From Bloomington to Hotel Lumiere to the St. Louis Zoo...Exciting Times

Then we headed to the library, dropped off the books and returned to the apartment to pack. After we packed, we watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I had held off letting the kids watch this particular one, but Daniel and I talked about it and we thought it would be okay.

While we watched the movie, I balanced the business checking account and paid business bills, then it was time for Daniel to arrive.

We packed the Xterra, plugged up the GPS and away we went. We had a nice drive (it is soooo flat here and the corn hasn't started growing yet) and we reached the Hotel Lumiere about 6.

We unpacked, ate and spent the rest of the evening reading my manuals for my new photographic equipment.

This morning, I was awake at 5:15 (after being up until 11:30. And this was not because I was particularly wide awake, but because the temperature in the room was too warm and the room was humid and I couldn't sleep worth a darn. So I got up and did some things I wanted to do...I worked on my Parachute book a bit, narrowing down my transferrable skills. I played some Skipbo on my DS, and I read a little. Then the kids got up. We went to the Bistro for the breakfast buffet. Let me just say, it was very yummy!

After breakfast, I called a cab. I am not real keen on driving in small cities, much less one this large and Daniel wasn't going to the zoo with the kids and I. It was more expensive, but I had peace of mind, so there you go.

We got to the St. Louis zoo around 10:00. The zoo is a lovely place and it is free unless you wish to do some of the 'extras' like ride the train, see the 3-D movie, watch the Sea Lion show. Of course, we wanted to do several of these events, so we got our Safari passes (great deal) and away we went. We saw some beautiful wildlife, rode one of those cool motion rides where it was like we were a log being transported down waterfalls and such (while our chairs moved all over the place). We loved the Sea Lion Show. The whole while we kept watching the sky. We knew they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon and we wanted to get as much done as we could.

We headed to the train station to hop the train from one side of the zoo to the other so we could see the area with elephants and hippos, insectarium and a discovery center. We reached the train depot which was basically a roof, an office for the station master and metal fencing for the line to twist around as we waited. We arrived as one train was leaving, but one was supposed to be coming every ten minutes. A few minutes later a second train came along and a large group filled up the seats on that while rain was pouring down and lightning streaking across the sky.

I was looking at this lightning and at the metal train and wondering how much longer it would be running. Well, it wasn't long. A few moments later, we were told the trains had been stopped and we were going to have to wait for the storm to end before they started again. The rain was coming in buckets. The lightning was close and the thunder made us jump because it was so loud. The adults were busy trying to keep the children back from the metal railing. The station master was trying hard to keep us up to date. Then the tornado siren went off....

You can imagine our dismay. The train depot was at a spot between two tunnel entrances (spots where the train went into a tunnel). These entrances were about 50 feet away. We adults had decided we would take refuge in the tunnels if we saw sign of the tornado that the sirens were warning us of. We were trying to calm a young 2 year old who was in tears because of the storm raging around us.

Then the station master told us that the tornado danger had passed and we noticed the storm sounds were lessening. Maybe 5 minutes later, a zookeeper came and told us we were being taken to the arena (where the Sea Lion show was held). This was due to another tornado warning. I am thinking it was a belated response to the first, but who knows. So we ran through buckets of rain water (not a day for wearing a white t-shirt...yep, I was). After 15 minutes or so in the arena, we were told it was safe, but another storm was coming and we should head to the exits. We needed to reach the North Entrance (which was a good way away....like on the opposite side from where we were!). But we made it and praise God, my knee did not give out along the way.

Once we were back in the big center, we dried off a little. We shopped for souvenirs, and we watched a 3-D movie about the Planet Earth. Then we headed home. I cannot tell you how tired I was. This evening has been busy with dinner (we ordered delivery because it was cheaper than eating here at the hotel this evening). Then I started working on the 147 pictures I took today!

Yep, you heard me 147 pictures! And 30 minutes of video!

Don't worry, I am not going to show you all 147 pictures. I deleted many for being too blurry or just not good. Then I went through and sharpened the colors and cropped the rest. I am going to share one of my favorites with you now and then some more of the best tomorrow. I have been up now for 20 hours and 7 of that was spent walking, standing, running and being afraid for our lives...so I am pooped! But I couldn't go to bed without letting you all know we are here, alive, well and having fun.

Here's the picture:

BTW, I love my camera!