Somewhere between drying off and getting too antsy in the car Josh noticed one of those historical landmark signs that I talked about earlier. It was a sign for Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood National Memorial. We decided to make an impromptu stop to check it out.
We took a direct root through Illinois to St. Louis, MO. The idea was to get to our Airbnb around dinner to grab a quick bite to eat and unpack the car. Then we were going to attempt to make it to The Gateway Arch for the fireworks. We had my doubts that we would even be able to get close to the area because of the crowds, but hey, we can dream.
Because of the thunderstorm adventure and the extra stop at the memorial we had to make a decision. Try to find some dinner in Illinois before heading into the big city to attempt our dream of fireworks at the Arch or taking the risk of missing fireworks because we wanted to unpack and freshen up from the effects of the rainstorm first. We opted for a dinner stop and fireworks first. But it was the 4th of July and literally everything was closed down! Except for a Five Guys we found moments before they closed up, to grab a burger (and a minute to breathe) before heading into the chaos of a foreign city on one of the busiest nights of the year.
Ya'll, it was MORE than worth it!
We made our way through the maze of people all the way to the front and the kids were so excited to get up and touch the Arch. Percy Jackson really made this event come alive for us! It was pretty epic. And to watch the sunset through the cityscape and then the fireworks through the Arch was a memory none of us will ever forget.
One more note to mention...the way my husband maneuvered our 15-passenger van between spaces I never thought our car could get in and out of to get us out of our parking lot and out of traffic was nothing like I have ever seen!
We finally made it to our Airbnb after midnight.
Here is where I will mention that we tried our best not to force our kids in pictures. This was a trip for ALL of us and if some wanted to be less present in front of the lense we tried to respect that (minus a few exceptions). So don't judge who my favorite children are based on the number of times you see them in a photo, k, thanks.
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