The Morning before Misery
It was another early start, but not as early as we wanted. We always intend to wake up early, but eventually the call of sleep keeps us in bed for just a few more Snoozes on the alram clock. Luckily we had sort of packed the night before, each day we were getting into a system of who did what and how we left things before bed. Because it was another "late start" at 5:30am, we popped over to McDonalds for some breakfast sandwhich. Its not a habbit we want to fall into, but it worked in a pinch.
We spend a lot of time at Gas Stations
Soon we were back on the interstate, driving through Illinois. I don't have anything memorable to say about Illisnois or the rest of Indiana. It was hammer down to get to the Zoo. If time allowed I was going to swing by the NewGround office to show Abigail where I used to travel to.
Nothing eventful happened in Illisnois
St. Louis
We finally got to St. Louis and headed towards the Zoo. I had warned Abigail many times about the humidity in this area. But I'm not sure she really belived me. We paid for parking, and parked in the North lot. Backing the Jeep and its precious cargo shelf into a wooded corner were it was out of sight out of mind. We opened the doors, and instantly began to sweat. It was 80 degrees, and 90% humidity. Gross!
The first stop was the bathrooms, but we had a detour in the front of the Zoo Entrance where there was a little fountain with stone animals. Thea has started to love turtles, so she got super excited when she saw them sticking out of the rocks. We tried posing for a picture, but pretty soon I was pushing everyone inside the air conditioned Zoo entrance.
Turtle Kisses!
So Excited!
Camera Pose!
Every zoo we have been to with Jenna, I've bought her a collectible coin to remember each one. Now that she is older she is able to pick them out. This time she picked a Polar Bear (Grrrr she says).
The zoo & the Rain.
Animals are smart. Humans maybe not so much. It was gross out, I'm going to repeat that several times because, it was really gross out. We walked outside again, and started down the path to our right. The girls loved the elephant water fountain, but we wanted some real animals!
We tried the Childrens zoo first, but that cost extra so we moved onto the other items. First stop was the Butterfly & Bug section. We looked at all sorts of creepy crawlies that I hope to NEVER see in real life without glass between us. Scorpions, massive things called Giant Spiny Stick Insects, go ahead and look it up if your curious. If not here is a picture I took.
No Thank you!
After we moved through the creepy crawler section we found the butterfly tent. Inside butterflies of all shapes, sizes, and colors flew around. There were turtles (Thea got super excited). We didn't spend too much there because Jenna wanted to see "Real Animals". Hippos, Cheetas, stuff like that. As we walked out of the Butterfly area, it started to rain. Not like a light drizzle, more like a "Chris you should of brought the Umbrellas that you put in the Jeep specifically for this" kind of heavy rain.
Water Hogs?
The zoo - Search for animals
Almost every animal enclosure we went to was empty. The critters were hiding in their dens, or otherwise trying to stay dry. We were able to see the corner of a Rhino as he was hiding in the corner of his pen. The water hogs were out and playing,and eventually we came across the Hippos. They looked like they were sleeping underwater, but as Jenna and Thea walked up one of them moved about and scared them. Neither would go back again, but there were some fish in the same tank. They were happy to see those.
Hippos!
The last animal we saw were the Elephants, we watched one take a bath. And apparently Jenna saw one go potty! She was very excited to tell me that Elephants go potty!
Elephants!
Since it was hot out we decided to relax for a few minutes inside the Zoo Cafe and have some ice cream. Jenna got a chocolate ice-cream cone, Abigail an Ice Cream cookie, Thea a "Super Pop", and I got frozen lemonade. After the Ice Cream Cookie was gone, my frozen lemonade became the favorite and I had to share with everyone. After that it was a walk back to the Jeep, making lunch in the rain and then off to our next destination!
Yum!
I'm delivering food to the cranky kids inside after Abigail makes them
Yum!
After leaving the zoo, I took the girls over to the NewGround office to show them where I used to fly to all those years ago. I jokingly suggested running up and seeing if my keyfob would still work, but Abigail talked me out of it. Oh well, off to camp we go!
The old office
By this time we have started using the app, Campendium, which is great for finding camp sites. Its relies heavily on reviews and images posted by visitors, but so far its worked out fairly well. The original camp site we were going to stay at wouldn't work, so once again we aimed for a KOA. At first glance this KOA wasn't too bad, but very soon we were swarmed with black flies. Soon we were all being eaten alive, the girls are covered in bug bites.
We still made time for Smores and a tasty dinner, all made by Abigail.
Yum!
No Camp fire, just a pocket rocket
She just wanted the marshmellow
If that wasn't bad enough there was some sort of bird, creature of night, monster in the woods making this god awful screetching sound. I'm pretty sure it was birds, but I could never see one to tell for sure.
Eventually we all fell asleep, but it wasn't a very restful night.
Our camp