Thursday, August 6, 2009

Trip Recap, Part 2

Good Morning!

Back to my St Louis trip recap, I should say that we weren’t actually staying in St Louis. Our hotel was actually just right outside of St Louis, in the small town of Collinsville…home of the largest ketchup bottle!

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Shout out to my girl, Baylee, for giving me the heads up on that one! :) Of course we had to check it out, because we all know ketchup is the shiz.

I wanted to get my picture taken next to it, but when we found it, we had underestimated how HUGE this thing was! It was way up on this wire thing, so there was now way I would have been able to get a pic with it. darn.

We set aside time to go another quite tall object…the St Louis Arch!

 

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I don’t know which was taller…the ketchup bottle or the arch! haha.

After waiting in line for over an hour to get our tickets, we made our way over to hop in the “giant egg” to take us up to the top of the arch. According to the director, it takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to get back down. There are about 6 little seats in each ride, and luckily we got paired with some nice people. :)

You could literally see the entire city when looking out on top. It was quite the view.

We snapped some pics while we were up there:

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The rest of that day was spent shopping. We hit up the downtown area and visited some strip malls. It was a lot of fun, especially since we live in a small town with very minimal shopping.

There were two places in particular that I really enjoyed…

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LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

This was my very first trip to Trader Joes and I absolutely love it!!! I can’t wait to move somewhere that has a Trader Joes. Everything was such a good deal; they really know how to keep their prices low…hint, hint, Whole Foods. ;)

I picked myself up some nut butta lovin’…

Raw almond butter jars for $4.99!!!! Needless to say, I stocked up.

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Sunflower Seed Butter!!

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Assortment of bars:

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Can you guess what’s in the bag??

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If you guessed Medjool dates, you are correct! :)

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New-found love:

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I spotted some coconut water, and after seeing it on Fitnessista’s blog so many times, I knew I had to try it.

Two words. HOLY YUM.

I actually ordered a box on Amazon since I can’t find it here, hehe.

We also spent a day at a water park, called Raging Rivers. We had lots of fun going down slides, and relaxing in the wave pool and lazy river. :D Unfortunately, I decided not to take my camera in, so there are no pics of that.

All in all, it was a great time, and fun to get away for awhile. I’m so glad that my mom, sister, and I are so close and are able to have such a good time together. The 3 of us being able to spend time together made it a very special trip.

Next up on the travel list…Boston!

16 comments:

  1. Sounds like an amazing trip! I LOVE water parks! And Whole Foods and Trader Joes in one trip!? How exciting! I'm going to visit my first Trader Joes on Saturday and I'm thrilled!!!

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  2. What a great trip AND fantastic grocery haul! When are you headed to Boston?

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  3. Awesome trip! Love all the pictures. YAY for a great grocery haul as well!
    <3 jess
    xoxo

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  4. I found the pods that take you up to the top of the arch terrifying! haha. I think they were built with the arch in the 70s and not updated since :)

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  5. wow, sounds like such a fun trip!
    glad you got to venture to some new grocery stores!
    i'm planning a trip to trader joe's this weekend. the closet one to me is about 30 minutes away, so not too bad. only thing is there are only a few around here so they are always super busy!!
    and a water park, so much fun! i've only been to one this summer so far...maybe i'm getting to old for them at 26 ;)

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  6. oh my gosh that ketchup bottle is epic!! i love it! hahaha. the rest of the photos are really phenomenal as well. you should fo sho make hummus with that sunflower butter!

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  7. well little lady i am VERY glad you took some of my advice on places to hit up! bahahha i knew you'd appreciate the huge ketchup bottle!

    and would you believe, i actually didnt know stl had a trader joes until today!?! (actually, we drove into inner stl today, and i SAW it..and then i get on here...adn there it is!!) haha. ive never searched for one though, so i guess that explains why!

    so glad you had a fun time love!

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  8. geez that is one huge bottle of ketchup!!
    glad to know you adored TJ just as much as about...well...everyone! haha

    i gave you an award too my dear

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  9. Oo I love the ketchup bottle!

    Glad you stocked up on some yummy food!

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  10. omg those Medjool dates are like heavennnnn. I've only tried them once but I about died they were so good lol. That ketchup bottle is sooo neat. Bet that water park was lots and lots of fun <3 Glad you had an amazing trip!

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  11. What a fun trip!!! Love the picture of the ketchup bottle...because, well...I love ketchup!!! I just found your blog and I love it - you are absolutely adorable!

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  12. I LOVE St. Louis!! And hell yes for Whole Foods & Trader Joe's (especially since you bought my faaaavorite almond butter at TJ's - the raw crunchy style).

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  13. FUN! looks like you had a great time. That ketchup bottle is huge!

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  14. Look at all those goodies!!! Yum yum!
    I'm totally obsessed with ketchup! It almost brought a tear to my eye. hah! j/k. but I do love my ketchup though!

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  15. Wow what a great trip!
    And that huge ketchup is making me so excited..I used to douse ketchup on EVERYTHING...including chocolate chip cookies!
    and HOORAH for WF and tJ! My two buddies!

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  16. What a wonderful trip! i followed you from the foodieblogroll and I love reading through your posts!

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