Our Favorite Vacation City: St. Louis

St. Louis has long been one of our favorite cities for a not-too-far-from-home vacation. The kids continue to ask to visit.

Since it lies in the most direct path between Lexington and our final destination of Utah, it was a no-brainer decision to visit in 2015.

This time, in addition to the traditional sites, we also added a couple of new ones (just to mix things up and keep it exciting!). The previous photos are from the Old Courthouse, which is actually part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial run by the National Park Service (the Arch is also part of it). The well-known Dred Scott Decision was made here.

After exploring the Old Courthouse, we headed for the Arch.

It's always so much bigger than I remember!

We don't always go up to the top of the Arch, but it had been a couple of years since the last time we did it (and the lines were short :), so we decided to take the teeny tiny . . . like, reeeeeaaaaaallllly small . . . cars to the top.

Lutece and I took a selfie to pass the time and distract me from any claustrophobia I may have been feeling.

It's all good in St. Louis.

Castillo San Marcos . . . We're Back!

The kids really wanted to visit Castillo San Marcos while we were in St. Augustine (I don't think we went during the summer of 2014 because we had just visited it during Spring Break), so we headed there on our last full day in Florida.

As usual, Phoenix just wanted to walk around and do his own thing . . .

. . . while Lutece felt compelled to complete the Junior Ranger program and earn her third (?) badge for el Castillo.

She's such a driven little nutter.

So while Lutece spends her time studying plaques and writing answers down, Phoenix lounges on ancient relics that he shouldn't even be touching. (Sorry for my complicity!)

But they both want their picture taken as if they are in prison. Looks more like I'M the one in prison.

Until next year, Castillo San Marcos!

Weird Florida Outings

As I mentioned in a previous post, Lutece was in charge of our activities whilst in Florida. She does a rockin' good job of it, even with the basic parameters I have set for her (i.e., only ONE expensive outing per year). This year, Lutece decided that our "expensive" outing would be the Alligator Farm.

I have eschewed this seeming tourist trap in the past, but Lutece read the reviews (which were good), and really wanted to go. It was, after all, her decision to make.

So we went, and we found that it was, in fact, quite fun, and if not *completely* worth the money, at least it entertained us for half a day and now we can say we've been there. 

It was nicely kept, very clean, and there were TONS of alligators and birds. Holy Hannah!

We especially enjoyed the Animal Talks the zookeepers gave throughout the day, which were highly informative and interesting. I would be happy with this one excursion to the Alligator Farm, but the kids have already decided that they want to go back in a couple of years when they are both old enough to do the zip line adventure over the alligator enclosures. Sounds like fun! :|

Another quirky outing that Lutece planned for us one afternoon was to the Mission Nombre de Dios, one of the first Catholic missions built in North America.

The grounds were serene and bordered the Intracoastal, which lended itself to lovely views . . . and sparked some good ideas. The kayakers we saw on the intracoastal made me want to try that out next year.

Was it a good outing? Huh? I don't know?

YES IT WAS!

Fort Matanzas and Brain Freezes

Lutece was our Activities Director for the week in Florida. She is seriously good at researching and planning tourist activities (not to mention restaurants). On trips now, I just pass her my iPhone, she pulls up TripAdvisor and goes to town. She had a whole slew of activities planned for our afternoons in St. Augustine, and nearly all of them were successful.

We started the week off with the kids' top choice, Fort Matanzas. This was a favorite from last year and so naturally it would be on the docket this time around. Lutece, of course, made sure to ask for the Junior Ranger guide from the ranger station (since it is a part of the National Park system), and she started completing it on the (free!) ferry boat ride over to the Fort.

This is such a beautiful area of Florida, what with the ocean on one side and the Intracoastal and other waterways on the other . . . but the sun WAS bright.

Too bright to open eyes for pictures.

Phoenix even offered to take a picture of us. (This was the only normal one out of about ten. I can't help but think he had another motive for taking our picture.)

While Stayc and Phoenix played checkers in the guards' quarters . . .

Lutece chatted up the NPS ranger and completed her Junior Ranger badge. One down, only 3 more to go this summer.

In addition to Fort Matanzas, there are some short hikes through the Everglades that grace the area. Phoenix got his tree-climbing in, and Lutece got her walking in.

Everyone was happy.

On the way home, we stopped at a shave ice truck. The kids got marshmallow fluff on top of theirs, and Stayc got soft serve ice cream on the bottom of his. I took mine straight.

It was ok, but we all agreed that the ice cream we had later in the week from Cold Cow (a favorite from last year) was MUCH better. Worlds better.

Especially since there were no brain freezes involved!

Fort Matanzas

 

One of the main reasons, aside from great beaches, that we chose St. Augustine for our beach vacation was the abbondanza of historical sites and other fun activities in the area. If we wanted to take a break from the beach and the pool (which we did occasionally), there was any number of other things to do.

 

Since we had already explored Castillo San Marcos on our Spring Break visit to St. Augustine, we decided to try out nearby Fort Matanzas, a much smaller, but no less interesting Spanish fort situated at the "backdoor" to St. Augustine, that is, at the entrance of the intracoastal.

 

Fort Matanzas (or Fort Slaughter in English . . . cool name, right?) is also run by the National Park Service, but this time, the whole thing was free, even the little ferry ride over from the mainland to the Fort.

That also means they offered the Junior Ranger program. The homeschooler in me loves the Junior Ranger program. They worked on it during the ferry ride over.

The Fort itself was nothing spectacular, but still very cool. Is it just me, or are ancient things really neat?

Also, the view from the top was picture perfect.

It was a perfect afternoon diversion from the beach. Sometimes you just need to take a break from all that rest and DO something.

Sybil Ludington

Sybil Ludington is, as Lutece would put it, "the female Paul Revere." When the fifth-graders were expected to research a famous person from American history, Lutece chose Ms. Luddington because, according to her:

"Sybil Ludington played an important role in American history. I feel like women are overlooked, and that men are thought of as the only great American heroes. . . She was truly a woman that will inspire many kids and promote women and encourage them to be just as good as men."

From the mouths of babes.

Castillo de San Marcos

Before heading to the beach in St. Augustine, we made a visit to the old fort to brush up on some military history. The Castillo de San Marcos is a fort build by the Spaniards in 1672, and subsequently used in various wars since then.   

 

As part of the National Park Service, it boasts the "Junior Ranger" program which caters to helping children learn more about the National sites. I love this program, and if you've never heard of it, next time you are at an historical site run by the NPS, you should definitely ask about it. Lutece is an ACHIEVER, so she, of course, filled out the entire pamphlet, including the essay at the back, in order to earn her badge AND get a cool patch.

 

Phoenix was less interested in doing anything that even remotely stank of schoolwork. Instead, he messed with the cannons.

 

When he bored of that, I let him use my camera. He took a ton of pictures.

Here's one of Stayc and me watching an educational video.

Super exciting, I know.