Memorial Weekend

We left the red clay prairie of Okalahoma, and drove across the wooded prairie of Missouri, all the way to Saint Louis.  We pretty much followed the old Route 66, so it was a lot of fun to see many of the historic old towns and eclectic stops along the way.

Once in St. Louis, we had a delicious dinner of St Louis style pork ribs, a pulled pork sandwich, fried corn on the cob, cole slaw, potato salad, and baked beans.  It was so delicious! We drove to the arch and across the Mississippi River into Illinois. 

From the wooded prairie and farms of Illinois we drove through the rolling hills full of corn fields in Indiana, and into the wooded prairie and farms of Ohio. We stayed for the Memorial Day weekend in Columbus.  We wanted to avoid the holiday traffic, and the upcoming thunderstorms and severe weather.  We took advantage of this time to be tourists and enjoy the sights. 

First we had dinner at Steak N Shake.  A regional fast food chain serving tasty "steakburgers" and thick, wonderful shakes!  I will have to stop at one of these places again!

We spent Sunday at the Columbus Zoo.  It was 92 degrees and humid, but we had a wonderful time.  The polar bears were swimming in the pool and even the gorillas were showing off for the onlookers.  The zoo was large and had a good selection of animals. Our feet hurt at the end of the day, and we drank gallons of water, but we had a really great time.

Today, we went to see the Santa Maria.  It is a replica of the ship Columbus sailed.  We toured the ship and learned how miserable it was to sail in those days!  With little in the way of comfort, those were brave sailors to embark on such long journeys.  We enjoyed seeing all levels of the ship, and even handling the tiller.

For lunch, we stopped at a cafe well known for its monstrous 3/4 pound hamburgers.  We shared one covered with sauteed onions and mushrooms, ham, mozzarella and american cheese, banana peppers, lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo.  It was as good as its reputation!