Stop #11: St. Louis, MO

We spent long enough drive-by sightseeing that I know this much: we could live in St. Louis. What a beautiful city. Let's hit the highlights of our time in St. Louis, shall we?

Highlight #1: the arch & accompanying museum was even cooler than I expected it to be.

Highlight #2: 4th of July

We happened to be in St. Louis on the 4th of July. With everything canceled, we decided to make the most of our hotel-bound July 4. We supplied our hotel room with a bunch of sandwiches from Panera Bread, a variety of different sodas, and pretty much all the cheesecake that The Cheesecake Factory had to offer. Then, we packed ourselves around a TV to, for the first time in our history as a family, watch a fireworks show on TV rather than in person. At one point, our 11-year-old grabbed the iPad and created a pretty fantastic fireworks show for all of us to watch, complete with sound effects (turn on your sound when viewing the masterpiece below). Love that kid.

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After the fireworks show, we put our youngest 6 kids to bed while Careese, I, and our eldest 2 teenagers found the most American thing we could think of to do. We watched Hamilton. Brilliant. Those songs will be stuck in my head for the foreseeable future. Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da.

Highlight #3: City Museum

"Thanks for coming. Good news: you've pretty much got the whole place to yourselves today."

Those words were music to our ears as we arrived, because we we knew that even the slightest crowd would likely keep us from entering.

I'll say this about City Museum: we've traveled quite a few weird places in our life, sometimes purposefully, sometimes not; and, I can confidently say that City Museum is near the top of the list of weirdest places we've visited. And, we loved it. Take the art below for example. How does this even happen? My mind simply does not work this way, but I love that someone else's does.

"Let's see here....what art supplies to I have laying around? Well, I've got a bunch of industrial screws, a couple zippers, a bunch of old watch bands, and a couple cool looking rocks. This will make a cool looking bat!"

Bravo, Mr. or Ms. eccentric artist. I would've thrown this stuff in the garbage. In fact, I probably have at some point.

The entire place was full of art like this.

If you have the chance to visit St. Louis, you simply must visit the City Museum along with the Gateway Arch and Museum. Fantastic. Oh, and I did manage to drop off some Struggle Bus books at a couple local bookstores. I hope you enjoy my book, St. Louis.

On to the next stop: Springfield, MO.

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Testimonials

"This is a quick read that you won't regret if you're a parent. Picture a family with 4 kids in diapers and 6 kids in car seats. I laughed out loud when I read "50 percent of the day was spent changing diapers, 50% preparing meals, 50% preparing the unholy mess of carnage that was created at mealtime, 50% bathing children, and the rest of our time searching for missing shoes, coats, toothbrushes, and more. Seriously, though, WHERE DO MY KIDS KEEP PUTTING THEIR SHOES?" Give this a quick read on the beach and you won't regret it!"

— Customer Review

"What a fun read! Every parent in America will be able to relate to many of the stories contained in these pages--even those with only 2 kiddos. If you are looking for a quick, easy read that is laugh-out-loud funny, this is the book! In a day and age where everything coming at us has a negative spin, this book will leave you with a sense of happiness by the end. Thanks, Josh, for telling your story. Thanks, also, for writing it in my primary language of sarcasm."

— Customer Review

“I'd heard the story of the Struggle Bus, but only the outside, viral story.

This well-written, quick-reading, approachable, fascinating tale talks about the family dynamics, the funny anecdotes, the life lessons. I'm a bit reminded, perhaps, of the Grateful Dead tour bus history by Wavy Gravy, "Living With The Dead". I think this is going to be a classic of modern folklore and a reminder that the trials, tribulations, and excitement of family, internet celebrity, and living in close quarters are all enduring subjects. I'm going to read this book pretty often; I really enjoyed it.”

— Customer Review

Josh Wood, Author