On the road again, we drove further north through Huntsville and Nashville, stopping for lunch at Cracker Barrel, before heading west through Kentucky and Illinois to St Louis.
My final car-craft: pipe cleaner creations. Use your imagination (in interpreting them), because they certainly did. There were even a couple of multi-media productions involving pipe cleaner and tin foil.
The Hyatt is situated directly across the street from the Arch, a hub of conventions and possibly a wedding (bridesmaids in black?), though our rooms overlook the old courthouse, which is being refurbished. The rooms, also newly renovated, were a steal since Drew bid for them off Hotwire, but we made up for it in parking fees and tips, not surprising in downtown I suppose.
The concierge directed us to Caleco's for dinner, a noisy little Italian place perfect for kids and Saturday nights, and just two blocks from the hotel. He recommended particularly that we should ask to be seated near one of the large aquariums, and as would luck would have it, one of the largest tables in the restaurant was vacant *and* next to the fish.
The child's spaghetti was a huge portion, but BB worked at it voraciously, I think because I didn't serve any car-snacks in the afternoon. I had the toasted ravioli, which really hit the spot, although I've had better.
While we were waiting for the check, I announced to the girls that we'd be arriving home the next day, and that met with a lot of groans and protests. Earlier, G told us that she wanted to live in FL, even though we might have to live in a smaller house and Daddy wouldn't have a job, so there'd be no money to go to Disneyworld.
I waited a long time to get those balloons from the restaurant, and then shortly after this picture was taken, they flew away – to much wailing. (See the Arch in the upper LH corner?)
Then we had an after-dinner stroll down to the Arch, which you just might be able to make out one of the legs in the background on the right side. Drew thought it might be unsafe, as some downtown areas are after dark sets in, but the park was crawling with tourists and organizers setting up for what we later found out would be a Tea Party convention the next day.
