Back in 2019, my mom had brought up meeting up in St. Louis with Haley's crew, during the summer of 2020. We all know how that went. Fast forward to 2025, and my mom found time in both of our calendars this summer to spend three whole nights together during the summer!
It was decided, that since my car seats 8, and Haley's only holds seven, we would need my car in St. Louis. Billy was less than excited about the trip with all the kids, though I feel like they are old enough now not to be miserable, he's just whiny though he calls it "reasonable." lol.
Either way, my mom graciously agreed that the two of us could take the train down to St. Louis, while she and the kids drove down, and then we would drive back, while she and the kids took the train, and picked up Aunt Janet, on the way back!
A little early on Wednesday morning, I helped pack up lunches and snacks for my mom and my dear ones, then saw them out the door, along with our big luggage, destined to meet up in St. Louis later that night!
Our adventure officially started in East Lansing, where we left the van parked, so that the whole crew could get home! Everything is online now, so we were able to secure a three-day spot, and pay for it, so all my mom needed from us was the key!
Multimodal sounds sooo high tech, and yet our train station is just so paltry compared to other countries.*
I am still thankful that we have access to the train that we do!
I was really concerned about the segways that were going to be coming aboard rolling away, but thankfully they had a solution.
I do love the little Amtrak train on the side of the snack box!
After a freight delay (yeah, DB critics, we waited 30 minutes on the tracks, and if our connecting train leaves without us we have to wait until the next day to get to our destination!) We finally made the final approach to Chicago!
Since we upgraded ourselves to a sleeper car, we were granted access, complete with wristbands, to the vip lounge in Chicago. They had free hot drinks and light snacks, and private restrooms! Also, when it was time to embark, they had a guide walk us through the construction to our loading zone.
The Chicago train station is a work of art.
As we made our way to our carriage, there were so many beeps and exclamations from the escort carts. It was a very busy train platform, and felt a bit like something out of an historical novel, written about present day, to someone who leads a far more dramatic and exciting life than I do. Though, with all the excitement I've had recently, I wouldn't trade with them, I don't think I want any more excitement. So maybe it could be just a story about my real life!
A view from our roomette of another, similar, train bound for destinations unknown!
Our train 'snack' cost $30! Billy had a microwave calzone, I had a microwave grilled cheese, and we each had a beer. whew.
Our dinner was included, and it was lovely. We sat at a woman who was moving from Pennsylvania to Texas, and had sent her belongings ahead. She was moving to be closer to her child and grandchild. Our other tablemate was headed from Detroit to Houston, hoping to break into the rap scene.
The approach to St. Louis.
We made it!
I got fussed at for taking photos in the concourse. I don't know why they'd make it so pretty if they didn't want people taking pictures! Once they told me to stop I did, but there were no signs, so I didn't delete any, but these might be verboten pictures!
Outside, while we waited, I took a picture of the manhole cover. It was nice to be back in St. Loius.
We took an uber to join Avia and our Children at the Airbnb, and they couldn't wait to show it to us!
The basement had an arcade and home theater!
All the shoes made me smile, though my mom has a picture toward the end of the trip, with even more shoes, since some people brought multiple pairs!
After a night of catching up, we headed to Six Flags the next morning!
It was hot enough that we all did some waiting in the shade, but so did the Helterbrands, and they live in Texas!
We wanted to be able to reapply our sunscreen mid-day, and lock purses away, so here's our crew filling the entryway to the Locker Hall.
"Everybody hug Avia!"
All 15 of us rode the first ride together, sadly, they didn't sell pictures at the time we were riding it. For the rest of the day, we were split into smaller groups that morphed depending on who wanted to do what!
Enjoying the indoor, airconditioned show!
After this, my mom and Alice were off together, while the rest of us kind of ameboed through the park. Our group passed by Taz, and I didn't take a picture because I wanted all five of mine with him. We never went back for the shot, so the only one I have is Alice with Taz, because Avia took it. I find myself thankful for the picture I do have.
At the very end of our trip, we made a bathroom run, and this ride was straight across from the facilities. Since I was waiting outside, I thought I'd invite the first out to ride it with me. Well, as children came out, they saw us on the ride and ran to join us. It was jerky, but kind of fun, and we made sure to show what a great time we were having to the camera. lol.
We closed the park down, so we took one more picture at dusk!
One the way home, the Helterbrands stopped and got Cane's, and we stopped at sonic. Ordering for the 8 people in our car and a few items for the Helterbrands was quiet the ordeal for the poor workers! They only missed two items, which was pretty impressive! Strangely enough, they were both my mom's! Apparently, they didn't want her to eat or drink. Luckily, we found out before we left.
It was a late night, but when I placed my Sam's Club order, we'd placed it for early Friday, and my mom's surprise cake was coming in that order. So, we had to wait for her to go to bed before we decorated! Haley and I had discussed giving her a surprise party on our trip, and my mom mentioned to her twice that it was novel that we would be on Route 66 for her 66th birthday! So, we had our birthday theme! We decorated the night before, deciding we'd rather have her surprised by the decorations than by the cake.
Juliet made the specialty plates, Grace made the cake topper, Cali, Emily, and Grace blew up and 'corrected' the balloons to say 66. = ) We were getting a little silly while decorating and had an "Avia reaction" 'contest' I felt like Billy won, with his very non committal "huh." lol.
My mom was up long before the rest of the house, but she said she was surprised.
Haley and Cali and Emily all hung the streamers!
I ended up borrowing the Route 66 game poster from Kim, to use as a decoration, but it did make a nice addition to the decor!
The house was so cold, I hung out in the yard to warm up and eat breakfast, such that it was.
Our rental was an old house, 3-stories + a basement! It was plenty big for all of us! A few of the kids slept on the floor, luckily they had sleeping bags. Coyt also was pushed to the couch, but, as usual, he didn't complain!
View of the front door.
Our big event on day 2 was going to the illusions museum! When we first arrived, there was a large childcare group who had just arrived. As we were finishing up, they left, and we were able to go through a second time to catch anything that was too busy the first time.
We had lots of fun playing here!
I think this one was my favorite of all 10 cousins.
I laughed so hard when one of the twins said "let's see what my head looks like on your body!"
I took several of these, and felt like Juliet's came out the best, since she was jumping.
This was the infinity room, which was way cool, but my mom pointed out that this is kind of what our party felt like when we went out together!
This tunnel definitely messed with your senses, and made you feel like you were falling!
Some mind bending puzzles!
A very cool water fountain!
I like St. Louis. It manages to capture that little bit of New Orleans charm, while having a very Midwest feel. We didn't actually eat here; I just liked that they served St. Louis style everything.
Setting up the giant checker board!
Leah looked really cute playing with the corporate art!
We encountered lots of the same corporate art that Billy and I saw the second time we came, so I tried to just take new pictures.
My mom with all of her grandchildren, both sons-in-law, and two of her daughters.
There was no time before the illusions museum to have cake for breakfast, so we had it when we got back.
During out Jellystone camping trip this year, we didn't get to play Bingo at all! = ( So, Grace helped me transform her Hello Kitty Bingo into a 15 player game, so that we didn't have a summer without Bingo. Not everyone wanted to play, but those that did had a good time. There were candy bars involved!
That night, some of the cousins put on a 'show.' They did rehearse it for a while, but it was a pretty slap dash performance. lol.
After the show, Haley, Chris, Billy, and I went out to the Pizza Shop and Bar down the road, to have a few rounds. I didn't have much, because I had an early alarm, but it was nice to chat with them for the couple of hours we did have!
The next morning, I got up to get my mom and children to the train station for their 8am departure. Since we had all the luggage, they got to travel pretty light!
I went back to the rental to help Haley and her family pack up. Then Billy and I did all the last-minute checks, but I don't think we ended up finding any left behind items!
Leaving St. Louis.
We left the greater St. Louis area, and found a little eatery in Mulberry Grove, IL.
We were there pretty early in the day, so I got to order breakfast! Much to my delight, they had what my hero in the Longmire books always orders: the usual! In addition, it is what I usually order. I was so excited! However, when our waitress came over, Billy did something he never does, and ordered for me?! So, I didn't get to order the usual. = ( It was still really good.
While we were eating, a storm blew in and it was raining really hard!
Haley gave me some new stickers that they are listing in their online store, and asked if I could take some pictures while in each of the states. Despite trying to hold a sticker, umbrella, and my phone in this picture, I was happy with the way it came out.
The rain that caught up to us in Mulberry Grove followed us almost all the way to Indianapolis! It wasn't as rainy in Indianapolis, but the traffic was way worse!
The line to check in was also really long, so I'm not quite sure what was going on while we were there! Once we stashed our stuff in the room, we went exploring to find a place for dinner. Indianapolis was much more of a metropolis than I had given it credit for in my head!
We settled on the Capital Grille, since we'd seen them in several cities that we've visited, but had never eaten there. I really enjoyed them! Each of the courses we ordered were really good.
The wine was good too!
That night, we went to an illusion show, in our hotel; guess it was just a theme for this trip. For just a husband and wife team, it was really good! They were personable and funny, and you could tell they'd been doing this a long time!
The show didn't go super late, which was good, because we had certificates for breakfast the next morning! When I ordered the waffle, I didn't realize it would be bigger than the usual plates I eat from! I wanted to try other things on the buffet, so I did not finish the waffle, though it was quite tasty.
The weather favorable on our drive back to Michigan the next day, so the pictures for Haley were a little brighter. I thought the kids would like this lawn.
We decided to stop one last time for dinner, before heading home, and I found a place with fried shrimp for Billy, even though it was out of our way. The view was beautiful, but sadly, they were out of the friend shrimp. = ( Poor Billy**.
My drink was pretty, but apparently my phone thought I wanted a picture of the tree and the lake.
I found a very pretty mural map of the lake!
Michigan afforded me the fewest photo opportunities, so I sent Haley what I had. There were future photo opportunities for this sticker though, since we live here.
At the sonic in St. Louis, we had asked for ketchup to go with our food. On my search through the bags of food, I never encountered the condiments, to when I went to ask for the missing items, I requested the condiments. Once we got home, I found that they did indeed give us condiments for 8, both times!
It was so much Ketchup, that it totally refilled my bottle! We also absorbed the mustard and red peppers.
It was a great trip, and lovely to see my sister and her family! My mom is already planning next year's meet-up, but I'm still recovering from all the summer travels, so I won't think about it just yet.
later days
*okay, so I might be the slightest bit jaded by the trip to Poznan and Berlin, and there might have been less scorn had this post been written before those trips, but alas, it was not, so the scorn stays, as it is justified.
**spoilers: little did he know, Poland had his back.
edit 8-23-25: backdated for continuity.