Three Nights Next to An Arch

Monica, my father, and I spent three nights next to an arch, Wednesday through Friday night. Two arches might make a McDonalds restaurant. One arch makes Saint Louis.

Thanksgiving, we drove to Rolla to be with my brother-in-law's extended family. We knew we were south, based on the horned pig on the wall. There was lots of talk about Hunter's ten point buck, football, and Melissa's cross-country running. We had the kind of Thanksgiving meal that you think about until the next year. I filled my large plate with small portions of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, corn, yams, jello, rolls, ... until there was no more room on the plate or elsewhere.

This was Monica's first time to visit Donna and Joe at Rolla, and my first time since soon after their wedding. But, they just moved to Missouri in 2006, so we have not had much cause or opportunity.

The Millenium Hotel was eerily quiet, with the sound of tumbleweeds blowing next to the entrance. I only saw seven room lights lit, which might explain the discounted room rates, though Friday night, there were quite a few more people around.

Melissa led us to the Spaghetti Works on Wednesday night. On Friday, we went to the Clark Street Station for fancy sandwiches and to Joe's Crab Shack for half-portions of crabs. On Saturday, we ate breakfast at Denny's. We caught the edge of the as seen on TV Thanksgiving parade. We visited the sight of the 1904 World's Fair, bowled at the Museum of Bowling and Cardinals baseball, and went underneath the arch to the heavily secured gift shop. We saw Donna and Joe on Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday night, and Saturday morning-- quite a bit, considering that they were very busy, and the moving truck came to their house on Friday morning.

Since Donna and Joe are short on space, their dog, Scooter, who gets along well with Beau, went home with us. Our Saturday drive was long. We made it all of the way to Saint Paul. Nonetheless, we had time to stop and take pictures of the Maharishi School of Management, and its golden domes of pure knowledge (one for men, one for women). We also stopped at Eldon, Iowa to see the recently opened museum next to the house that was background to Grant Wood's American Gothic.