Day 9 - Water park and Ball park

After a couple of days in Memphis our morning needed to be fairly easy and local. Ste Genevieve has a water park that has been opened in the last couple of years. The park itself has flumes, slides, rapids, a kids area, refreshments and is a really nice place to go. We had a slight delay due to thunder but 3 hours of larking about was great. 

Other than the fact it was fairly cheap to go in I wondered how Ste Genevieve attracted the investment to build it. The city itself has less than 10,000 population and our home town of Worthing has 4 times that and whilst we have an indoor pool it lacks the features that a waterpark like this has got. It also draws people from the surrounding area and also provides work for local students too.

From the waterpark a quick dash for food and then the drive north to St Louis. This time to Busch stadium, the home of the Cardinals. Tonight's game was against the Chicago Cubs.

This was my baptism in American sports as I hadn't managed to get to one last time I was here. 

The stadium itself has so many in but retail and food outlets there was plenty of shopping if that took your fancy.

The atmosphere was electric from start to finish. The game itself was fairly fast paced so there was always something to watch, In between innings there were various snippets of entertainment on the big screen and the fireworks when a home run was hit was spectacular.

The final score saw the Cardinals deservedly win 6-0.

Baseball could easily be a game to watch and the Cardinals are definitely our team!

Day 8 - Memphis day 2

Breakfast this morning took us to southern grits. I know it doesn't sound appealing but grits is essentially porridge. We had a mixture of breakfasts between us including waffles, pancakes, and cinnamon roll. First time I have had cinnamon rolls was in the USA and most of my us have been eating them ever since. 

After breakfast our group spilt up for the morning. My wife and eldest went off to see Graceland the home of Elvis, which I had done in my last trip and the rest of us went off to the pyramid, outdoor pursuits store, where you can buy everything you need for camping, hunting, archery, etc. This place also had a hotel, bowling alley, rifle and archery range!

Our next stop here was a trip to Peabody's. Twice a day this hotel draws in a crowd of people when their penthouse residents come down the elevator, along the red carpet and up the steps into the lobby fountain. 

These a 5 ducks that live in the hotel and come down each morning at 11 and return at 5. The hotel employs a duckmastsr to teach them and bring them down each morning.  

This was quite a spectacle and a really nice quirk of the hotel.

One last walk down the Beale before our last stop in Memphis, Sun records.

If you are wondering why I am wearing my scout necker today is 115 years since the first scout camp on brownsea island. 

Sun Records is believed to be the birthplace of rock and roll. Sam Philips discovered Elvis Presley and the rest is rock and roll.

This is a great little tour and shop that is still used as a recording studio. This little place does a really good interactive tour that last about 45 minutes.

Again another must do stop if you are ever travelling in the area.

Our journey back north along highway 55 has a pit stop at Lambert's, home of the throwed rolls.

This place is amazing. The atmosphere, decoration, and staff are all brilliant. The first thing you hear when seated is bread rolls followed by customers hands raised and then the rolls start flying across the restaurant. 

The food here is large portions, well priced and they keep coming round with pass arounds, these are a mixture of vegetables, fried potatoes,and of course more rolls.

There aren't many restaurants that have their own gift shop but Lambert's is one of them.

We left completely stuffed and had an amazing time. So if you are ever in this part of the US then this place is a must!

Day 7 - Memphis day 1

200 miles south of Ste Genevieve is the city of Memphis. The drive down has arrow straight roads for miles. 

 The highways always make me think of the 80s movies smokey and the bandit and I half expect to see Burt Reynolds driving along in his black transam followed by the sheriff!

The landscape for much of the journey is farmland and flat as far as the eye can see. 

Unfortunately our arrival in Memphis was met with more heavy downpours, making the city barely visible as we entered.

After checking into our hotel a short walk was Beale Street, the Beale, with live music, and southern BBQ restaurants. We are at a place called the pig having the BBQ lovers platter.

From there the short walk to the civil rights museum was also a walk of discovery that our waterproof jackets were far from waterproof and we all arrived at the museum soaked to the skin.

The museum sits on the site where Martin Luther king Jr was shot and killed, the Lorraine motel. The museum is far more than just a history of civil and human rights but serves as a place of education for all that go through it. It shows how badly we have treated each other in the past, the life of slaves, women, and also how we still treat other to this day. Whilst noneof us still believe in slavery, society is still battling with racism, sexism, and homophobia among other forms of discrimination. 

The lasting message of the museum for me is simply, we are not done yet. Discrimination still exists all over the world  As a teacher this has to be a continuing message for my students and to those that I have influence over.

There was so much to see and take in and this is a must for anyone visiting Memphis.

The rest of our evening was spent relaxing in the hotel.

Day 6 - Birthday party

So today started with another early start as our lovely hosts found some details about a local yard sale. These are becoming more common in the UK along with car boot sales but this was a first for us.

Rummaging around someone else's stuff looking for the thing that could be our treasure. This yard sale was advertised to start at 6:30am and with no doubt there would be the professionals there before the start time too. These guys are at every market, carboot etc in the UK and they are usually looking for jewelry or records.

Unsurprisingly my daught Hattie was looking at the cuddly toys!

After breakfast a trip to world famous store Walmart. This is really the definition of a supermarket. There isn't much you can't sensibly buy at a Walmart. Everything from groceries, domestic applliances, to sporting goods, and clothes. It is really interesting comparing prices of things from back in the UK. 

The rest of the day was spent celebrating Shelley's birthday. We got to meet some of her family and this gave a chance for us to chat and meet another young family, albeit our kids were older, and watch the social interactions of the kids whilst meeting and learning from each other.

This has to be one of my favourite photos of the day. Hattie and Mia enjoying a snack after paying all afternoon together. The innocence of youth and the immediate bond and connection between them was beautiful to watch. They simply just got on. Proud parent moment.

 Corn hole made another appearance today. I think this is a firm family favourite that we will continue to play when we get back. Just need to make a set of boards.

It has been a real privilege to be part of the family celebrations today. I attempted to make a Victoria sponge style cake for the second time. The first time was 4 years ago and that time it fell apart! That was me.trying to convert measures to grams. This time I picked a recipe out of Shelley's cookbooks and this cake came out far better. Slight sticking of the pan but good spread of jam in the middle and a dusting of icing sugar, confectionery sugar here, and it looked pretty good. For some of the family the jam was a nice surprise in the middle so definitely a successful cake!

Day 5 - Tourist day

Today was a tourist day. We hit the St Louis arch, Mississippi River cruise, stopped by the old Cathedral, old courthouse, central library, basilica, chess center, the local scout shop, Ted Drew's ice-cream place, and some retail shops that my son was desperate to go to.

Some traditional tourist destinations and some that are specific to this particular family. 

The arch is amazing, the second largest manmade monument in the world and we watched the video of its construction and the way that the cranes piggybacked their way up the legs to the middle was a engineering wonder. Health and safety were, far from anyone's mind but the expected 13 deaths from construction, but not one construction worker died in making it.

Unfortunately the cathedral and the courthouse weren't open but I explained the significance of the court house and the case of Dred Scott, and his testing the judge if he had rights as a slave. The judge ruled against him and condemned slaves to property and not people! #humanrights

The basilica was so beautiful with mosaics adorning the ceilings.

This was such a reverend place and was a perfect quick stop on our way across town.

The World chess center on the other side of time had the St Louis club, museum and a shop dedicated to the sport.

There were some guys outside playing games on tables outside the club and they were definitely players. Games were played at breakneck speeds and we watched one game where the guy was seriously running out of time but clinched it with 3 seconds left on the clock.

St Louis has a scout center for the local centers and I spent a reasonable amount of time chatting to Dan about the similarity and differences of our scouting practices, and girl scouts can't be in a scout troop but can be in cubs, and rovers so we will see how that changes in time.

The shop itself was like a sweetshop for scouters with badges, equipment, awards, neckers etc but what surprised me was the lack of a national necker! I asked Dan about Sunday, international scout necker day, he seemed to not know so I'd be interested to hear if he is wearing his!

Frozen custard another food item that I'll add to my food post when we are returning home, but Ted Drewes, is an ice-cream parlour, and frozen custard is essentially what we would call ice-cream. Similar to our Italian gelatino, and just as delicious. This place is a must for anyone driving through St Louis and is always busy. The car park was full and the last time I came through on 2018 schools busses were stopping with students from an athletics meet.

It is great being a tourist seeing the sites, grabbing some culture after a wash out the previous day. St Louis has plenty of history being the gateway to the west in the days of the gold rush. Despite the relative short history here in the US there is so much to see here with the different architecture, and civil war.