Lincoln Park Zoo was pretty cool - literally and figuratively speaking - so we all enjoyed watching the great cats in the Cat House. Mr. Lion winked at us a few times then let out a miniature roar, just for show.
The poor Amur Leopard kept pacing back and forth, back and forth. We think he must be bored from protecting his territory from phantom predators...
After the big cats, we mozied on to eat some lunch and by then the sun had reappeared allowing us to visit the Sears Tower!
Sunday afternoon we ventured to Peoria with our cousins Dustin and Nicole, their mom, step-dad, and step-brother. We were all a bit cold and wet from the damp weather so we took a coffee break at the Old Chicago restaurant where we ate, drank, and shook out our sillies.
The whole gang - Dan, Nicole, Robert, Pam, Rob, Dustin, Petr, Magdalena, and my empty seat.
Dustin the creamer-eyed monster!
Rebekah the turtle tongued!
Dan and Nicole's balancing act - 3 creamers!
Our first up close view of the Arch when driving.
Magdalena presenting the tickets for our tram ride up to the top.
At the peak of the Arch. A nice man offered to take our family picture.
Magdalena has no fear of heights! In fact, she seems to really love being up high. :-)
A view of the capitol from the Arch. Even with the fog and clouds, we still had a very nice visit and St. Louis experience.
We hit the Zoo first so that Magdalena could run out her energy and we could eat a picnic. The Zoo entrance is free, but the petting zoo and other fun stuff has a charge. :-(
The entrance has a beautiful fountain full of seal statues, flowering trees, ducks, and koi fish.
Magdalena got excited to see the donkeys. The sign identified them as Somalian Asses. When a kid read the sign out loud, Magdalena was quick to correct him saying, "They aren't asses - they're donkeys!" When I explained to her that donkeys are also called asses, another kid overheard and snickered.
This camel fully disgusted us. He was chewing his cud with spit all around him and on his fur. And, his teeth stuck out every which way - majorly in need of some teeth pulled and braces!
We ended our Zoo visit with a train ride tour. It was so tiny, but Magdalena was just as excited to be on it as if it were a full size machine.
The open road represents freedom - it's exciting, liberating, and adventurous! We began this trip at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville. This Tatra tank, made in Czechoslovakia, was one of our favorites. Petr's brother, David, worked on and drove one of these when he was in the military.
Since the museum was strictly NO TOUCH, Magdalena relieved her itchy fingers in the children's area by riding an old timey car ride.
"Czech it out!" Magdalena pointed out the "punny" fun facts card about a Czechoslovakian car.
Gotta check out the interiors too!
Except in western Kentucky and Illinois where the roads are long and straight with nothing but corn fields! We are on day 4 of our road trip through the mid-eastern USA. We started our trip, appropriately, with a visit to the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN. We've since been in St. Louis to the Arch and Zoo, outside Peoria, IL to visit my cousins and their family, and Chicago to the Sears Tower and Lincoln Park Zoo. Now, we are cozy at the Verbrugges' house visiting with our friends and relaxing. Pictures will follow soon along with stories of our wanderings.
