The Coldest Day So Far - Into The Arch!

Man, is it freezing out here! A little storm rolled in and with it came freezing rain, snow and wind. The temperature was listed at 13 degrees, but with the wind chill it was listed at 5 degrees. Not exactly weather to try out your favorite swimsuit. Yesterday was cold and windy, but at least the sun was out. In fact, yesterday we went to Ozzie's, Ozzie Smith's restaurant on a nicer area of town (for those of you who do not know, Ozzie Smith is a Hall of Famer major league ballplayer who played with the Cardinals). It was nice to get out of the cold and get some good food and check out the waitresses. They were hot.

So anyway, today we started out by going to the Ameristar Casino to hit their buffet. I have eaten there the last two times I came out here and it's a pretty tasty smorgasborg, if I do say so myself. The first time they had all-you-can-eat bacon-wrapped filet mignon. Where have you ever seen that before? This time, no filet mignon, but it was still grubbing. Paul took Thom down to the DMV so she could get her driver's permit, so Matt and I hit the casino...and won a truckload of money!! Yyyyyeahhhh!!! Or maybe we both lost cash. That is more in line with the truth. I only dropped $40. I know I am not lucky. And, like any casino during the middle of a weekday, it was filled with old people who obviously would rather give their pensions to greedy casino owners than to their grandkids.

While Matt and I were waiting in front of Ameristar's million dollar fountain (see photos) for Paul and Thom to come back, it started to snow. And get windy. And there was freezing rain. So it took them a couple hours to get back. And since today's big event was to go down to the St. Louis Arch and we had to drive downtown...you guessed it. Traffic jam!

We eventually got down there around 4:30. Did I mention it was cold? The little ponds by the Arch were frozen over. So we took the Arch tour, which is riding up inside the Arch in these tiny little eggs to the top. They go up a little ways and start tilting forward and then clikc, click, click they notch back to upright position. Once you are in the top of the Arch (630 feet above the ground), there are these tiny little windows you can lean over and look down on the world below through. Downtown St. Louis was covered in snow and very cold looking, but you can still see the new ballpark and the river and the court house.

By the way, did you know the entire outside of the Arch is all stainless steel? That's right! So it should never get rusty, which would be a pretty lame landmark if it was the "rusty arch". It was built as part of the Jefferson Gateway Park, as he saw St. Louis as being the way to unify the east and west parts of the country together for trade and commerce, which is why he put together the whole Louisiana Purchase, if you remember that from high school, kids. Anyway, history lesson over, let's get back to the good stuff.

After riding the egg back down, we walked back to the car. It was getting dark now, so it was getting even colder. Got back in the car, and fought traffic and sliding around on the frozen freeway home. Saw a lot of accidents on the road from people who were obviously not very cautious when driving in snow, or as I like to call them - stupid. On the way back, we stopped by the Mills Mall to check out the Cabela's store there. If you are into fishing or hunting or shooting or camping or anything outdoors, this is the store for you. Not only is it huge, but it has this really cool mountain in the middle of the store with tons of stuffed animals on it. No, not stuffed animals like Kermit The Frog or Beanie Babies, but mountain lions and cougars and bears, oh my! Didn't see any ligers, though.

Decided that dinner tonight was going to be simple - Taco Bell! At least this time I wasn't eating alone in my car in a pharmacy parking lot. Matt is flying out early tomorrow morning (if the planes aren't frozen) and he has to pack. I will hang out tomorrow and then dtart the lonnnng drive back Wednesday morning. Hopefully I won't hit any bad weather, but from what I have seen there is a good chance that I might hit at least a thunderstorm or two. Stay tuned in, though. This travelblog will go all the way until I hit Sacramento, or my name isn't Chris "Ladykilla" Malysiak! Har har!

This and all St. Louis entries of this blog brought to you and paid for by Paul's neighbor with the unsecured wireless network. Thank you, whoever you may be! Your sacrifice (and ignorance to my bandwidth stealing) has put a smile on many a face! God bless you!

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