Day 47 - Chicago to Carmi

Goodbye Chicago

I was sad to leave this great city. Outside of California so far it’s the only place in the US that I’ve been able to picture myself living. It’s clean, it’s friendly and yet it has just enough of an edge to make it very appealing. It even has a beach!

St Louis City Museum

This place BLEW MY MIND. It is almost impossible to describe, though the word “museum” goes some way towards confusing the issue. It describes itself as an “eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel” but that too falls short of how epic this place really is. It is an old shoe factory over ten floors that has been filled to the brim with old bits and pieces from other buildings – regardless of suitability or danger. The rules seem to be: if you think you can climb on it, under it or in it, go for it! Whenever you see a hole it almost always leads somewhere completely different. Here are some photos to try to explain it:

Yup, that's a bus hanging off the side

Bottom of one of many slides

Let's call this a six storey high tunnel

Looking down from the tunnel

Looking up at the tunnel

This room kind of looked like the inside of a whale

Levi takes any chance to play a piano (even if it's missing keys)

The Arch

I knew next to nothing about the Gateway Arch in St Louis. I kind of thought it was about four years old. Turns out it’s more like fifty! It is very tall and very graceful. We took a tiny elevator ride up to the top and admired the views. One great thing about it is that it is part of the National things you can see with my fancy annual card so we got tickets half price! It’s definitely worth a visit.

Tiny doors for the tiny lifts

Mississippi river (state line between Missouri and Illinois)

You can see the bottom of the Arch here

Inside upstairs

Most of the view from the Arch is this (the windows are pretty small and far to reach)

Carmi

We are now in Carmi in Southern Illionois, staying with Levi’s parents in a house surrounded by trees – they even have chickens! I will be spending Thanksgiving with them, a proper American Thanksgiving!! SO excited.