The J6 Journey: Year 3, July 17th, 2018: Tuesday, V3, St. Louis Zoo, Then Home

Tuesday was the St. Louis Zoo. It's a 90 acre zoo, so about 1.5 times the size of the Indianapolis Zoo. It's “free,” however you have to pay for the sea lion show, sting ray touch pool, train ride, children's petting zoo, and carousel, among other things. Our zoo costs more and you pay like $2 or so for one train ride, not as many times as you want. Plus parking at the St. Louis Zoo is $15 per vehicle; ours is $5. I did have a lot of comparisons going through my mind while we walked around for the next 5 hours because everybody said this zoo was better. It's not. I've only been to this zoo and the Indy zoo and they are very, very similar. They had zones and lots of paved walkways that meander throughout the park. They focus on conservation. They even had very similar animals. I did find that the Indy zoo had wider paths, more information on the animals, and the zones were a little easier to track. I don't what was in the children's zoo, but in Indy, there's a playground and splashpad in the summer months. So I wasn't overly impressed. And with the exhausting heat, it probably wasn't as fun for the kids.

Benaiah split open his foot from banging it on the edge of the pool, so he was in pain. Abishai is overstimulated. I was still miffed at last night. We all know Justin doesn't do well with heat. And even Keturah, who complained less than I thought she would, did complain some. We were all ready to go home. Keturah, Abishai, and I got the full pass so we could see the sea lion show, sting ray touch pool, and carousel. Jared paid cash for the sea lion show because I couldn't handle Abishai by myself. I'm in a great deal of pain, so I'm not moving very fast and he's super fast. Abishai is attached so hard to Jared and calms right down. It's actually kind of heartbreaking to me because I spend so much taking care of the kids' stuff that I don't actually get to spend time with them, comforting them when they are afraid of heights or in a new place. I'm talking about the regular stuff, not the extra junk that I have to do something with on my own. But we will save that pity party for another day. Benaiah ended up going home with Gary and Leah before we left because Gary had to make a meeting for church by a certain time. I wanted Benaiah to stay with us, but he was being a stubborn teen and no one wanted to argue with him. Well, some sided with him. I just want to make memories with all 6 of us before he leaves for college, which I guess is stressing him out every time I mention it. Well, it's true. You can't just let life pass you by. There is some urgency, and Gary uses that tactic in his sermons all the time. That's where I got it from. Actually, the whole children's ministry is hep on telling us how many weeks left we have with our children and to make the most of them. We loose a lot of time with Benaiah in school and working. So I want our vacations to be something where we all stick it out to the end But, I finally had to let that go and realize that when Benaiah does go off to college, there will be a ton of memories I make with the other 3 that he will never be a part of. Once we let the three go, the next hour or so went ok and the ride home was smooth.

The heat is exhausting us quickly every day. I have my doubts about Holiday World amusement park on Thursday. We'll drive down on Wednesday night so we can be there right when it opens on Thursday to beat the heat. It's a 3 hr drive. And we decided to just come home afterwards and save the cave exploring trip for another day. We need to rest up before Chicago. We are going to Ohio first, but just stopping at one museum and then going to church and having lunch with Leah's brother and sister in law, so it's very low key. Chicago might be a nightmare, although the weather is cooler. I'll be more stressed because of having to carry everything with us and no oppurunities to go back to the car if we take the L and what not. We will see.

On the way home from St. Louis, we didn't stop at the arch like I had hoped, but pressed on. Abishai was already asleep, so there was no point. I was exhausted. Maybe we will got to St. Louis someday and take in a baseball game. I did tell everyone that I love baseball and even our farm league team here woud make a cheaper date night. The St. Louis Cardinals stadium is huge though! And then we stopped at the Cross at the Crossing which is a monument built in 2011, and was actually dedicated a few days after 9/11. What perfect timing! It's a 20 story crosss, over 100 yards across that can be seen at I-57 and I-70 interchange in Effingham, Illinois. There are benches with audio about the ten commandments, and sometimes there's a chapel and video playing inside a building on site. We also stopped to get Abishai a treat because he did so well peeing on the potty this week. We ate the leftovers that were in the cooloer that Gary and Leah left us from the last two days for our supper. I actually realized that we haven't eaten out or had a real sit down meal in the last few days. I'm craving a heavy meat like chicken or steak, and a huge salad or cooked veggies. Deli meat and I don't agree, and especially not the cheese, so I've been finding alternate proteins like beef collagen powder, specficially made protein packed granola bars, and sunflower butter. I did eat those nasty eggs, too, and because I'm taking dramimine and fennel, my stomach hasn't protested too much. I've kept to tea and not drank any coffee. Just a few chips and dip, but overall, I've cheated a whole lot less than I do at home because I don't have any time to deal with a sour stomach. Abishai actually didn't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, and he was in unfamiliar places, so it took his stomach two days to process things.

We got back home later than expected so it took me a long time to get things in motion for a quick turnaround. I took an epsom salt bath and it helped a ton! More than I expected! I got a load of laundry done and pictures uploaded and backed up. And yseterday's blog typed. I'll be putting pictures and blog posts together by the weekend. It's more important to get the majority of the thoughts and feelings and what was said down on “paper” first.

I'm still a little leery handing off my DSLR camera to others and I'm still cautious asking the kids to line up for a photo, so this will have to do. It's not about perfection.

The zoo is free for the most part and there's some great features like these spitting water sea lion statues near the entrance.

The first zone we visited was the River's Edge zone. It was a very hot day so a lot of the animals were taking naps. I think this one was a bush dog.

Capybara woke up! The largest rodent in the world!

I push it myself!

Colorful birdies.

My critters climbing through a hollowed log.

Hippo! We don't have one of those in Indy! So big! And what are those fish doing? Cleaning it?

Why hi there!

Real log canoe!

We had to cross the mini railroad several times. Real crossing guards!

Walking across the choo choo tracks makes me nervous. It's one of my fears of being a mom that one of my kids gets run over I guess.

Real bamboo forest! Jared wants to of course grow some at home since they grow fast.

Cheetah parents with 8 cubs.

They have a pen for the adult male elephant and one for the older adult female elephant . The children of these elephants have their own, much larger area in the back that you can only see from the train ride.

I like how they incorporated the animal footprints into the sidewalk. We were also grateful for the mature trees covering a lot of the grounds.

Large stone lizard on the wall.

Elephant tracks.

Hiding spot for little guys, living like animals, lol.

We didn't get to see the sun bear or the anteater. I was really wanting to see the anteater! But the sun bears eats ants, too!

One small section was about the marshland in the midwest. It was similar to other exhibits we've seen.

Oh my goodness. I don't think I've seen big mouth bass before! They are huge!

Lots of different kinds of large fish in the Mississippi!

Abishai figured out how to undo the chain in the line for the train.

I think the train ride was about 20-25 minutes and it was a great way to see the zoo without walking the whole thing. It actually went under some of the walkways between exhibits.

Big tunnel!

This was part of the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage and Cypress Swamp. The 1904 World's Fair took place in this massive park called Forest Park and I'm guessing this was part of showing off some of the local wildlife. I don't know when the zoo was created but I'm sure it was after this.

Trainyard! There were 4 train stations around the whole zoo and you could get on and off at whichever one you wanted at any time. In Indy, our train only goes around the Safari exhibit and I think you only ride it once. You do have to pay for a wristband for the train.

They had 3 trains going that day, but can have 5 going at any given time.

More bamboo forest.

There ya go, a real family picture with a statue of an elephant. We had gone out to the van to eat another picnic lunch. We are all about saving money by picnicking

Inside the sea lion show pavilion, they had these massive fans which helped cool down the masses a ton!

Ah, the seal show! It was just as good as the dolphin show back in Indy. I'm glad Jared paid to get in and help me control Abishai though. I like seals almost as much as I like dolphins. I watched the movie "Andre" made in 1994 numerous times where they rescue a seal and teach it tricks and dress it up. I forget the whole story line, but it was so cute and only helped to fuel my desire to go from being a bear doctor (zoologist) to a dolphin doctor (marine biologist.) I am of the "Free Willy" generation. Oh how I loved that movie, too! I eventually got serious about being a large animal veterinarian, but realized that I couldn't be birthing my kids and being their for a horse or cow giving birth, and so I switched to accounting because I love word problems. Strange, but true. I still love the animals though. And these seals were so cute! I wish I had written down their names!

The female seal on the left is just learning some of the tricks, so she started off the show and showed what she could do. She could wave her flippers, stand on her front lifting her tail in the air, glide on the rocks in and out of the water to fetch things, and tried to balance a ball on her nose, but the trainer had it on a string because she doesn't have that trick finished yet.

Of course the seals came out and waved at the crowds. The whole gig was set up similar to the dolphin show in Indy, including a "splash" zone. Since Abishai doesn't like getting wet and I had my DSLR camera, I wasn't going to risk being that close.

They talked about conservation of course and why they teach the animals these behaviors. It helps to stimulate them and helps when the trainers and vets have to do their routine checks. They demonstrated this by having the seal hold her head a certain way so she could get eye drops. Then she was rewarded with fish. And of course, they only paid attention and rewarded the behaviors they wanted and ignored the negative ones. I should try that on the kids!

This guy could do all the cool jumps and fast swimming. He could get up on this block and wave to the audience and even throw Frisbees! They have quite their own personalities and this one apparently loves to show off!

Sea Lion Competition

Fast swimmer.

Isn't he so cute?

Sea Lion Throwing Frisbees

Oh those whiskers!

Beautiful healthy animal!

Yeah for marine animals!

Then we stood in a long line for the touchpool, which was also extra money unless you had the wristband we did. This touchpool had sting rays of all kinds of sizes. Keturah was interested in doing it before she actually got up there and realized it would feel funny. I touched one and it's like touching the sharks back in the Indy zoo. A little slimy, but not by much. Of course the stingers on these guys are trimmed so they are safe to touch. Abishai didn't come in with us and I'm glad he didn't. We had to wash our hands carefully and we weren't supposed to wear jewelry, but I kept my wedding band on. I think we waited like 20 minutes in line in the heat and then she didn't even touch one!

A little stingray.

One of the massive stingrays. It was at this point that Gary and Leah headed back with Benaiah to Indy. I wasn't quite happy that they didn't wait long enough for me to say goodbye, but I had no energy to argue at this point. It was hard for me to keep walking and breathing deeply in the heat because I was so sick. I know Benaiah was hurting, but I was hoping to enjoy other things we did as a family of 6, not a family of 5. I got over it but it still doesn't make me happy when my expectations aren't met.

I guess the grizzly bear exhibit is pretty new. But wow, they look so friendly but they really aren't! I know these bears weren't the biggest grizzlies out there, but they were still big! My favorite grizzly bear was called Sampson and he was on the Wilderness Family trio of movies.

Swimming on a hot day. We were lucky they weren't napping!

Grizzly Bear Swimming

So massive, and again, beautiful at the same time.

Don't you think for one minute that he or she was wanting to give us a friendly bear hug.

It's kind of scary that we can get this close to such a ferocious beast. What if the glass breaks?

Up and down and scratching at the glass!

Um, my son is NOT your dinner. I know Abishai had no clue that the bear was actually wanting to eat him. But both Jared and I had flashbacks to when the lioness in Indy was eyeballing Justin when he was Abishai's age. She was actually pacing in her cage that day staring at him. They seem so friendly and we almost make them seem like our friends in these kinds of environments, but they are predators. They hunt and kill. Scary.

Aw.....

Great pic of one of the trains while we weren't on it. Oh, we made it through the Lakeside Crossing zone (the seals and stingrays) and the Wild zone, (bears and penguins and apes). The boys and Gary and Leah got through Red Rocks zone that had the big cat country with lions and pumas as well as antelopes, giraffes, okapi, ostrich, kangaroo, babirusa, camel, zebra, addax, takin, and somali wild ass. I'm kind of sad that we didn't go through there now that I typed that out. Oh well. We also missed the Historic Hill zone with bird house, primate house, and herpetarirum, as well as the 1904 World's Fair flight cage that we saw on the train ride. Lastly, we didn't go into the "children's zoo" with the farm animals, which also is part of the extra cost, because we figured we could all of that through our farmer friends. We did miss the Tasmanian devil though. That would have been fun to see. Oh well, sometimes you just can't do it all.

The carousel was included in our wristband pass. Abishai loved going up and down on the warthog and was upset he culdn't take another turn on the penguin or monkey.

Tree hugger taking pictures of a tree he thinks we planted in our yard.

Swans, geese, ducks and pelicans!

Yup, we knew that!

This is the 1904 World Fair pavilion. We didn't get out to see it but I think it sits on a hill and here's a big lawn space below it so maybe it's like a stage? Maybe next time we'll explore it more.

Lots of different monuments to different wars and events. This one is called the Jewel Box and even in a hailstorm where other buildings were damaged, this one wasn't. When I went to look up the name, I discovered we missed seeing the whole back half of the park! Ugh! There's all kinds of water things back there, too. We are going to have to stop again when we take Benaiah to college someday! We did see the ballfields that are labeled as Boeing Aviation fields, and a couple of golf courses. Oh, we did see where the free science center, but never saw the free art museum building. We missed the history museum and a huge outdoor theater! Wow, this park is huge!

Last look at the stadium and the arch before leaving town. The City Museum is furthest west from the Mississippi, then the zoo and Forest Park, then Busch stadium and the Old Courhouse, and finally the Gateway Arch National Park.

So pretty from every angle.

This is why I wanted Benaiah with us. We could have stopped in Effingham on our way to St. Louis on Sunday, but didn't. This is a cross that was opened a few days after 9/11. The story is below, but it can be seen from the highway near the 57 and 70 intersection. It's massive! The builders just wanted to have something positive for drivers to look at.

Zoom in and read it. It's fascinating! And we would hope that many who drive by actually take the time to stop and enjoy this wonder!

It's 100 yard across, and I don't know how tall, but massive.

There were these benches and memorials that each contained 1 of the 10 commandments. It played a little audio that explained the significance of the commandments and how our culture is affected or not affected by them today. It was quite fascinating.

Gorgeous day! (And I even captured some sun spots!)

We woke up a sleepy baby.

Now for phone pictures. These poor kids don't know how to use a corded phone! Abishai did want to call Graandpa's room though.

Beautiful entrance to the zoo.

Elephant selfie.

This represents all the caves in Mississippi and southern Illinois and Indiana. It was in the Mississippi River/marshland exhibit.

Sweet cheeks on the train ride. We were at first separated from the rest of our group and Abishai wasn't happy about it.

But at the next stop we switched seats. Train selfie! (I'm getting good at these selfies, yeah!)

Picnic lunch of course with the 35 yr old cooler still going strong.

Abishai playing with the elephant statue's tail.

The seal waving to the crowd. I switched to using my phone during the show because I was taking a lot of videos anyways and I was trying NOT to take too many pictures.

There's the sea lion trying to balance the beach ball which is on a string still because she's still learning. Eventually it will be a soccer ball.

It was fascinating to see the sea lions glide across the pavement.

Close up of the male sea lion. I kept remembering all the sea lions we saw in San Francisco 13 years ago. These guys are from California, too.

Gliding back and forth in the pool for the crowds. They did slide down and jump down the cliffs, too.

Throwing frisbees to the crowd.

They came right up and personal with the crowd. You can't do that with the dolphins. Adorable!

Doing a handstand!

Selfie with the bear statue in the grizzly bear exhibit.

So tired from two full days of walking and seeing and doing.

Finally! I got a picture of the iHeart radio building. It's the app I use on my phone to listen to a particular station called "KLove classics" which plays all the Christian songs from the 80's, 90's and early 2000's. Sweet!

This is what the cross looks like from the road. There's a bigger one on a hill in southern Illinois that was made I think before this one.

Cross selfie.

Gary and Leah left early because Gary needed to make a church meeting. But they left the cooler in our car so we could have a picnic dinner and save money. We stopped at a DQ in Effingham where the cross was. This table was near the drive thru of the DQ but I think it actually belonged to some of the warehouses behind us. No one came and told us to move though. There were some sweat bees, but we ate a decent supper. Keturah enjoyed stretching her back.

We did eventually go inside to get a treat for Abishai for doing such a good job of potty training while on vacation. This is a cool spinner though that the kids played with while we waited for his "pink ice cream" aka strawberry ice cream.