We begin our tale waking up at 5:00am PDT to prep for the ride to San Diego airport (SAN). Unfortunately Southwest canned their flights to St. Louis (STL) from John Wayne (SNA) starting this year, forcing us to divert south instead. Another unfortunate side effect is that no local shuttle service would come pick us up from that far away. Ultimately found a deal for long-term parking at a nearby garage, so we drove down ourselves, leaving at 6:00am and going through the airport rigamarole. (We learned from last time and did Early Bird boarding so had our pick of seats.) Wheels were up at 9:35am PDT, and back down to STL at 2:35pm CDT, exactly 3 hours. RT09 begins.

Our minivan rental was brand spanking new, with less than 900 miles to its name. We made straight for our first hotel using I-270 east, over the river and state line to Troy, IL but didn't stick around for long. Suitcases were unloaded and we immediately headed back west along I-55 to a Walmart for 16 days worth of foodstuffs. There was just enough time remaining to dash back over the Mississippi River and to our first destination, the Gateway Arch, arriving just before 7:00pm.

At this time the grounds of the Arch are under major renovations, with much of it closed off. The main visitor center is stationed at the Old Courthouse, just to the west. Here mom bought her own lifetime senior pass for $10 (before the price goes up to $80 at the end of this month!) and also got our souvenirs. Since my parents decided not to try braving the many steps to the Tram, I was left to run among the path (snapping pics along the way) in order to make the 7:30pm ride to the top. Each car of the tram can fit 5 people in a hollow space (not for the claustraphobic!) and it takes 4 minutes to ascend to the upper parabola. Once at the top, a few more steps will grant you entry to the viewing area. There's a set of windows on each side for looking out (or down if you please). Of course I timed my visit to coincide with the setting sun, and thus got some marvelous pics of the city underneath the hues of red and orange. Perfect!

After descending down and out, then retrieving the van from the parking garage, navigating back out of town was rather annoying. There's a number of one way streets and of course there was a Cardinals baseball game going on a block away, bringing its own form of downtown chaos. I had to circle around a number of blocks in order to pick up my folks at Kiener Plaza. Back over I-55 we went, to a Cracker Barrel for dinner and finally back at the hotel by 10:00pm.

Man, what a day. And there's still 16 more to go! (I'm sure the pace will slow as we settle into the groove...)