More Pictures from St. Louis

The weather in St. Louis was not very good, as you will see in these next few pictures. On our first full day in St. Louis, Nate and I went to the St. Louis Temple and then to the Art Museum. When we were ready to leave we were greeted by a terrific rainstorm. Nate got very wet getting the car.

Then we decided to visit Illinois. The best part of the trip to Illinois was this really great gas station.

The next day, Nate and I decided to go to the zoo even though it was extremely chilly. The St. Louis Zoo has been called one of the best zoos in the country, so we couldn't miss it. But we were very cold.

The animals were cold too. Many of the animals, like the giraffes and this ostrich, were inside.

The camel was so cold that he was foaming.

The polar bear, on the other hand, was perfectly content.

One of the really cool things about the St. Louis Zoo is that it is really old. They still have animals in some of the beautiful historical buildings, like the Herpetarium below.

We will have to go back to the zoo someday when the weather is better.

The City Museum in St. Louis

When we were in St. Louis Nate and I went to one of the most interesting places I've ever seen, The City Museum. The museum is located downtown in the 8-story former International Shoe Company. The museum is really difficult to describe. When I told people about it I said that it was a mixture between a playground and a museum. I think the City Museum website's description is even more accurate: "an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects." The museum is the brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur. He has collected objects (including two abandoned planes, salvaged bridges, old chimneys and bank vault doors) and architectural features from old buildings in St. Louis and assembled them in a truly remarkable way.

The whole time we were at the museum I wished I was a kid. It was so interesting, but it would have been a blast if I were younger. So, Nate and I had a great time climbing around and checking out all the elements of the museum but we mostly used our trip to the museum to take photos. Here they are:

A Collection of Vintage Ties

Nate as a monkey

Bartending

Captured by a Gargoyle

These slides were constructed from the chutes used to get the shoes and shoe boxes from the top floors of the building to the ground floor so they could be shipped and sold. Now the chutes resemble an enormous cavern complete with a dragon.

Sliding down the chutes.

All over the museum are crazy spirals that create alternate routes to the upper floors.

Nate tries to close the door of the vault.

Emerging from the mouth of a fish

The City Museum also has an aquarium in it. The best part about this aquarium is that it is a touching aquarium.

Touching a shark

Climbing through the tunnel beneath the shark tank

Touching the stingrays

The museum also boasts the world's only living, two-headed, albino snake. We posted this picture just for Blake Edwards. Kristen and Cory, as you can see below, the snake is for sale.

Marble Crazy 2007

Every year at the Moon Marble Company enthusiasts from the Midwest gather to trade, sell, and display their glass creations. The Moon Marble Company is located in the small Kansas town of Bonner Springs, about 20 miles from our home. JoLee and I thought we would pop into their little road side shop/factory for a quick visit, but when we got there we had to park a mile away and shuttle in.



I had no idea that marble making could be so popular. The front shop was loaded with thousands of marbles (and a hundred kids). JoLee and I later bought a few of these small marbles.



The back of the shop was crammed with marble creators who proudly displayed and sold their product. A few demonstrated how marbles were made.



The marbles were stunning, to say the least. They were much more impressive than I anticipated. As one pointed out, glass is one of the oldest man made materials (if not the oldest). As everyone knows, glass is made from sand. The colors in marbles come from various metals in the sand. Due to technological advancements, glass blowers have far more colors to choose from than ever before. Their tools are also more sophisticated. They even use computers to model some of their patterns.

A complex marble can take days to create. Most of the marbles we looked at cost between $50 and $100. However, we saw a number of marbles that cost more than $250, and a few that cost thousands of dollars. Marbles came in all sizes, from a quarter inch to a full foot in diameter.

Below are just a few examples of some types of marbles we saw today. The pictures don't really do them justice, but you'll get the gist.

















After ogling over the fancy marbles, JoLee and I picked out a few of the smaller, simple marbles we liked best.