Granddaughter Trip to St. Louis

After having such a great time in St. Louis with our daughter and her family at the end of June, my wife and I decided we would take our in-town granddaughter there as well.  In 2022, my wife and I took our granddaughter to Northwest Arkansas to visit aunts, uncles, and cousins.  But this trip would be different as it would just be the three of us traveling to a town where we had no relatives.

Over the last three years, we have taken summer vacation trips with our youngest son and his family. However, this year he changed jobs and would not earn any vacation days until after she started back to school early in August.  Not wanting her to miss out on a summer vacation this year, we chose to take this trip with her before the end of July.

From Memphis, St. Louis is an easy 4.5-hour journey by car, in spite of slowdowns in several construction sections along I-55.  We left on Friday morning and arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon to check into our hotel near Forest Park.  After relaxing in our room for a while…

…we walked next door to a burger restaurant.  After our drive, it was nice just to walk to a restaurant.  Our granddaughter had never had a hamburger before, and she discovered she loved it.

My wife captured this moment as we both enjoyed our delicious burgers and I savored the moment even more learning that our granddaughter had taken a liking to my favorite food.

After dinner, we decided to explore nearby our hotel and discovered a nice fountain next door dedicated to those that have donated organs and tissues to others.

There was a granite step in front that obviously encouraged children to climb up onto it, but the smooth granite proved quite slippery, and our granddaughter lost her footing and fell down into the water.

Now already wet, she decided to take full advantage of the cool water fountain.

The next morning, our first stop was the St. Louis Science Center where we had had such a good time with our daughter and her family just weeks before.

It once again proved to be a magical place staying there until lunch time.

My wife found a great restaurant for us, the Boathouse at Forest Park.

Sitting at a table next to the lake, the restaurant provided free fish food to feed the fish which our granddaughter thoroughly enjoyed.

She knelt on the patio and as she dropped food into the water and saw the fish swarm to get at the food, she would reach her hands in to try to touch the fish.  Each time she did, she let out the most exhilarating laugh that entertained everyone around.  She and I dined once again on a great burger while my wife enjoyed a salad.

That afternoon, we drove to O’Fallon about 30 miles away so she could enjoy playing at a water park.

Returning to our hotel after vigorous play, she asked if rather than going out to a restaurant, we could order in.  We agreed and ordered for her, her favorite fried chicken and fries.  My wife and I decided to try St. Louis style pizza which I didn’t even know existed.  With a cracker thin crust, it reminded us of a pizza we often get in Memphis.  It was so delicious in fact, we quickly devoured it (sorry, only a picture of the box afterwards).

On Sunday morning, we took our granddaughter to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  My wife and I had been there in 2022 and had thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a cloudy day, and the temperature was just perfect for an outdoor stroll.  I as always, was taken by the Dale Chihuly glass on display.

Once inside the tropical forest dome, our granddaughter enjoyed taking numerous photos of the plants and flowers with my wife’s phone.

At the Japanese Gardens, she once again got to feed the fish, although some Canada Geese were competing for the food.

My wife graciously found us a close by restaurant where we had, you guessed it, another burger.

From there, we drove downtown to visit the Arch.  After seeing the cramped five seat elevator car that ratchets you up to the top, our granddaughter said she was willing to go up.  However, the next available ticket was almost three hours later.  Instead, we took in the VR history show, the movie about the building of the arch, and of course the gift shop where she bought several different sizes of miniature arches.

That night, we went to a famous Italian restaurant on The Hill.  Although she initially wanted chicken nuggets and fries (which they obviously did not have), she had a delicious bowl of minestrone soup followed by what she exclaimed as the best buttered spaghetti noodles, she had ever had.  My wife and I each had delicious dinners as well.

Sadly, our trip was ending on Monday, but before we checked out, my wife and granddaughter had one more swim in the hotel pool before hitting the road home.

Not long after starting our drive home, my wife suggested we each take turns listing one of our favorite things about the trip.  We came up with over 60 items.  The list confirmed that the trip, although short, was a great one.  And for my wife and I, we each treasured the time we had gotten to spend with our granddaughter, one-on-one and two-on-one!