This is beautiful Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri, about an hour west of St. Louis. In a way, I have Pete to thank for the experience, although he wasn't there.
Okay, here's the story. You see, we had this big trip back up north planned for the holidays, since Pete was going to have the whole week between Christmas and New Year's off, and this was going to be our first trip up there since the move. But then that little gallbladder thing happened, and -- he used up all of his benefit days. Rather than cut our trip short, which would have been a big disappointment for both the grandkids and the grandparents, I let my husband convince me that if he flew back home right after Christmas, I could actually drive the entire trip from Michigan back to Oklahoma -- with both kids -- by myself. And I hate driving. But what price tag do you put on having a nice unhurried visit with both extended families?
The smartest thing I did was break the trip up into two days. This allowed us, on the first leg of the trip, to stop in Berwyn and spend a short but meaningful time with our old "church family". We made it as far as St. Louis that night. The kids were getting pretty bored on the second day with "all that driving", even with Christmas presents galore and a DVD player in the van to keep them entertained, and we all needed to stretch a bit, so I decided to stop at Meramec. There were plenty of friendly billboards and other signs encouraging us to!
Yes, Meramec is a very touristy place. But let me tell you, on December 31st, all the other touristy schlock around it is closed, and you don't have to wait in any long lines. The caverns themselves are really spectacular (God's handiwork endures, tourist season or not!). My pictures don't do nearly enough justice here. The kids were both amazed; they had never seen any kind of cave before. I had to gag at the tacky music/light show thing they do at the end when they "unveil" the caverns' "star attraction" (last two pictures above, taken without tacky lighting). But it was a very worthwhile stop, and we were all tired enough to sit down for a while by the end of the tour.
Getting home was half the fun!
(P.S. Please forgive the long single paragraph. For some reason Blogger is not cooperating with me tonight, and it doesn't seem to recognize the return key! Can any of you experienced bloggers out there help me, this has happened before!)
1 comment:
The caverns there are fun, aren't they. We were there about 6 months before you while visiting relatives.
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