Sainte Genevieve

After our day of rest, we were on the go again, this time to Sainte Genevieve, a city founded in 1740 by French Canadian settlers. Ste Genevieve was the de facto first capital of Missouri due to its population and position in commerce in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

We started our visit at the tourist office, where we saw a short video about the history of Ste Genevieve. From there, we went to the Centre for French Colonial Life, a free museum with artifacts from the early days of Ste Genevieve.

And dioramas of creole houses.

And larger models of "poteau-en-terre" Creole houses.

There are several older houses left in the town.

We also visited the catholic church, built in 1876.

Then we took a guided tour of the Felix Vallé house.

We had planned to make a longer day of it, with a visit to Fort de Chartres as well, but it was an oven outside, so we found a park, had our picnic, and headed back home to pack up. We drove back to Chicago the next day to fly back to France.

Some down time

The last week of our stay was pretty non-stop, since we wanted the cousins to get to experience as many things as possible in the U.S. But we took some down time on Sunday.

Noah found time to make cupcakes from his new cookbook.

Cats eating fishbones.

The cousins played some board games together.

And we had a nice, big dinner, with Aunt Claire & Uncle Curtis, and Betty & Wayne.

Route 66: Old Chain of Rocks Bridge

No visit to St Louis would be complete for a French tourist without some Route 66 stops. Ted Drewes is on old route 66, and so is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi north of St Louis.

It was hot the day we went, but we crossed the Mississippi River on foot.

Route 66 cicada

The bridge has a 45° angle.

The Art Museum

Our cousin Kimberley wanted to visit the art museum, so since rain was forecast one morning, we thought that would be the perfect time for an indoor activity. The St Louis art museum is great - and free!

Even the Philistine found a painting he liked!

I need a dresser like this one.

The Arch (Revisited)

The boys and I had already visited the Arch this trip and discovered the newly-opened and newly-renovated museum, but we couldn't not take Frédéric's cousins to this iconic symbol of St Louis. 

And since we are crazy people, we visited the Arch the same day we visited the zoo.

After the Arch, we had dinner at my parents' house - then loaded everyone up in the van and headed down to Ted Drewes for another classic St Louis experience.

St Louis Zoo

We headed to the zoo early one morning so we could take advantage of the stingray petting pools as soon as we arrived - they're free the first hour the zoo is open.

The stingrays really liked Frédéric. Maybe he should think about a career change.

Noah, me, and Benjamin.

We managed to visit the whole zoo in the morning, and then found a picnic spot in Forest Park for lunch.

Chicago

After our 1800-mile trek from St Louis to Tulsa, Memphis, and Montgomery, and back to St Louis, the boys and I rested for a day, then drove up to Chicago to meet Frédéric and his cousins who flew in from Paris. 

Since the cousins only had a week to visit the US, we decided to stay two nights in Chicago so we could visit that city as well as St Louis, and show them as much as possible during that week.

The day they arrived, the weather turned stormy. It poured down rain as we drove back to our hotel from a Giordano's pizzeria. The next day dawned overcast, with menacing clouds, but we were spared all but some sprinkles.

Our morning started off with some excitement when someone in the hotel forgot their bread in the toaster, which set off the smoke alarm. We had to evacuate the hotel, and three firetrucks showed up to check it out! It didn't take too long to get the all clear so we could go finish our breakfast.

We spent the day downtown, visiting Millenium Park, Navy Pier, the beach, and the Magnificent Mile.

Skyscrapers and the beach - pretty amazing.

Another fire truck on its way out!

Alabama

We left Memphis and drove another six hours to the farm. We hit another patch of horrid, heavy rain about an hour outside of Montgomery - I was going 30mph with my hazard lights on, and could hardly see anything. We were thankful to arrive safely.

Noah bought a book about cupcakes, and was eager to try it out.

The boys actually WORKED TOGETHER to make them.
(Parental mythology right there. No, really, they did work together!)

Benjamin read stories to his younger cousins.

And they got to go fishing!

Benjamin on the back of the buggy, with Noah driving

Noah on the back of the buggy, with Benjamin driving

We visited the happy chickens.

Noah and Benjamin, trying to look cute for posterity

And the last morning, right before we left, they got some shooting lessons.

Turns out Benjamin is pretty good at it.