If you want, I don’t mind you nominating me for FOTY for taking my 15-year-old daughter to St. Louis for a working Spring Break last week. Maybe if I got her a t-shirt like this.
Although I probably want to continue to use that guy’s pic and not mine.
Anyway, I know you’re thinking, “Why didn’t I ever think of taking my family to the murder capital of the USA for some recreation AND forced work over Spring Break?” I can assure you that my daughter did get paid for her time, got to choose the restaurants we ate at, and got a company shirt out of the deal. (And we always felt safe.) She was happy, and that was before we even got to the attractions. First stop? The giant Union Station koi pond! Uh-oh.
We definitely were NOT eating at the seafood restaurant at Union Station after seeing that poor fish in the pond right outside. We were relieved to see plenty of live koi swimming around.
While at Union Station, we rode the 200 foot tall ferris wheel and saw our destiny looming in the distance.
That’s the Gateway Arch in the background calling to me. Up close, it’s even more impressive.
Of course, the only choice I had was to climb all 600+ feet of it. My daughter took video while I attempted a summit from the outside of the structure. Take a look at the movie.
No, the video isn’t frozen. It’s working properly. My climb lasted exactly one frame before I quit. But I had to use the picture because it makes it look like I have more hair than I actually have. Anyway, the view from the bottom is a bit daunting.
We settled for riding up to the top inside the Arch in a tiny capsule where we bonded (we had no choice in such a small capsule!) and became arch-friends rather than arch-enemies.
That was it for sightseeing in St. Louis, but we stopped on the way home at the Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston, IL. Here I am pointing out to my daughter that giant Trump statue out in front of the mall.
All that was left was a 4 hour drive back home while my daughter snoozed. That gave me plenty of time to think about changes coming. I may have one more trip to St. Louis in me for work before ties are finally cut. After that, I certainly won’t be heading back down there for a holiday like Spring Break.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 