a masterful job of playing Tetris with boxes and suitcases and getting everything safely positioned for the ride home.


We were already to our next state (Illinois) about five minutes into our drive. Ha! The perk of staying on the state line, right?


Our trip home was blissfully uneventful, and the closer we got to home, the more the rain let up. Grateful for that! Indiana, I am curious why your “Welcome to Indiana” sign on 70 is about 3 miles into the state. I had nearly given up on it entirely!


We stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A, as we try to do whenever we see one, and then our only other stop was for coffee! 



We made it back to pick up Lexi before the boarder closed for the day, and then we high-tailed it home to unpack and do a lotta laundry.

What a trip!

We were so very grateful for the wonderful rest we had. Between the evenings we hung out at the Airbnb and the nights of full rest without a cat crawling on us all night, we slept so well.

We were so grateful for the amazing conversations that happened throughout the weekend. I suppose that is a perk of yucky weather and foiled plans. You get to hang out and talk! It’s always been one of our favorite things to do.

We were even grateful for the “are you kidding me???” stories we piled up, because when they’re not happening in real time, they are quite funny. They’ll be great memories for the scrapbook.

We are glad we got to see the Arch up close, even if we didn’t get to ride to the top. We are glad we’ve checked St. Louis off the list for our someday jaunt on Route 66. We can save time by driving through it. We loved the BBQ, the zoo, and the cuteness of the Airbnb.

We didn’t love the city. (Eeek! I’m sorry if you’re a big fan or if you live there.) It wasn’t our jam, and we’ll be one and done for a visit, but it wasn’t a wasted trip by any means!

And now…where shall we plan to visit for the next trip?

4 comments:

Becky L said...

Glad you were able to get away! Enjoyed reading about your trip. I also have a things-gone-wrong in St. Louis story. As my daughter and I were traveling to Colorado for her summer internship, she was taking her driving shift going through St. Louis when she had to step on the brakes suddenly. But...we didn't have full brake power! Thankfully we were able exit off the interstate quickly and able to find a car repair place as they were about to close. Four hours later we were on the road again and and made it safely to Kansas City where we stopped for the night. We had many things to be thankful for in the midst of our unexpected delay -- we didn't cause an accident, we were able to get the brakes repaired the same day, we could walk to the only restaurant in the neighborhood to eat supper, and after needing to get something else repaired once we reached our destination in CO my daughter didn't have any other problems with the car while she was in Colorado Springs for her internship.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! What a story! That gave me chills to read...I'm so glad you are okay!- Bekah

Natasha said...

I'm glad your trip home was uneventful, after packing up in the pouring rain.

Tamar SB said...

Glad you made it home safely!! I was in St. Louis once to college search but didn't really see the sights!