Sundermier RV Park (by Asher)

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The RV park was nothing special. There was a park across the street that we went to a few times.

We each had two states assigned to us and it was up to us to pick out what we were going to do in them.


I had the green states. Caleb's were blue and Jordan's were yellow. When I was done picking out places, I found out that four of them were in St. Louis. We were already going to be in St. Louis because of Gateway Arch NP.

The four things were: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Co, Botanical garden, St Louis Zoo, and City Museum.

We went to the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Co on Halloween. An employee gave us a free tour of where they make the chocolate. (He wasn't just being nice. They actually do give free tours.)
 

Then we bought a lot of chocolate.



We didn't go to the Botanical Garden because: (a) It cost money and we only had thirty minutes. And (b) We were going to go to a botanical garden in Oklahoma City.

We didn't go to the City Museum either because: (a) It was too expensive. And (b) We would have to stretch to fit it into the time that we had.

The zoo was my favorite of the four (or two) places that I picked out. It was a really good zoo, and it was also free! We got to see hippos and a polar bear, two animals that I haven't ever seen (or remember seeing). We didn't have time to visit all the animals, so I would love to go back.



An unhappy fish

On Halloween we went to a Trunk or Treat and went through two neighborhoods. Our costumes were my favorite out of all our Halloween costumes that we've had. We also probably got the most candy we've ever gotten in a single night. Our costume theme was the Legend of Zelda video game.

From left to right: I'm Link, Jordan's Zelda and Caleb's a bird-man from the Rito tribe

What's that face, Jordan?

Here's my costume from the back

Gateway Arch NP: The smallest National Park and one of the worst. This website ranks all the Parks and puts it in the dead last. (Although I think Hot Springs is worse. I can see their thought process because Gateway Arch is completely man made while Hot Springs has, well, hot springs.)

The engineering on it is really impressive, though. Dad, Caleb, Jordan, and I took the tram up to the top of the arch. It's part elevator, part Ferris wheel and part escalator. Elevator because cables pull the cars up. Ferris wheel because the cars have to rotate to stay upright. And escalator because the cars have to go up at an angle.

There's eight little five-person pods on each tram (there's one tram on each side).

Not a lot of head space

We got good views of the city from the top.



The views of Illinois on the other side weren't great. When we got down from the arch we went to the dock for a boat ride on the Mississippi River. 


Then we made a big leaf pile. 




We had dinner at a restaurant called The Lou. We had four Missouri foods there.

Do I think the Gateway Arch should be a National Park? No, I don't. But I am glad that it is because we wouldn't have gone there otherwise.

You may recall that I had picked out what we were going to do in Missouri. Well, the thing that I picked that wasn't in St. Louis is called Elephant Rocks State Park. Even though this isn't in St. Louis, I'm writing about it because we stopped there on the way to the next campsite. This was the thing that I most wanted to do. There's a field of huge granite boulders there, and my siblings and I like to climb!






Even dad joined in on the fun

We spent a few hours there, exploring the maze of boulders and climbing on top of them. I was tired but happy by the time we left.

Location: Sundermeier RV Park, 111 Transit St, St Charles, MO 63301, USA

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