Easter in St. Louis

For spring break this year we decided to do a church history trip and  visit some of the places that we have heard about for years.   Although there wasn't much church history there, we started in St. Louis because it was a central point that was easy to get to and relatively inexpensive.  We left at 5 o'clock on Easter morning because our assigned seats on American Airlines suddenly became unassigned.  Luckily we didn't have an issue getting seats all together as we flew first to Dallas-Forth Worth than on to St. Louis.  In the Dallas airport, Mckay wanted something to reminder of Texas so she bought some dill pickle seasoned potato chips.  So for now on Texas will always be forever known as the dill pickle state (at least in our family).   When we arrived in St. Louis we picked up our rental car and headed off to the Union Station Hotel which proved to be pretty grand considering we only paid $60 bucks a night.  The hotel was the centerpiece of the old St. Louis train station that had been revitalized into a mall-hotel venue.  The weird thing was that when we arrived in the late afternoon, the mall was closed as was virtually everything downtown.  Take a close look at the pictures and you will see that we were virtually alone.  St. Louis was like a ghost town on Easter Sunday.  The streets were nearly empty.  It was actually pretty cool just walking around and having no one bother us.  The next day we got up and went to the St. Louis Arch, took a trip down the Mississippi river on an authentic river boat, and visited the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis Zoo.  We left St. Louis on Tuesday morning and made one final stop at the St. Louis Temple before heading off to Independence Missouri and the start of our church history tour.

Outside our hotel

Inside Union Station

Easter Sunday afternoon and downtown is empty

The day before Opening Day (although the Cardinals opened in Phoenix)

This was the only restaurant open near us for dinner.
Nothing says Easter like the Hard Rock Cafe.

This is the round capsule-elevator that you take to the top of the arch.
It's designed to fit five adults. Yeah, right.

At the Top of the Arch looking out the small windows.

Jumping for joy directly below the Arch.

Our river boat the Tom Sawyer.

On the Mississippi River.  

Monday the temperatures dropped to the low 40's.

We loved the zoo, and the best part is that it's free!

Me and a Sloth Bear.   We could be twins.

Hey, don't you go to BYU?

St. Louis Temple