Transport Museum

After having passed the signs for the Transport Museum numerous times on I270, we finally went to the museum. We went on a really hot (& humid) day which wasn't probably the best idea as most of the museum was outside. Even just standing about was enough to break out into a major sweat!

There were a variety of types of transport at the museum, but the trains were the main attraction. There was a DC-3 Dakota aircraft & a boat at the entrance to the parking lot, a huge train shed with a variety of engines & carriages on display, & also a number of open air trains. A new dispay hall had recently been completed that housed the vehicle collection.

The display hall included about 12 older american cars & a car transporter. There were spedometer/dashboad displays upstairs & a craft/discovery centre adjacent to the hall.

There was also a minature train which circled a new parking lot & derelict ground that was being used to expand the museum. We all had a ride on this & to get to the station from the from the museum you had to take a ride on a shuttle bus. This was a yellow school bus (so Beth has now finally been on one).

We took a ride on a tram that ran alongside the train shed & then we climbed inside some of the steam trains on display. On a couple of the trains you could ring the bell mounted on the front. The trains were huge (almost like two or three trains in one) & to give you an idea of the length of the engines there was a couple of seconds delay between pulling the bell cord in the cab & hearing the bell ring.

Bowling

We recently went 10-pin bowling. This was much the same as in the UK, but was fairly expensive at over $40 for 2 games, shoe hire, & a drink. Still we had a good time & it was a welcome relief from being outside in the heat. The bowling alley also had some special offers where up to 6 people could bowl for 2 hours for a fixed price (that wasn't much more than we paid for our game). They also have all night bowling lock-ins/sleepovers - cool!

Are we in France?

After a busy day, we decided that rather than cooking we would eat out. We went to the local Chinese restaurant which is an all you can eat buffet. For a very reasonable $30 we could stuff ourselves silly & have unlimited soft drinks. Unlike the similar type of venues in the UK, this one has a somewhat larger variety of food & a good desert selection. To prove this point, I have included a photo of me chowing down on some frogs legs! (Just in case you are wondering, they do taste a bit like chicken).

Lone Elk Park

Whilst Fenton is known as 'The City of Parks', I don't think it has the exclusive rights to this as there seems to be loads of parks in the vicinity of St Louis. About a 10 minute drive from the house is Lone Elk Park. There are several hiking trails & picnic areas in scenic spots that allow you to (hopefully) get a glimpse of the animals that live in the park. The park is at the edge of the Ozark foothills & so has dramatic hills, lots of forests & a lake. However, the really cool part is that there is a mini 'Longleat' drive-through animal range. Bison, deer, elk & other animals roam about the park without restriction & so this part of the 526-acre park is a car only section to allow you to get an 'up close' encounter with the animals in their natural habitat.

Other than a few animals in the lake, we didn't really see that much but then it was mid-afternoon on a really hot day. It is recommended that you visit in the evening & so we will have to go back again to see what we can see.

Meramec Caverns

To give Cheryl a chance to have a long drive, we visited the Meramec Caverns. The promise of the caves only being 60 degrees farenheit was also a pretty good incentive as it meant relief from the high 90s that we were experiencing.

Meramec Caverns is about an hour west of where we live & is the largest commercial cave in the state of Missouri. (Missouri is also known as the Cave state, being home to more than 6,000 surveyed caves). Local tribes of Indians have used the caves as shelter & in the 1700's, a French miner, Jacques Renault, founded one of the Cavern's greatest natural resources, saltpeter (used to manufacture gunpowder). During the Civil War, a Federal powder mill in the cave was blown up by Confederate guerrillas that included Jesse James. In the early 1870's, Jesse James and his band returned to the Caverns on numerous occasions & used them as their hideout after train and bank robberies.

The tour took about an hour & twenty minutes & each part of the caverns was lit as you entered them. So, if you didn't keep up, you could find youself plunged into darkness.

After completing the tour, we each had an ice cream. They had about 25 different flavours, with Beth going for cotton candy (candyfloss), Cheryl having strawberries & cream, & I settled for cookie dough.

We then went on a a boat ride on the Meramec. As we drove into the caverns, we saw that there was a campsite, & most of the people there must of had boats as the river was absolutely heaving with people & watercraft. There were people canoeing, swimming, & just generally having fun in the water. Around the bend from the boat mooring, we saw that some people had just set their tents up on the banks of the river & were having a party - mad!

Once back on dry land, we did some panning for gold. Beth was well impressed with her stash of stones & minerals. We finished off our visit with a quick visit to Granny's store to buy some fudge - cheaper than that at Union Station, but just as good!

Where we live

Just thought that I would post a few pictures of Fenton & the surrounding area. They don't show anything specific, but just give an idea of the everyday things that we see whilst living here.

Cheryl drives!

After swotting up for her driving test, Cheryl passed her theory test first time - well done Chez!

Now, I have been relegated to the passenger seat each weekend so that Chez can get some practice behind the wheel before taking the practical section of the driving test.

At the moment I'm not being a very good backseat driver, but Cheryl is doing really well. She was a pretty good driver in the UK, but I think not driving for almost a couple of months combined with being on the 'wrong' side of the road & driving a larger car hasn't made it any easier. Still, I'm sure that she will be out & about on her own in no time.

Union Station

After mentioning to Cheryl that I had been to Hooters a couple of time with Phil & Steve, we decided to go to Union Station & get some chicken wings from the famous restaurant where 'everyone has their own cheerleader'. The St Louis Cardinals were playing just up the road in their baseball stadium & so we watched some of the game on TV whilst we were eating.

Union Station reminded us a bit of Church Street Station in Florida, that we visited whilst on honeymoon. This was similar in the fact that it was no longer used as a station & had been developed with restaurants & shops.

To give you a bit of background about the Union station, it is a Romanesque-style building, that was designed by architect Theodore Link in 1894. It was once the largest and busiest railroad terminal in the world (apparently). In 1976, the station was designated a National Historic Landmark & ceased operation as an active train terminal in 1978. In 1985, after a $150 million restoration, the station (including the 11.5 acre trainshed) reopened & is now a St Louis tourist attraction (& a good place to get lunch as the Metro is free from downtown during lunchtime).

After finishing our food, we watched 'Fudge Man' from the upper level of the mall do his thing with the crowd. This basically consists of him singing to his workmates who then get the crowd going whilst Fudge Man makes the fudge. We had a look in a few of the shops & then wandered back to the fudge stall & bought some very expensive, but really tasty fudge.