St. Louis

A couple weeks ago, Steve had to go to a town close to St. Louis for some business. His friend from work was in charge of the trip so we got to ride along with him and his wife (Jake & Jennifer -- whom we've been hanging out with). We left on Sunday and drove to St. Claire, MO. There were only 2 options of motels in St. Claire, and we chose to stay at "Budget Lodging". We knew going into the trip that it would be an experience... and boy was it!

Our room reminded me of a room you would stay in while visiting your Great Aunt Millie (I don't have a Great Aunt Millie... but you get the idea. . . ). The furniture had probably been around for 50+ years, the bed frame was broken, and the room was cramped. The blanket on the bed was "sandwiched" between two sheets (one can only assume that the reason for the sandwiching is that they don't wash the blanket... ewww) and the bath tub hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long (plus the bathtub had jets... why on earth would a hotel with the name "Budget Lodging" have jets in their tubs to begin with?). Oh well, I can do anything once (and no I'm not talking about using the tub, I just mean staying at the motel!). On the positive side, they did have a nice complementary breakfast and allowed us to have a late check out so that Jennifer and I could hang around until the boys were doing checking out some salt machinery. They ended up getting done around noon, so we packed into the car and headed off to St. Louis.

There was some traveling drama that occured. Once Jake checked in with his boss upon leaving the plant they were visiting, the boss decided Jake and Steve needed to come back; however, they had already been told Tuesday was their travel day back and Steve had made arrangements to stay at a nice Hotel in St. Louis. So we continued on to St. Louis despite the boss's pleas (the boys just ended up doing some work from the hotel and we left early on Tuesday morning so that they could pop into work in the afternoon -- all was well).

If you ever need to stay the night in ST. Louis, go to the Moon Rise Hotel (pictures to the left were taken from inside our room!). Steve got an amazing deal on the rooms from Hotwire. We got to stay in this 5 star hotel for only $75 (which was the same price for our experience at the 2 star Budget Lodging the previous night). The hotel was very modern and space themed which made the stay very memorable! The hotel is also conveniently located along a touristy street so we were able to walk around, eat at an affordable unique root beer brewery, and take in the sites of downtown St. Louis. All in all, this was an enjoyable ending to our travels.

While on our trip, Steve and I got to know each other a whole lot more! This was our first experience traveling with others (besides family). Steve got exposed to different traveling styles (Steve likes to get from point A to point B quickly, whereas the other couple enjoyed taking the trip at a leisurely pace). Another thing we learned on the trip is that we prefer to have it planned out and know what to expect, whereas the other couple enjoyed being spontaneous. Even with the differences in traveling styles, we had a really great time hanging out with our friends!