St. Louis Fun

We have returned from St. Louis! LL had his veterinary conference there (the national AVMA) this year.  We have been to several AVMA conferences now, but this was our first time going with a little person! (Last year the conference was in Atlanta, and that was too close to Mississippi for me to pass up spending the time there instead of in HOTlanta).  We actually drove to Baltimore to get a direct flight to St. Louis, because we found a great deal on tickets.  Such a good deal that we got Collette her own ticketed seat, instead of having her fly as a "lap child" like she can until she's two. I simply CAN NOT IMAGINE trying to hold my very active girl in my lap for more than 4 minutes at a time.  Literally.  I'm not sure it's ever happened where she wasn't arching her back, twisting around, and saying repeatedly, "I want down!!" So we got her her own seat, took along her car seat, and she was strapped in for the entire flight, both ways.  She actually did really well, and I will say it again-- portable DVD players are worth their weight in gold with this girl! :)

St. Louis was a lot of fun, but, as much of the rest of the country can attest, HOT.  We averaged 105-110 every day! And it was not a dry heat! Not quite Mississippi, but close. :) Luckily, our hotel was directly across from the convention center, and there were a lot of great restaurants within several blocks, so we didn't have to do a ton of walking. 

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Our first full day LL didn't have any sessions, so we decided to see (what else?) the Arch! It was only about 15 minutes away from our hotel, which was great. 

We decided to go up to the top of the arch.  When we got our tickets, we were asked if we were claustrophobic at all--and now I understand why! This is the teeny, tiny door we had to walk crawl through:

 to get into our even teeny, tinier little "pod" that carried us up to the top of the arch!

It had six seats in it, and with six people in it, it was a tight, tight fit! And did I mention there are no windows to the outside? I tried not to think about it much, but I do have some claustrophobic tendencies, and it was a looooooong ride up for me! Poor Collette must have agreed-- when we first got in she said "Oh boy!" and squealed with delight, but then the doors closed and the thing started moving, and she cried the whole way up (and down).  Let me tell you what you don't want when trapped in a hot, tiny compartment with strangers-- a crying baby! LOL. Oh well.  Here we are attempting to enjoy the ride up.  At least our fellow passengers were sympathetic!

Finally at the (very crowded, only slightly less claustrophobic feeling) top!

View from the top:

Another fun thing event was the American Veterinary Medical Foundation's Night at the Zoo.  They do a fundraiser every year, and this year was dinner and an evening at the zoo.  It was so much fun, and since it didn't start until 6pm, it was actually cool enough to enjoy it! Collette had a blast, and one of LL's classmates from vet school was there, so we got to catch up with her, too. 

The penguin and puffin exhibit may have been Collette's favorite!

She especially loved seeing them swim so close to her.

(And yes, she looooooves her otter backpack.  She wanted to wear it every day and got lots of compliments on it.)

She was wearing her super cute giraffe dress, so I tried to get a picture of her with the giraffes, but they didn't really cooperate.  Oh well. 

A few of the other fun animals:

The stingray and shark exhibit was her other favorite.  She had a blast sticking her hands in the water and trying to pet the animals. 

We also got to tour the animal hospital, which was really neat.

During the days while LL was in conferences, Collette and I primarily hung out in the hotel.  The hotel has an indoor pool, so Collette and I went swimming every day.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that because I was too busy swimming with her :)

We also had a lot of fabulous meals! Many of LL's vet friends share our love of food, so we got together most nights and tried new restaurants.  Here are a few of the fabulous dishes:

Collette enjoyed her food, too. :)

And I realize this looks like she is trying to stab her otter, but she's actually trying to share her bread stick with him by putting it in his mouth.  LOL:

And sometimes we had enough leftover to have a snack in our hotel room :)

We also got to meet one of the famous Budweiser Clydesdale's.  Collette thought "Chuck" was pretty great!

Collette made a couple of new friends, too.

We had such a great trip!