Welcome back and thank you for tuning into the final post of my St. Louis trip recap! This was a fun weekend trip I took last summer with my best friend, Kelsey, to see Niall Horan in concert and explore the city. If you haven’t already, be sure to read the first post recapping our drive down, the actual concert, and what we did the first day and a half, including a tour of a nearby cave, Meramec Caverns. This post will pick up directly after that ending as we leave the caves and continue to explore for the rest of the night, as well as everything we did on our final day before driving home. The biggest things were the Gateway Arch and Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Like I’ve been doing for my recent travel posts, I’ll include a table of contents so you can hop around to the parts you’re most interested in. This post is equally lengthy for my own recording of details, so feel free to read as much or as little as interests you. I’ll include a couple little recaps and updates at the end of this post: a (short) haul of the souvenirs I bought, my final insights on this trip and year of travel, and some post-grad updates on what I’ve been up to as well as a writing update in regards to sending my second novel out to literary agencies.
Since that’s quite a lot, let’s jump right into it!
Table of Contents
Day 2 Continued: More Shopping + Eating & Going Up in the Gateway Arch
Leaving Meramec Caverns
After our incredible cave tour, we drove back towards the city and did still have some time before our scheduled tram ride to the top of the Gateway Arch. We took some different roads back that wound through hidden ritzy areas and patches of nature amidst the suburbia, which was awesome.
We came in through the suburb of Chesterfield, which is a super fancy area. There was this entire stretch of mansions that just blossomed out of the trees, including this pristine horse ranch! Kelsey said this would be her dream home. According to the tagged location on this photo, it’s actually a mini horse sanctuary, which is cool. Since the houses came out of nowhere, I didn’t snap pictures quickly enough to get most of them, which is unfortunate because they were beautiful.
I got more of the houses on video. I couldn’t BELIEVE how many cookie-cutter and gated, concealed neighborhoods we passed with massive, breathtaking houses. Once again, what do you all do for a living?! How can there be that much wealth in one city?! I almost wish I would’ve studied economics to know.
Anyway, we came to a main road with tons of stores we recognized and love as well as places to eat. We were on our way to Olive Garden just for their breadsticks and salad, which we both adore and have gotten just that before. Kelsey still wasn’t hungry for another meal since we had a late brunch, so this was perfect for a little snack until dinner after our tram ride. I do think Chesterfield would be a nice place to live!
We passed a Sonic! I think it is so interesting how their menus are right by their pumps, and despite seeing them in both Nashville and St. Louis, we still didn’t go to one. I learned we do have them in Des Moines, I guess, so one day I’ll have to try their food!
Salad and Breadsticks at Olive Garden
This Olive Garden had a neat, rustic vibe. It was pretty inside with a lot more open space than the one we’ve been to in Ankeny.
Their breadsticks and salad are just perfection. The seasoning and dressing on both are delicious; it was the perfect snack.
I thought this place looked cute.
Brief Shopping
On our way back into the city, we stopped at a couple bookstores—Barnes and Noble and Half-Priced Books. They were on the way and near each other, so it worked out well. I miss the days when I used to buy and discover or try a bunch of new books, but this time I didn’t find much. They’re all so expensive; I’d rather try new books on Kindle where you can get them cheaper. We passed some more cool buildings, though.
Driving to the Gateway Arch
After that, we made our way into downtown St. Louis where the Gateway Arch is. Once again, I’m thankful Kelsey drove, though traffic wasn’t too absurd. Something absolutely crazy did happen on the way over, though: my mom either texted and then I called her or called me to tell me Donald Trump, who was in the middle of campaigning last summer, had been shot. She said she watched it on TV and he was bleeding but he seemed to be okay, and the Secret Service got him out of his rally right away. I immediately told Kelsey and started searching for more info on the way over, and I was DISGUSTED how every article that came up had a headline that literally said he “fell.” I started wondering if he actually had been shot like my mom said…but he was! Thank God he was okay. I won’t get into politics in this post, but it was astonishing how corrupt and blatantly deceitful the media can be, which unfortunately is nothing new, and I did vote for Trump in the last election; knowing how much foul play was behind that is frightening. Thank God he won for that reason alone if you don’t like him for anything else.
It was different going under these big bridges into the heart of the city. Some of it seemed a little sketchy to me, but it was all fine.
We passed right by the Armory.
Off to the left below, you can see a big ferris wheel and bell tower, which was where another cool attraction was with a big depot. That would’ve been neat to see, I’m sure, but we didn’t have time for it all.
There are a lot of attractions downtown, from the aquarium pictured below to museums and more.
We had a great view of the arena where the St. Louis Blues professional hockey team plays!!
See, being stopped on these bridges freaked me out a little. There’s one right above us, and it was like we were driving through the buildings.
Once we got into the heart of downtown, it wasn’t as busy, and it was neat to see the different skyscrapers.
We were so excited getting closer to the Arch!
This must be part of where AT&T is headquartered.
Look at that beautiful view! Right over the old courthouse!
We still needed to find parking and then had to walk the rest of the way. I don’t remember exactly where we parked except that it was in some ramp nearby, and I don’t remember what we paid. I almost want to say $50 or something crazy like that, which when you split it isn’t TOO bad, but it might’ve only been 20.
I believe we parked around the corner to the right in the below photo. As you can see, you can’t get much closer to the Arch. There might’ve been other places to park if we’d researched ahead of time, but what we did also worked out. I wish I remembered how we found it, if we did actually GPS nearby parking or just found it on the fly. It was surreal to see this!!
Gateway Arch National Park
I didn’t realize it was actually considered a “national park,” but that’s what the sign said! There’s a big building right behind me that looks like it blends into the ground underneath the Arch. It was even bigger in person, and you could see the little specks of windows at the top! That’s where we were headed!! I am so glad we were able to see this. It truly is a marvel.
There’s a neat walkway over the building right below the Arch, too. We went inside to check in.
See, I’m not lying. They classify it as a national park.
It was kind of a funky vibe walking underneath this ceiling to a wide open room reminiscent of a cafeteria. There were gift shops and places to get snacks, but our tram ride was scheduled for the end of the day, so it was much quieter as places began to close down. The tram ride station was off to the right.
Our Ride to the Top
Perhaps the reason we were able to book our tram ride after thinking they were already full for the day is because there’s a north and a south tram ride. Either way, thank God we got to experience this. We were so excited and relieved once we got checked in and made it on time!
Each tram ride consisted of different “cars” that seated about five people.
Each of the cars were staggered, so we lined up by our tram car number and waited for the people coming down to get off.
They projected some cool facts onto the tram car doors, like this one attempting to put into perspective how tall the Gateway Arch is!
We learned St. Louis was referred to as the “Gateway to the West,” and there are lots of historical displays we saw on our way out. As you can also see in the photo below, it takes four minutes for the tram to reach the top of the Gateway Arch and about the same time to go down.
We were excited to go up but a little nervous to see what it entailed! As the doors opened, a blue glow emanated from inside, making it look like a spaceship pod. You have to watch your head while you’re getting out, too; the cars are pretty tight. Claustrophobic people would not do well.
There were just these white slabbed chairs that had a slight curve to them. They were comfortable enough.
Here we are inside the tram car. They are small! We sat with two younger women that were related with their little boy. You can’t really sit up straight since it’s tiny and the walls curve.
I recorded the ride up, and sure enough, it was about four minutes! It was actually a little nerve-wracking because there was no cover on the door, so you could see all the internal workings of the Arch—the stairs and tools the workers use to maintain it, the cables pulling the tram… I was sitting closest to the door, so I could almost look straight down. On the video near the end, I said, “I think my mom would actually hate this,” because she’s afraid of heights as it is, and she’s taller than me and gets claustrophobic easily. The little boy said, “I hate this,” and giggled, which caused us all to burst out laughing.
I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from going to the top of the Arch since the views and experience are incredible, and the car moves at a relaxing pace, but I feel like I couldn’t not mention how small it is. I definitely don’t feel like everyone would enjoy that experience. I took lots of photos and videos for my mom; I think this is one attraction she wouldn’t mind skipping.
At the top, there were some stairs and a much wider walkway into the actual Arch, and it was curved a bit. There were small, rectangular windows like we could barely make out from the bottom that offered extraordinary views of St. Louis and the horizon for miles on both sides. I thought it was well worth it!
Look at THAT. One of the things about St. Louis and the surrounding neighborhoods I noticed and found surprising is how there were several different clusters of skyscrapers, which you can see below. This is looking west.
They had a divider between the two ends so that we wouldn’t go back down on the wrong side. We had a decent amount of time to peruse the facts plastered above the windows and take in the views and get pictures.
This was the view of the east side of St. Louis. Look at that stunning reflection over the river!
Not to ruin the beauty or the moment, but this would probably be the time to comment on our overall safety on this trip. It’s probably no secret to anyone but me at the time that St. Louis is one of the rougher cities in the country with an unfortunately high crime rate. I genuinely had no idea about that until my dad made some “jokes” about avoiding the east side because he used to travel across the midwest for a previous job and said it was sketchy. Kelsey heard a little bit about St. Louis being ghetto in certain parts, and everywhere we went, we always checked the GPS to make sure it was on the west side of St. Louis and not the east! But then I learned, after doing further research once I got back, that St. Louis is actually one of the most violent, crime-ridden cities in the country, right up there with and even beating Chicago and Detroit on some rankings. The east side is known as the worse side, but there’s crime in various parts of St. Louis. I also read that even the downtown area—WHERE WE WERE WALKING—isn’t as safe because you get shady people there who linger and it’s not as tourist-heavy as the Strip of Las Vegas where you can walk in crowds, and that was definitely true. Kelsey and I were by ourselves for the most part on our way to and from the parking garage, so thank God we were okay.
To be honest, I never felt unsafe. I was on my guard for crap like that, but I never felt like we were near anything sketchy. There were two times I felt a tad uneasy: walking back to the car, which I’ll recap in a minute, and getting pizza that night, but nothing happened. It’s probably not the best city for two young girls to explore by themselves. I wouldn’t go again, but I thought that even before learning how bad the crime is. I felt like I was able to accomplish what I wanted to.
East St. Louis is actually in Illinois, which may explain some of the crime.
There was actually a baseball game taking place in the stadium below on the left! You can see leftover smoke from where they shot off fireworks, which we got to see 600 feet above!! I’m thankful there was a game because that created some small crowds walking around us as we made our way back to the car.
The people LITERALLY look like ants. We wandered on the grounds below, too, once we came down.
There’s the north view, where we came from. It definitely flattens out in a hurry.
I got a picture with the baseball field in the view.
I love learning about skyscrapers in the cities, and they had a map of some of the most prominent buildings we could see!
The windows are narrow, so you must lean over to look through them and see everything, but it’s worth it.
Some of these facts are CRAZY! Supposedly, the Arch can survive earthquakes and can sway more than a foot…
After our allotted time to take in the views and pictures, we took these steps back down to our trams.
The Museum and Courtyard
The tram ride down wasn’t as bad, and we had just enough time to check out the gift store before it closed. There were so many cute souvenir items, and I decided on a pretty rose gold mug you’ll see at the end of the post. As we walked out, we didn’t have time to linger and explore each of the history exhibits, but I took a picture of each “era.”
This is the old courthouse in front of the Arch, and the sunset framing it was beautiful.
It was hard to believe we were up in the center of this incredible monument!
A lot of people hung out here to take pictures.
I FaceTimed both my mom and dad to show them the Arch in person as much as I could. They thought it was amazing.
Look at how this building below was designed to look wavy.
The sun is setting on the Gateway Arch!
Kelsey also FaceTimed her mom to show her the Arch, and then we walked back to her car. We passed a lot of cool, tall buildings.
Goodbye Arch! I praise God I got to see it.
On our walk back, the only sketchy thing that happened is a beaten-down car drove by and cat-called us. I don’t know what, if anything, they said, but they did honk at us. Thank God they didn’t stop or anything else. That’s kinda when I thought okay, maybe we better hustle. Except we still stopped to take pictures of each other downtown… I guess you probably don’t fear until you’re given a reason to fear, but by that point, it could be too late. Praise God for keeping us safe; you can’t live in fear, either, but knowing what I know now about St. Louis, I probably would’ve been a lot more thoughtful about us walking down there relatively on our own. We did get some pretty shots of the sunset sneaking through the cityscape, though!
We saw a little carriage being pulled by a horse like in Nashville! That must be a thing to do in the cities.
We got a better view of the breathtaking sunset as we walked up the stairs to Kelsey’s car.
Driving Around for Donuts and Domino’s Pizza
We had a bit of a late-night craving for some donuts. I forgot that I actually found a Krispy Kreme, I believe, that claimed it was still open on the GPS, and we practically skipped up to the doors because the lights were still on, only to get there and see they were closed, and the workers were all sitting at a table watching us! Would’ve been nice if they let us in but that’s fine! Instead, I did some quick searching for any sort of donut shop/bakery that was still open after eight o’clock at night, and I did find a place way off in the neighborhood of Fenton, I believe. While we were driving, we enjoyed the sweeping sunset lighting the sky ablaze.
What a view!
I spy a building with a name I recognize—Purina.
We even saw some stunning glimpses of nature between the hustle of the city.
Like I said, we ended up in Fenton around a strip mall area that had a small bakery inside it. We were the only ones there, I think, and I got some assorted mini donuts that hit the spot. The gentleman there seemed tired, but he was nice.
We also went to a nearby Domino’s to get our signature half-cheese, half-pepperoni pizza we’ve shared several nights together in college. That was kind of off the main road, sheltered by lots of forest-like trees, and it was dark when we arrived. Kelsey ran in and got it for us. I didn’t feel uneasy in that neighborhood, but we were both startled when we heard popping sounds as we drove by. Someone was just lighting off fireworks, though, literally in this gravel pit-like area right off the road on the way to Domino’s. We enjoyed the pizza from the comfort of our sketchy little Airbnb, haha.
Day 3: Missouri Botanical Gardens, High-End Shopping at Plaza Frontenac & Driving Home
Leaving the Airbnb
We didn’t do much the previous night, and we were ready to sneak in our last bit of exploring before leaving St. Louis for good. It was a great trip, but I was also excited to see my family and get back into a normal routine again. I wore another Lilly Pulitzer set I had, and it was going to be another hot day.
Exploring the Missouri Botanical Gardens
We had our leftover donuts for breakfast, I believe, and made our way over to the Botanical Gardens, which are in the neighborhoods of Botanical Heights and Forest Park Southeast. We found this adorable spot shortly before arriving!
The Missouri Botanical Gardens are acres and miles long. In Ames, where Kelsey and I went to college, we have the Reiman Gardens, which are a pretty, neat spot, especially all decked out for the holidays, but they are contained to a mere block. This was a whole neighborhood of greenery and floral beauty. We found parking in their lot, and despite the heat, lots of people were filling the lot! We checked in and got our maps with SEVERAL exhibits… Oh my gosh, we didn’t even make them all, but I think we hit most of the spots we wanted to see and traveled most of the gardens. We started out walking by their beautiful fountains to the Climatron, that big gazebo-looking thing.
This little pond or pool area, called the “Central Axis,” was beautiful! I loved the lily pads and lanterns inside it.
After that, we entered the Climatron. That was a nice break from the sun.
It was like entering a rainforest! There was pretty much one main “trail” that wound its way through the whole Climatron.
This is a stunning sight. It almost seems like we are in some tropical, remote place.
Look at these giant leaves!
We stopped often to peek at the different plants and vegetation and take pictures. These pale lavender flowers are gorgeous.
I had to take a picture of this baobab tree because I’ve seen surreal photos of these huge, spectacular trees in Africa, where I believe there’s actually a specific location or park you can see them in full splendor, and that’s on my list of far-fetched places to attempt visiting someday.
I’d say it was pretty tall and spectacular here, though! It amazes me how all of this can be carefully cultivated in a glass dome.
These look like giant cattails, which I had an obsession with when I was young. My dream back then was nothing more than finding one of those to make poof into thin air. My parents one time even picked some for me on the side of the road on their way back from somewhere, but unfortunately, they were too wet and didn’t “work”!
I loved these pops of pink.
This looks so enchanting.
After we finished walking through the Climatron, it was back to feeling the sun squeeze through every pore. There were lots of trees but also lots of open areas to feel the heat. We wandered to whatever caught our eye next.
These lamb statues were adorable!
We made our way to the “Center for Home Gardening,” where a rainbow of flowers awaited us. I already thought the eye-catching chimes and decor were pretty.
Okay, I need something like this little shelter. The dangling glass bulbs remind me of bubbles, which look so whimsical and delightful.
A fiery display of bold, layered flowers at the foot of the fence greeted us as we made our way into this section of the gardens. I had to get a picture by these hot pink flowers!
WHAT a view. This looks like something out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Even though I have no experience in gardening except for a brief stint with my family’s “rock garden” as a kid, I really do want to have a beautiful garden someday with lots of colorful flowers, especially pink roses, I’ve learned. The Better Homes and Gardens website actually has a whole glossary of pretty much every flower imaginable with instructions on how to grow them. I’ve found lots of inspiration for ~SOMEDAY~.
We walked alongside rows and rows of flowers that appear as though they’re growing straight out of a field. Even though it was hotter than crap, it was lovely.
Another neat fountain! These look like geese my dad and brother would want to shoot. 🤣
This is a colorful crowd of “impatiens” or touch-me-nots according to Google. I’ve never heard of them before, but their vibrant colors are striking.
This assortment captivated me. It literally looks like an overflowing waterfall or rain trickling down. The colors together are stunning.
Look at these warm blooms extending down the trail! These were beautiful, too.
We continued walking farther into the gardens around the little lake that looked so romantic. This was a neat stone statue.
I love a nice waterfall!
Look at this lake with that beautiful, tiny bridge perfectly encompassed by trees. Despite the slimy moss floating around, this looks like the most romantic sight I’ve ever seen. It’s too bad we couldn’t take a ride through it and get some pictures on the lake!
I was hoping we could get some swoon-worthy photos on the bridge, but it was blocked off. I’m not sure if it always is or if they were doing something to it; maybe it is just for decoration, but it’s so cute!
Ahh, my heart gets so happy just looking at photos of these pale, baby pink lily pads! I don’t think I’d ever seen a real one before. They are SO pretty.
We found this cute dock! My gosh, from the brown, smooth bridges blending with the water to the curves holding sweeping, dangling trees, this looks like a slice of paradise.
We did a lap around the lake, savoring every moment shielded by trees. We were burning up under complete exposure to the sun.
As we crossed the bridge, we saw some big fish and beautiful mallard ducks! I wouldn’t mind having some pet ducks someday.
As we kept walking, we came up on this fancy house.
It had the most incredible landscaping.
This house is beautiful. I don’t know if I want to try describing the architecture style in case it’s not what I think it is, but it’s giving elegant, slightly gothic vibes. This is a real house that was inhabited by a family decades and maybe even centuries ago. I LOVE seeing old houses like this. We had a house/museum a lot like this on Iowa State’s campus I got to tour for one of my classes, and it’s amazing to see how different things were back then without the technology we have now. I didn’t realize the Gardens had this house to tour as part of its exhibits, but I’m glad we got to see it.
This is right inside the house. The wallpaper choices are interesting, but it all comes together and creates a nice look.
This is what the dining room looked like! Kelsey and I appreciated the pink accents on the dishes.
This is what the kitchen looked like. It looks like they did have a stove, though much different from what ours look like now. I admired all the vegetables and bread and the fact that in this era, you didn’t have to worry about all the food processors poisoning absolutely everything. It’s sad that you must go out of your way to find food that is actually healthy now. I’ve often told my mom we ought to just grow a garden ourselves and make everything from scratch, but now our society has been designed in such a way to make that almost impossible amidst everything else we must accomplish in a day. That, I don’t like about modern life.
We went upstairs to check out the bedrooms. Those were some of my favorite rooms. I love the huge, chic beds with the canopies! They look like something out of a palace. Whoever lived here must have been wealthy.
This is the bathroom, which didn’t look too different from a bathroom we’d see today.
Look at the tall window with a pristine summer view of gardens and foliage and the desk right in front of it. This makes my writer heart happy. This is like the romantic, academic aesthetic of English writers. It’s inspiring.
After walking through the house, we walked to several other flower gardens grouped together by type. There were several rose gardens we sought out. I think this baby pink flower below is a shrub rose, and it is precious.
While we were walking, I couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it would be to go swimming because of the heat. There was a fountain in the middle of one of the sidewalks you could walk right into, though, so I was able to get my legs wet, and that was a nice relief. Then we saw more water lilies! This pastel yellow is another favorite color of mine.
At almost 11:30 and near the entrance again, we wrapped up our exploration. We weren’t in too big of a hurry to get home, but I wanted to leave at a decent time because once I got home to my house, Kelsey had to drive an hour back to Ames, and I had to drive almost four hours back up to Estherville to go to work in Okoboji the next day!
We stopped to see some more roses, though! These might be my favorite flower. I saw so many pink ones in the prettiest shades of baby pink and blush pink.
Before we left, we stopped by the gift shop and perused all the educational books, cute souvenir items, and plant paraphernalia. I picked something up there, as well.
Shopping at Plaza Frontenac
There was one more mall I wanted to check out before we left. It was Plaza Frontenac in Ladue, and oh my, that must be another wealthy area. Luminous mossy green trees hugged and shielded mini castle-reminiscent homes that looked like mansions from a colonial era. If you’ve ever seen or heard of “new money” versus “old money,” Chesterfield reminded me of new money—lots of modern brick mansions and a bustling suburban presence with all the modern staples like Ulta, Sam’s Club, etc., but this area was fancy, fancy, fancy like old money—elegant and almost royal. That’s how the mall was, too.
I’m more new money vibes-wise, but in practicality, I’m no money. My style definitely leans towards more of the carefree, flashy modern than the reserved, sophisticated elegance of old money. Not that I can’t also appreciate that, but this mall was a little off-putting because it catered so much to the latter. I’d never been in a mall like it, but it was neat to see. I wanted to see Saks Fifth Avenue in person because it’s a high-end designer department store, probably the most high-end out of all of them like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, or Macy’s. Carrie from King of Queens is always shopping at Saks, too. 😊
There was a PBteen at the opposite end of the parking lot separate from the mall. This is a high-end home decor store designed for a younger audience from Pottery Barn. I purchased several of their items for my dorm because they have such cute, girly finds, but they’re EXPENSIVE! I got a beautiful pink comforter for them on sale a lot, and then when I had some money to blow after one of my summer internships, I did splurge on a big, fluffy bean bag for my dorm, which was hundreds of dollars but worth it. I thought about going in here, but since we didn’t have a ton of time, we held off on that to just check out the mall.
We walked in right by a Gucci! I think I have a photo of a Gucci store in Vegas, Nashville, and now St. Louis. Well, most people know Gucci when they think luxury brands. We didn’t go in too many of these, though, since we knew we couldn’t buy anything.
We did wander around Saks, and this time, there was tons of open space and very few racks with merchandise, creating more of a refined, exclusive experience. I didn’t find anything too interesting that was even affordable, but I do think luxury is a joke. I suppose it always kind of has been, but this is what finally proved it for me: I picked up one of these Valentino flip flops. I had a pair of these in black that were almost exactly the same style from a local boutique in my hometown. I thought maybe the material on these would be something magical and different I’d never seen before considering they were almost $500. They felt exactly the same. They’re literally the same rubber, flimsy, basic sandal. But $500 because it’s Valentino. Just…wow.
We went into a couple more stores after Saks. They had an Alo Yoga we checked out, which was almost unsettling because practically all the products were either black or white. Do the rich not like color? I suppose if they’re old money, probably not. We did check out Neiman Marcus briefly, but I was done at that point. There was too much stuff to thoroughly check out, and you knew it was all going to be super pricey. They had a Lilly Pulitzer store I checked out (the sweet associate recognized and liked my outfit!), but I didn’t buy any $300 sets this time. I made it through an entire trip without buying any merchandise except souvenirs, and it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying! I actually had self-control, and it felt good. Like I said, saving can be its own pleasure. I still like to shop, but as I get older, I’m looking to spend more on things I haven’t as much, like spa treatments or trips. I still want a designer bag, though. I just can’t let go of that luxury fantasy completely. 🥲 Anyway, I had to get my picture outside Saks.
Tongue out because eat the rich haha 😂
Interesting Sights on the Drive Home
After that, it was time to head back to Iowa. We stopped in Chesterfield to sit down for lunch before we got going too far. We just ate at Wendy’s, which was fine. As we left Chesterfield, though, look what I saw! THE ultimate luxury car dealership!! Look, there’s luxury in Iowa, like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and maybe even some Porsche dealers, and then there’s luxury. I don’t even know if you could go to a dealership for one of these car brands in Iowa. I’m not sure what the other two brands are concealed by the shrub here, but Rolls-Royce is definitely top of the line; it was only recently I even learned what they and the bottom brand, Aston Martin, are. Someone I worked with in Okoboji last summer pointed out an Aston Martin SUV to me while we were driving around on one of our errands and that they cost more than $150,000. We followed them and saw them pull into an equally nice mini mansion on West Lake Okoboji. Must be nice…! But I could NOT live with myself for buying a car that costs as much as a house. Think of the insurance! Then again, if you’re that rich, you probably don’t even need insurance; just buy a new one as soon as you get a door ding. I will say, though, that I saw an exclusive baby pink Aston Martin SUV that literally sparkles online. It is ME in a car. And I think they only made one of them. Imagine the price of that. Well, maybe I can have that car in heaven.
Back over this bridge…
Here’s another massive fireworks store we passed before leaving Missouri for good!
Back home! “Fields of Opportunities”… Where’s my job?!
There’s the I-80 view I recognize: WINDMILLS.
Well, praise God for a successful, memorable trip. Thanks again to Kelsey for DRIVING! She got us back to my place safely, and then my mom actually led us to Estherville because she was going to spend some time with my grandparents and me, but we drove separately because she would obviously go back home much sooner than me. Ames is on our way to Estherville, so Kelsey followed us as we left. I had just enough time to unpack my souvenirs and take pictures, so that is what I’ll recap next.
What I Bought
Well, I’ve got a confession to make… I bought this beautiful glass bird at the Missouri Botanical Gardens gift shop intending to give it to my mom, but the pretty blue and light pink paint with golden accents won me over, and I asked her if I could keep it instead… Of course, my mom let me have it, but I probably should give it to her because she loves watching birds! We have several feeders outside our kitchen window by the trees there.
This radiant pink quartz rock I picked up from the gift shop at Meramec Caverns. I don’t know how authentic it is, and I definitely didn’t see any of this in the caves, but I thought it was gorgeous, my favorite shade of blush pink.
Lastly, I picked out this beautiful black mug with a rose gold overlay of the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis skyline. It even has traces of sparkle/diamond shapes I love. I don’t use mugs much right now because I don’t drink coffee, but these will be nice when I am on my own someday. I do like drinking hot chocolate out of mugs, and I can always use them for makeup brushes or all my pens. Overall, I thought each item was the perfect memento for each place we visited and very well suited to my personality.
What I Learned from This Trip & Reflections on Travel from the Last Year
I think I’ve said this about every trip I’ve been on, but let me make this perfectly clear: I am SO grateful I got to go on this trip. It holds so many fond memories for me, and thank you for allowing me to share them with you. That being said, especially the night of the concert, I remembered thinking and writing down some of these thoughts and later on as I went to another concert in Okoboji.
You know what scares me most about this life? The constant temptation and urge to want MORE. It seems like the MORE I travel, the more I want to continue to do so, and the more money I get, the more I want to add even more fun things to my life. I see why people try to chase whatever they deem “the top” and then feel empty if they get there—because after that, what’s left to chase? I must vehemently reject this mindset. And when you do, it’s not that things mean nothing to you, but you’re free to enjoy them all the more for what they are.
It was a busy summer, and I spent a lot of money. I’ve been trying to undo all the damage from shopping a ton throughout college, but I think I spent just as much on entertainment stuff like concerts, activities, etc. And it was fun, and I’m grateful; when I was in high school, I felt like I was in prison, hardly ever doing anything fun, watching everyone else who was older going out and doing all these things and living the good life on Instagram. I want you guys to know from all these trips I’ve now been on and everything I’ve done that a lot of it has been fun and I’m grateful I’ve gotten to do it, but most of it is also not as fun as I thought. This is literally what I wrote at the time: “I tell you, I’m so ready to just chill this fall, find something for work, and just start reading again. That’s what I’m going to spend money on—cheap books from Amazon. I want to fire up my old tablet and start using those and just enjoy a chill season. No more trips, no more concerts or anything. I’m sure I’ll be ready to go again come February, especially to the Bahamas, but I’m ready to chill now.” And praise God, I got to. And guess what I wanted then…? TO TRAVEL AGAIN!
Actually, not quite. I think I did savor the fall season, and I started a new job, which I’ll recap in a bit. But after some things that happened in the spring and I made some life changes that made me feel like I’m back in high school…boy, was it easy to idolize those busy seasons again. Maybe that’s the real moral of the story. You’re always going to romanticize what you don’t have. It didn’t matter that Eve lived in paradise; because there was one fruit that was forbidden to her, Satan was able to convince her that it couldn’t really be paradise (see Genesis…). It’s the curse we now live with, and I battle it daily. You have to choose to appreciate the life you have, even if you don’t think you’re where you want to be yet. Because getting where you want to be isn’t going to magically correct that mindset.
The thing I’ve learned from doing all this that I wish I could explain is that going out and doing all this stuff actually leaves me with a void. It doesn’t fill me because I have Someone else filling me. I finally know the good life isn’t as good as it seems, and when I’m away from God too long and not being still with Him enjoying the simple things, that’s when I get depressed and burnt out. My introverted personality probably contributes to that some, but it’s deeper than that. Most things I idolize I realize don’t mean as much as I thought. I really think the people chasing drinking, partying, and other “fun” events are the ones trying to fill the voids with it, and it won’t ever satisfy. I think they try to convince themselves that it satisfies them, but true contentment isn’t flashy.
Anyway, that’s just some food for thought. I only share my trips in hopes to share these kinds of thoughts and the more “real” side of travel. I’m not trying to prove how glamorous or exciting my life is; most of the time, I don’t feel like it is, but it doesn’t need to be. That’s what I want to share. Thank you so much for following along. Before I end this post and series for good, I did want to pause to share a little life update on me and my writing since graduating last spring from Iowa State. These travel posts are SO time-consuming that I haven’t been able to share my usual faith posts or any other updates between them, so I’m going to share some brief ones now.
Brief Life & Writing Updates
I wrestled with this part of the post all the way back to last summer till now. I didn’t know what I would be able to share here, if I’d still be flailing or actually have some good news. Well, it’s kind of all of the above.
On My Career…
This is the one that made me most anxious, and it has been a rollercoaster, but God has been and still will be faithful. After college, I didn’t find a job related to my degree right away. I started heavily applying in March with only one interview for a position I didn’t ultimately want and didn’t get offered, anyway. Thankfully, I was able to work out another summer internship with the business I worked for the previous two summers in Okoboji doing more marketing work and some retail again, which was fun and allowed me to keep growing. Still, I felt like I didn’t enjoy the summer as much because I knew it was only temporary, and I wanted to find something full-time so bad. I never thought it would be so hard, but welcome to our wonderful economy at the time.
It wasn’t until the middle of the summer that I finally got a couple interviews for communications positions. They all seemed promising, and it was kind of a gut punch when each one didn’t lead to an offer. I finished the summer in Okoboji and moved back home with my parents in the middle of August, still with no plan or job offer. A couple months in the fall went by. I kept spinning my wheels driving myself insane, going back and forth between trusting God but still wondering if anything would ever come through. I do think I relaxed sometimes and enjoyed the fall months with my family. My mom didn’t mind at all and didn’t want me to worry. That was nice. I hadn’t spent relaxed time with them since the summer after high school.
Finally, near the end of October, I started getting more interviews related to my degree, but I also started applying for some administrative/corporate roles. I finally got an offer from Principal Financial Group, which is a pretty prestigious company in Des Moines I’d always wanted to work for, in customer service. I wasn’t huge from the get-go on taking a job solely involving phone calls, but I had experience with that and was told I do a good job, and it paid really well for that sort of work.
I was in that role until the end of May. It’s been almost a month now since I’ve been unemployed again, this time by choice. I loved the team I worked with at Principal and I would love to work for Principal again, but my phone job never completely fulfilled me, and I knew I didn’t want it to be permanent. When I found out it was going to get busier, I felt God leading me away from it to the great unknown. Again! But this time, I knew He’d come through. I knew it might be uncomfortable, but He would provide, and I had a lot more money saved up from this job. Please pray that this time around, I can find my dream communications job ideally in Des Moines (I was working remotely in the call center, which was also a blessing since it wasn’t my passion and allowed me more time with family, not to mention saving tons of money). I’m ready for that next stage of my life. Praise God that this time around, I’ve already gotten a lot more interviews at least.
On My Writing…
While my career journey has been a whirlwind, I still consider that good news—I did land a good job with Principal even though it wasn’t related to my degree, but I am confident that eventually I will find the right job for me. I don’t have as exciting news regarding my book. I don’t think I announced this in a blog post, but I posted on social media last March that I was finally going to query literary agents for my second novel. I sent my proposal to about 10-15 agencies because I did a lot of research beforehand on reputable Christian agencies that were looking for the sort of story my book is.
I’ll cut straight to the chase: I did not get a “deal.” I did not get an agent to represent me, which when that happens is when the agent would pitch my book to the major publishing houses. I am going to write a longer post about what I heard from the agents and more details on that including my game plan from here, but sadly, I don’t have a literary agent for that book. I am still writing, though. I’ve put that book on the back-burner for now, and I’m probably three-fourths of the way done with my third novel, which I can also share more details about later. Please continue to pray for my writing dreams. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get published, but of course, you dream you might be the exception. I know God still has good plans for me, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel a little lost or aimless.
What I am excited for, though, is to finally get back in the swing of things with this blog. I think God could do so much more with my writing here especially now that I’ve learned so much more about marketing, storytelling, and business from college. I just need the time to start implementing it little by little, and that starts with finishing these trip recaps and getting my content consistent again. Thank you for your patience with that and stay tuned! Things haven’t gone as I’d hoped and I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m not close to giving up. I still have lots more planned.
I have ONE more trip series to finish…and no more trips lined up in the future yet, which is good for the sake of content here because I’m ready to get back to more “regular” content. The trip posts take forever, but I like doing them; I think they’re worth it in the end. This last trip recap is over my cruise to the Bahamas with my cousin and aunt in February. If anything else comes up, I’ll let you know! Otherwise, stay tuned for more of the content you know, and let me know what you’d like to see next! I love to hear your thoughts! What’s been your favorite trip series so far? What trips have you been on lately?