We almost didn't take a vacation at all this summer because we really need to save up for our big road trip south; but we figured out a way to squeeze in one short trip to Missouri. You can check out how we chose St Louis in our Summer 2016 Planning post.
We decided to just do two nights in St Louis this summer; weeknights to save some money and avoid bigger crowds. By staying two nights at two separate Choice Hotels, we can earn bonus points through the Choice Privileges reward program and we have decided to bank those points for our next trip.
We recently booked our hotels for this tentative itinerary:
Day 1: Drive to St Louis. Dinner in the city and stroll around by the Gateway Arch and riverfront. We have been to St Louis before and have been up in the arch and through the museum; so, this time we are opting for a little leisurely, free sightseeing. We will then continue on to our first hotel and check-in for the night.
Day 2: Check-out after breakfast. Spend all day at Six Flags St Louis (John is working on a touring plan based on what rides our kids are tall enough for and how we can minimize wait times; he enjoys planning amusement park days and is quite good at it). Check-in to our second hotel for the night.
Day 3: Check-out after breakfast. On our way back home, we are going to stop in Hartford, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, to add a little bit of history and nature to the trip, as we love to do. We will spend an hour or so at Camp River Dubois, the spot on the riverfront which marks the official point of departure of Lewis & Clark's expedition. There is an Interpretive Center which we plan to check out; it has free admission. There is also the Lewis & Clark Confluence Tower which looks kinda interesting but we have not yet decided if we will spend the 30 minutes and the $14 to take the tour up to the top.
That is it. Not much to it but I think our family will enjoy the get-away and our travel budget will be much better off come next summer.
