This morning the girls woke up early, and the sky was so blue and pretty, I just couldn't help thinking it would be a great day to go to the Overlook to try to get a good photo for the cover of our STL250 book. (The one that I'll make out of all of these cake pictures.) I showed the girls a video on YouTube that had the Gateway Geyser going off. It "erupts" at 12, 3, and 6 each day during the summer months, weather permitting. So we played and had fun (and did laundry) until about 11, when we ventured out for the afternoon. I wanted to get some cake pictures at the Overlook before the geyser went off, so I timed our arrival for 11:30. It worked out really well!
I'm glad I brought Chloe to this spot. She thought it was great! (She was at Memaw and Papaw's house when I brought Holly here for the first time.)
We had our umbrellas ready for when the geyser went up at noon. The wind was too strong for them, and tore them up. (That's what I get for buying really cheap umbrellas. Oh well!)
The Gateway Geyer is 630 feet tall. That's as tall as the Arch. It is the second-tallest fountain in the world. The first is in Saudi Arabia, and it's over 800 feet tall. Our geyser lasts for 10 minutes each time it goes up, and there are four fountains around the big one in the middle. Those start first.
The girls wanted to see it from up close, but I wouldn't let them at first. But I did let them start walking down after a couple of minutes, so that they could get just a little bit closer. Holly got a little excited about that, and went far ahead.
I was glad that we got to see the geyser. It was beautiful! We crossed the Eads Bridge next, and found that cake.
Then, since we were at Laclede's Landing, we found that cake too. That cake is the only cake that is suspended in the air. The girls were very disappointed. They couldn't see it very well! We tried to eat lunch at one of the restaurants, but the waiter was too busy to come to take our order, so we didn't stay. Holly was frowning about that in some of the pictures (on Flickr). That, and the fact that she didn't like the hanging cake. This is the only "happy" picture I have of the girls with this cake:
Next, we went back across the river to Scott Airforce Base. They have a very nice cake there, and we were excited to see the planes!
I had originally planned for this to be a beach day...but the weather really wasn't warm enough. I should have let the girls wear their bathing suits anyway. We needed them! But that's OK...they still had fun in Carlyle, Illinois. The next cake was at the Clinton County Courthouse, which was about 20 minutes or so from Scott Airforce Base. Both girls were asleep when we arrived in Carlyle.
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Holly noticed a rock behind the cake, and tried to climb up on it. She couldn't quite manage it by herself. I remembered some pictures where cakers made it look like their children were standing on top of a different cake in a similar situation, and I asked Holly if she wanted to try it. She was a little nervous, but she let me help her up on the rock. Isn't she a pretty cake topper? As soon as I took this picture, I got her down.
After visiting the courthouse, we went back down the road until we came to the signs for the lake and visitor's center. We saw two nice playgrounds, and as we stopped to play on those, we noticed the beach just beyond the trees!
All three of us thought this was absolutely awesome. But you have to remember that (1) there is no beach anywhere else remotely near us, and (2) we weren't expecting this to be like the ocean, and (3) we just wanted to play in the sand and get our feet wet anyway. We stayed and played for about and hour and a half!
Chloe is using Holly's spyglass to watch the birds. Holly got this at the Arch yesterday; Chloe got an Arch necklace.
There were lots of people there. Holly and Chloe made friends with some other children, and helped them build a sandcastle.
We got home from today's cake adventure at 5:00. The girls both told me that they couldn't decide which they liked better, the lake or the geyser. They were both pretty cool!
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