Dad and I left today [see picture #1], July 4, 2007, at around 2pm. We drove down to the Chain of Rocks Bridge but did not walk across it because it was starting to rain, and to be honest it was a pretty sketchy area. We are going to revisit it on a much nicer day. From the Chain of Rocks Bridge we began the actual driving of Route 66 (this is where it gets exciting), skipping the dodgy part of West Florissant and got on Highway 70 going towards downtown. It started to rain right around this time, forcing [View Full Entry]

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Of course, we had to make sure before we left the country that we had a going away bash at the Lake of the Ozarks. This relaxing fun-filled weekend gave Nick and I a chance to have some good times with the best of company. We sure are going to miss the little macho man, Eli. [View Full Entry]

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Restored text from database failure. Some content may be lost. Today's the day and it's very hard to say goodbye to family. But, in another respect we are going back home as well. We had some early morning visitors who gave us a gift. Teresa, Nathan and Lee made us a "Wilson" of sorts that is to go around the world with us. They've named him "ernst". He will travel in our packs and have his picture taken in front of the world's greatest landmarks! :) Our packs are packed up and Lachlan had to omit a few things. We still [View Full Entry]

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So we're almost off. It's unbelievable to think about. In fact, we really haven't been thinking about it at all. People are asking us everyday, "How excited are you?". We are excited to go on our adventure, but at the same time we've been so busy with work, packing our apartment, getting things together for the trip and trying to see people "for the last time" that we haven't thought about the reality of actually leaving. I have little snippets of realization that things--"the end of the world as we know it"--are coming to an end. The last time we [View Full Entry]

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Entry 2 in the Q and A session... after this one we'll get to talking about fun stuff...! 3. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SAVE FOR THIS!? This is actually often the first question that people ask. I think that the question itself is really just a thinly disguised 'lure', not-so-subtly designed to draw out the answer to the 'real' question ("How much is this costing you!?" -> "How much money do you have!?") Kind of like when a woman asks his husband "What are you doing tonight?", when really she means "What are WE doing tonight?" -> "What are YOU [View Full Entry]

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As a quasi grad school graduation gift to Axel, Laurie decided to take him for an exciting day in St. Louis. We started the day by strolling through some of the cute downtown neighborhood and checking out the flooding situation near the Arch. Because of the massive amount of rain and flooding, the parking area on the levy by the St. Louis arch was completely under water. It really brought home the impact of this natural disaster and its effect on all of the local farmers and homes. The highlight of the day was the St. Louis City Museum http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp . [View Full Entry]

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Okay folks. It is finally here. The blog. Isn't it fun!? Ha ha ha. After much harassment we have finally set this up... there is loads to cover, and we've never done anything computer savvy like this before, so for the sakes of breaking us all in gently, we're going to try and keep this one short and simple... photos, maps and pretty accoutrements like that will no doubt follow in the entries of the future, but for now, light a candle and enjoy the rustic feel of entry number 1... If you're here, you most likely are a friends, and [View Full Entry]

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St. Louis ZooSt. Louis Zoo was just named the best zoo in the U.S., and it's free!!!We decided to go with some friends and had a really good time. The zoo is really big and is well maintained. They create "natural habitats" for the animals to live in, not cages. We spent about 4 hours at the zoo and still did not see everything. More pics to come. [View Full Entry]

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We wake up to heavy rain in St. Louis—first time since the Amarillo deluge way back when on the trip except that lasted for only a few minutes. The rain here doesn’t let up but we have no choice and must go to the Arch. Driving through downtown, we see some cool old historic buildings like Union Station and the old Courthouse but much of downtown seems to have been bulldozed and replaced with buildings from the 1970s through 1990s. This is even more evident when we get up to the top of the Arch and get a better view [View Full Entry]

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We set out for St. Louis, Missouri to visit the Thomases -- more "farm" friends -- the Thomases moved away from Carper's Farm one year ago (almost to this exact date!). We met the newest addition to their gorgeous family...Jennifer and Larry's grandaughter, "Emma." "Aunt Amanda" beams with Emma in her arms! Nora and Emily loved seeing Amanda...hanging out with their friend in her very cool room...the only thing missing was Caroline:-( What gracious hosts Larry and Jennifer are! Jennifer whipped up a yummy dinner for us even though she and Larry had to leave for the evening to attend [View Full Entry]

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