US Travel – Postcards From TLC

August 11, 2018

Making Travel a Priority

I’ve been asked so many times, how can I afford to travel as frequently as I do? It’s very easy–my husband and I have made travel a priority in our lives, budgets, etc. You only live once and this is a way we prefer to live.

We actually have a running list of where we’d like to go, how long of a trip it should be, and then we work towards making it happen. Some places are great for a long weekend–if we can drive there in a few hours or fly there quickly–like Las Vegas or Memphis, anything concerning the beach and relaxation should be a 1 week trip, and anywhere that will involve a long flight or a lot of exploration–Europe or Greece–will be a 2 week trip.

However, sometimes we have to sprinkle in unplanned trips which can set our list back a little. For instance, my British friends Matt and Emma will be on holiday in Mexico in October. I originally met them in Mexico, so we’ve decided to vacation at the same resort as a reunion of sorts. We weren’t planning to go to Mexico this year–we’ve been there so many times–but I can’t wait to see Matt and Emma!

How do we save for a trip? Easy, we have one bank account set aside, just for trip money AND we put half of every paycheck in there. Sounds like a lot , right? But we consider travel just as important as making the truck payment. We cut all other extraneous costs down to a minimum, so unless it’s a necessity, extra money doesn’t get spent. I never stop to buy a cup of coffee on my way in to work and I rarely eat lunch out. I usually bring a lunch to work with me. We use coupons to help keep the grocery bill down, and use our grocery shopper’s card to rack up our fuel points. We also work from a grocery list and don’t buy a bunch of stuff that’s not on it–this means very little junk food. It also helps that my husband is a bargain shopper–we rarely buy new clothes unless they are on sale. I’m not so good at catching clothes on sale, but I’m getting better at it. I love the beginning of summer when I get to stock up on sweaters for next year! Any extra money we receive also ends up in this account–bonuses, gifts, etc.

Keep in mind, this isn’t our only savings. We also have another account for saving for emergency or capital expenses. This way, if a big expense comes up, like the time I slid off the road in black ice and needed all 4 tires replaced at the same time, we take it from that account NOT the vacation account. And the first money that comes out of any pay is retirement/401K/mutual funds. We are paying ourselves and our retirement before anything else so that hopefully when we are retired, we have enough money to travel to our hearts content!

We will also bargain shop for the trip. I will do frequent comparisons of prices through Apple Vacations, Funjet, and Cheap Caribbean. Doing a search on Expedia will alert me to which airlines fly to our destination and what the flight schedules look like. Based on those results, I will then price bundled trips through the airlines. Typically, during these searches I can also determine if there are any sales on certain resorts or airlines which can also help us save money on the trip cost. I love a good fill-the-rooms sale!

Overall, if you are planning your budget wisely and sticking to it (it does take diligence and discipline), it’s pretty easy to save for vacationing.

July 14, 2018July 14, 2018

Staycation at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

For the Independence Day holiday, we managed a staycation to our condo at The Lake of the Ozarks. We headed down on Tuesday evening, with two of the kids, hubby’s mother, Grandma Marge, and our friend Captain Bill. Since we knew we would be staying through the weekend, we even brought the kittens. (Don’t let their angelic faces fool you!)

Tuesday night was pretty low key with H Que BBQ take-out for dinner and swimming at the pool. After dinner, we all gathered on the pool deck to watch the fireworks that were being shot from Beaver’s at the Dam. It was a nice show that they put on.

The next morning, we all headed back to the pool since it was really too hot to do much else. Midday, hubby, Capt. Bill, and the kids headed down to the wave runners to test out the new tube we had brought down. After some vigorous attempts, they decided to call the tubing excursion a “learning experience” and wrapped it up. We then headed up to the Bagnell Dam strip for a little shopping, ice cream, and sight-seeing.

The day on the strip would not have been complete without a little fun at the Dogpatch Arcade and the kids trying their hands at Skee-ball. Needless to say, they didn’t win a pile of tickets for their efforts. Maybe next time.

That evening’s fireworks display was put on by Point Randall Resort. Hubby grilled kabobs for dinner and we were able to watch the show right from our deck.

The next day, we took the wave runners out and headed out for some lake sight-seeing. It turned out to be so hot, that we found a spot in a quiet cove and jumped off the wave runners for some swimming time. The water was still cool enough to be refreshing, so it was a good swim.

That evening we headed over to Dog Days for dinner. They almost always have live music, there are two swimming pools (one has a swim up bar which is reminiscent of an All Inclusive resort), and the food is really good. I had a Korean Beef bowl that was really tasty and not something I find on a lot of menus.

The following day was the day that the kids and hubby’s mom were headed home. That evening we ran over to Shady Gator’s to see one of my favorite bands, Dr. Zhivegas, perform. He’s considered to be one of the top St. Louis cover bands, but I consider him to be a funky master of multiple decades of rock and pop. He did not disappoint. It did not take long before we were dancing until we were sweating!

This was our last full day at the Lake of the Ozarks. We hopped on the wave runners and headed up to one of our new favorites, The Boathouse. They are a lakeside and poolside restaurant that is known for their pizzas, but have a lot of other options on the menu as well. We gave the pizza a try and it was incredible! Now if we could just figure out how to carry-out on the wave runner.

Above all else, we had a fun vacay experience just an hour away from home. There is so much to do at the Lake and we have just gotten started experiencing it all. Looks like we even exhausted Kiki during our few days there!

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018

Seattle, WA–The 3rd Day is a Charm

**This is a re-publish of a prior post from 8/17 that was lost in the transition to a self-hosted platform.

If you’re exhausted about reading my posts about Seattle, then you almost know how we felt by Day 3! After walking around the city and putting so many miles on our feet, we decided to have a mellow day on our last day there.

We hung out at the Warwick during the morning, having breakfast in their restaurant, Margaux. After wandering one last time around Pike Place Market, where we mostly people watched, we had a great lunch at El Borracho.

We ended up back at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon, hanging out in our room and napping. Have I mentioned how much my feet hurt by then?

We did venture back out later, walking down to Pier 70 to have dinner at Aqua, By El Gaucho, which had been recommended by an old friend. Because the weather had been so beautiful, we decided to dine on their expansive outdoor deck. Talk about another incredible meal and unbeatable ambiance! It’s probably a good thing we didn’t find this restaurant on our first night–I would have eaten every meal there and not experienced any other places.

Since my favorite type of seafood is sea scallops, I had the sea scallops in lemon beurre blanc over risotto. UNBELIEVABLY excellent! I swear, the scallops just melted in my mouth! Additionally, since I LOVE crème brulee–and I mean the classic kind, not any special, novel flavor–I also had the crème brulee for dessert.

Lucky for me we still had a trek to make back to our hotel, since I was completely stuffed after this dinner and needed the exercise. Walking back to the Warwick, we could see the Space Needle lit up against the night sky.

A perfectly beautiful ending to a perfectly beautiful trip. I can’t wait to visit Seattle again!

June 22, 2018July 12, 2018

Seattle, WA–Around The Town Day

**This is a re-publish of a post from 8/12/17 that was lost in my transition to a self-hosted platform. It’s also a bit of an experiment to see if I can re-publish a post this way. If it looks horrible, it won’t happen again and you have my apologies.

Up early and back at ’em! We still had so much left to see and do in Seattle, WA. We started the morning off by cutting through Pike Place and grabbing a watermelon juice from The Juice Emporium. If you’ve not tried it, watermelon juice is pure goodness–nothing but the juice of a watermelon. There is no added sugar, flavoring, etc.

We got down to the waterfront and headed over to the Seattle Aquarium which was included on our CityPASS. I guess I expected more from the aquarium since Seattle is located right on the ocean. It felt geared towards young children, but the otters were pretty cute to see!

From there we ventured over to the Argosy Harbor Tour which was also included on our CityPASS. This was a nice one-hour tour of Seattle from Elliot Bay and Seattle Harbor, not to mention a great opportunity to sit down and take a break. Cocktails and snacks were available for purchase.

We then headed towards Pioneer Square, where there was an underground tour I had heard of and was eager to check out. We had our choice between Bill Speidel’sUnderground Tour and Underground Paranormal Experience. We went with the Underground Tour because the Paranormal Experience wouldn’t start until after dark. What a fascinating story! Before the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the streets of this part of town actually used to be a full story lower than they are now so there’s a whole underground part of Seattle down below. You can read about in Seattle Underground or Seattle Underground: In which the Truth, the whole Truth, and a lot More than the truth is told about the Forgotten City which Lies Beneath Seattle’s Modern Streets.

It was getting late in the day and we knew that the walk back was probably going to seem even longer, so we decided to make stops along the way. We stopped in at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum which was quite interactive and more detailed than what we ever learned in history class.

We bought truffles from Fran’s Chocolate (which we learned was a favorite stop of Michelle Obama’s). We had some killer oysters at The Brooklyn Seafood, then stopped in at Suite 410 for a cocktail.

some of the beers at Tap House

Next, we checked out the Tap House Grill where I was finally able to find a Bud Light beer and then on to The Palace Kitchen for dinner. (You know how Texas Roadhouse brings peanuts to each table? The Palace brings out pistachios!)

Montucky Cold Snack

After dinner, I did try a Montucky cold snack which was pretty good. We wrapped up the evening by walking around the block, stopping in at Assiaggio Ristorante, and making new friends who walked the rest of the way around the block with us back to The Palace Kitchen.

Sonny, Tracey, Angie

Luckily, we were only a block away from our hotel by then. Our wonderful waitress bid us goodnight by sending us back to our hotel with a HUGE bag of pistachios!

June 9, 2018June 9, 2018

What I Love About Las Vegas

I love Las Vegas! There’s so much to do there, that every few years I get a hankering to visit. I’m getting to that point again. Hubby’s never been to Vegas, so we may have to plan a trip soon. The best part will be that I should be able to cover the entire cost of the trip with my Chase Sapphire Card that I signed up for after reading the blog post 5 Reasons Chase Sapphire Preferred Should Be Your First Cardby the Points Guy. I’ve learned I can only handle Las Vegas in short, 3-5 day bursts. I could never spend a week or two vacationing there. There’s so much to do in Vegas, and with no visible clocks anywhere, I would not get any sleep and wind up exhausting myself. I love to get out and see and do everything Vegas has to offer.

Since I like to gamble, but I’m not a hard-core gambler, I tend to pace myself. I will play the slots when I want to order a cocktail, so I can take advantage of the free drinks, and I will play on my casino rewards card–in the hopes of accruing enough points to get free stuff. (One trip, I accrued so many points that I didn’t pay for a single meal or cocktail and I had points left over when I left.)

I make it a point to stay at a different hotel each trip to Las Vegas. Since they are all so different and have different themes, it makes sense to experience a different one each time. I’ll usually choose hotel by location. I try to alternate between staying at the north or south end of the strip and I think I may even consider staying on Fremont St. at some point in the future.

After location, I do also consider the pool situation. Some of the hotels have incredible pools that are open March through October. If it happens to be pool season when I go, the pool will also determine where I stay. It’s so easy to get around Vegas, that location doesn’t really matter. You can take the shuttle from the airport to your resort. There’s a super-fast monorail you can take down part of the strip. Or, you could opt for the double-decker bus, The Deuce, which is my favorite. They have an all-day rate that will allow you to hop a ride any time for the entire day and it’s reasonably priced. You could also Bike Share, Uber, or call a cab to get around. Maybe you choose to walk, but keep in mind, those casinos are much further apart than they look! For a newbie to Vegas, you may want to consider a day trip to the Grand Canyon. If you’ve never been, it is definitely a must see, but in my opinion, I’d want to visit longer than a day trip. Since I’ve been to the Grand Canyon before, I tend to skip this when in Vegas. Shows! The shows in Vegas are incredible! Years ago, I went to a Cirque du Soleil show. I loved it so much–from the athleticism of the artists, to the acrobatics, to the overall performance–I’ve vowed to take in a Cirque show every time. I see that there’s now a Michael Jackson ONE show that I WILL go to on my next trip there. There are also other shows to experience as well. From comedy to burlesque, magic to music, dance reviews to major artists–there’s something for everyone. One year I lucked into Tickets to see Jay-Z and Mary J Blige. It wouldn’t have been my first choice of shows to see, but I have to admit, it converted me into a Jay-Z fan. The show was amazing!

Shopping in Vegas is a real treat. You can shop on the strip or off, or visit one of their outlet malls. Be prepared though, while you can shop for a Rolex or Maserati within blocks of each other, you will not find them at clearance prices. If you are looking for something specific or eclectic, you will be able to find it. If you are looking for something you can get at home, get it when you get home. The price will likely be more reasonable. After all the activity in Vegas, you gotta eat. Food and restaurants in Vegas are good, and some are REALLY good. You can find a little bit of everything to tempt your taste buds and at almost any price point. Sushi or steak? Mexican or Italian? Brunch or Buffet? It’s here. I recommend you attempt one buffet meal when you visit–whether it’s brunch at Cravings in The Mirage or crab legs at Rio’s seafood buffet.

There’s much more to do in Vegas besides gambling, shows, shopping and eating. You can golf on some of their incredible golf courses, ride the Big Apple Coaster at New York, New York or experience X Scream at the Stratosphere. You can spend the day at one of their world class spas like Canyon Ranch or Spa Mandalay getting a relaxing massage and facial. Go check out a book signing by Bobby Flay or catch the street performers and do some serious people watching. Finish off your night by shaking what your momma gave ya in one of the nightclubs or go to 1 OAK and hope for a Kardashian sighting.

Enough about Vegas, since I’ve got myself all riled up to go. Now, I’d better get to planning our trip there. Let me know what you love about Vegas!

May 5, 2018

A Novice Trip–Houston and Galveston, TX

One of the first trips I ever took solo was to Houston, TX. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have done it completely different. My friend Marcia was going to go with me to visit our college friend, Carol, who was living there after college and teaching school. It sounded like a fun trip!

I booked our airline tickets and reserved a hotel room near the airport. (Carol only had a small apartment and we didn’t want to impose on her the entire time we would be there.) When the time came for Marcia to reimburse me for her half of the costs, whattaya know, she had decided she really didn’t have the time to take off a day of work and go. She bailed on me while I was holding two airline tickets and a hotel room that wasn’t really even close to where Carol lived. I wasn’t going to eat the entire cost of the trip just because I would be flying alone. I was going!

I arrived in Houston and got checked into the hotel. After dropping my luggage in my room, I headed south to Carol’s address. I didn’t realize how long of a drive it would be from the airport to South Houston. Even though it was only about a 30 mile drive on interstate highways, there was also TRAFFIC from Rodeo to contend with along with a couple of toll highways.

After about 90 minutes of rental car acrobatics on the highways, I finally arrived at Carol’s apartment. We order a pizza and began catching up on what was going on in each other’s after-college world. At this point, Carol dropped a bit of a bomb shell by telling me she hadn’t yet been diagnosed, but considered herself to be an agoraphobic–she never left her apartment, except to go to work. Trying to be sympathetic, I told her to just let me know what she would be comfortable doing in the next 3 days while I would be visiting. Nothing, she was really comfortable doing nothing. I couldn’t imagine how difficult that made her life.

As that was sinking in–I was going to be on my own in a strange city for the next 3 days or sitting in Carol’s small apartment the entire time–Carol did agree to try to go out sightseeing with me the next day. Whew! I really wasn’t looking forward to hanging by myself in Houston!

The next morning, I went to Carol’s and picked her up. We headed to an area called the Kemah Boardwalk. We walked around the boardwalk for a while and went into some of the shops–I think it was the first time I had ever seen a Build-A-Bear Workshop (they were still a pretty new store back then)–and we found a spot to people watch for a while. We had a late lunch at Landry’s Seafood House, where I had the MOST INCREDIBLE Shrimp & Crab pasta that probably had at least a million calories in it. After wrapping up at Landry’s, we headed back to Carol’s. She said she was done being out for the day.

I, however, was not done. I really wanted her to go with me to the Gulf Greyhound Park to have a couple of beers and watch the greyhounds race. She was not up for it, but was kind enough to recruit one of her neighbors to go with me. (Oh geez! Since I did not know him from the man in the moon, I hoped he was not a real weirdo…) To this day, I don’t remember the guy’s name, but we had a good time at the race track. We had a couple of beers and I even taught him how to place bets on the races. We both came away with a little bit more money than we had when we got there.

The next day was a work day for Carol. My choices were to sit in my hotel room by myself, go hang out at Carol’s apartment for the day by myself, or make the drive further south to Galveston Island by myself. I opted for Galveston, which was really outside of my comfort zone at the time, but well worth it. It took just over an hour to make the drive. The weather was kind of gray and drizzley, but I was determined to make the most of it.

I quickly found a parking spot and began walking down Seawall Road. I walked halfway up the Pleasure Pier and I went into a number of little souvenir shops and did some shopping. I found some surfers on the beach that I ended up watching for a while, and I wound up walking into a Joe’s Crab Shack where I had a pretty awesome dinner of crab legs.

Since it was close to getting dark, I figured I’d better head back to my hotel. I had to be up early the next morning to catch my flight back home.

What a fun and liberating trip! I learned a few lessons along the way. I learned that sometimes it’s ok to go places by myself or with a stranger instead of missing out on a new place/experience. I also learned that agoraphobia is a very debilitating disorder and I hope anyone who suspects they have it get the help they need. I learned that while it’s fun to eat out, maybe I should venture away from the chain restaurants when I’m in a new city. (I can eat at Joe’s Crab Shack pretty much anywhere.) And finally, I learned to never cover for someone’s costs on a trip unless I really plan on covering their bookings. In hindsight, I can’t believe that I considered not going at all–it was worth all the lessons and memories!

May 3, 2018

Summer Is Almost Here

Our condo at Lake of the Ozarks, MO is pretty much summer-ready at this point, and SO AM I! I’m looking forward to fun on the water with our new toys

and sleeping in our incredibly comfortable bed.

I can’t wait for all the fun to be had on the water with friends and family, exploring the restaurants we know and love and some new ones, and shopping at the outlet mall.

Even more so, I’m looking forward to exploring the parts and places unknown to us during some of our weekend trips. We know there’s a lot of other places to discover and explore than what we’ve already experienced. Here’s a list:

Lake Escape Bagnell Dam Area

Fun for the family! Choose from 4 different rooms to crack the code and make your escape from the room.

Ha Ha Tonka State Park Camdenton

15 miles of winding trails which take you past caves, a spring, a natural bridge, sink holes, and down to the lake. There is also, what remains, of a huge stone castle that was built in the early 1900s.

Lake of the Ozarks State Park Kaiser

Missouri’s largest state park which has 89 miles of lake shoreline. Swimming, camping, boating, hiking, mountain biking, and horseback trail rides.

Bridal Cave Camdenton

A 60-degree cavern which has onyx formations, giant mineral columns, delicate soda straws and huge draperies throughout. Weddings are also performed here year-round.

Stark Caverns Eldon

Another cavern that offers guided tours through the stalagmites, Onyx Falls, and Hanging Gardens. You can even plan a Valentine’s Dinner in the caverns.

Zippy’s Zip Lines Eldon

3 thrilling Ziplines with amazing lake views. They offer team building experiences and eco-education that can be followed with a picnic lunch.

Sugarloaf Vineyard Kayaking Camdenton

Leisurely kayaking and stand-up paddleboards on calm waters in a serene setting. BYO picnic lunch and enjoy the lakeshore picnic grounds.

We’ll see how many of these activities I get to check out this year. It looks like plenty to keep everyone entertained and I’m looking forward to it!

March 28, 2018

LOTO Weekend Getaway

Spring is upon us and we’re headed back to our condominum at the Lake of the Ozarks. We still have a few cosmetic things to accomplish in the coming days and still have our goal within reach of having everything complete and ready for funning and sunning visitors by April. We hope to have it ready to go on the VRBO rental market towards the end of summer as well.

Hubby’s going to finish painting the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. No, your eyes don’t deceive, some of them are currently white and some of them are off-white. Who does that? We also get to install a new faucet this weekend, which is really needed! After that, it’ll be time to find some curtains and a few more red accents. And SOMEDAY, not any day real soon, we’ll be able to upgrade the appliances, which I hope will really make the kitchen pop.

The bedrooms are mostly done. Aside from a few minor decorating touches in the master bedroom, like some more pillows on the bed and having the dresser painted, they are pretty much ready for sleeping in. We actually adore the master because the bed is much larger and way more comfy than the bed we have at home!

Master BR

Sunset BR

Beach BR

The ultimate task, which may or may not get completed this weekend will be the kitchen table. Even though it’s character was one of the selling points of the condo, the poor thing is so beat up I haven’t had the heart to take any pictures of it. Right now it’s a sage green color with green and tan checkered seats. We are planning to paint all but the wooden top and re-upholster the chairs in colors that will flow better with the rest of the condo.

Our goal is to make enough progress on the condo that we (or I) have time to go to my favorite place Saturday–Coral Reef Seafood! They have been having cooking demos on Saturdays–2 weeks ago was Mussel Mania–and Chef Ryan has been doing it justice.

Mussels with Andouille Sausage in a tomato sauce

Not only does he demonstrate how to make the recipe, we then get to sample it. He demoed three mussels recipes which were all incredible!

Really, I can’t say enough about Coral Reef. If you like seafood, you must stop by. Even if you aren’t interested in the cooking demonstrations, they have some of the freshest seafood available. Justin’s Stuffed Roughy and the Large Wild Gulf Shrimp are the usuals we buy to take back home for dinner later in the week.

Besides that, they have a Bake N Serve Seafood Lasagna that I have my eye on for a future dinner. I’ve also heard they will be having crab legs on sale this weekend which may have to be dinner Saturday night.

And dare I mention that their non-seafood items are great too? I believe they have the best andouille sausage I’ve ever had, and they also have a selection of steaks, side dishes, marinades and spices.

Apparently, I have a lot to look forward to this weekend. I can’t wait, c’mon Friday!

February 1, 2018

Our Day at the St. Louis Fox Theatre

We started off our day last weekend at Sweetie Pie’s Upper Crust. You order your food cafeteria style and then they carry it to your table. If you haven’t been, you might want to try it. It’s some good soul food. I did have the pork steak in gravy and let me tell you, I didn’t even need a knife to cut it, it just fell apart using my fork. It was so tender and the flavor of the gravy just added to it. The macaroni and cheese was pretty tasty, and even the green beans were good. They had chunks of potatoes in them as well, which was an added bonus! Some of the fam had the fried chicken which looked very good, but I didn’t try it. Oh, and don’t let me forget the cornbread which was served warm and just sweet enough.After lunch, we headed over to the theatre. We had a great time at the Fox Theatre, seeing School of Rock. If you have kids or teens you’d like to take there, it’s a show they would really enjoy. The most impressive part was when the young actors were “performing” in the band onstage. We could see the orchestra put their instruments aside and applaud each performance. These youngsters were actually playing their own instruments in the play and doing an incredible job! They got a standing ovation at the end.After all this fun, we headed back for home in Columbia, MO and dropped the kids off at their various activities for the evening. Once that was done, we had time to drop into one of my favorite sushi places, Sake Japanese Bistro and Bar, and have some dinner. They were running a special for Restaurant Week, and it was a hit with us.All in all, it was a busy day, but we crammed in a lot of activity. I’m looking forward to next weekend, when we only have to spend an hour on the road to get to the Lake condo! It should be a little more relaxing.

January 18, 2018

Foxy Weekend

We’re headed into St. Louis, MO this weekend. We’re taking the kids, along with my parents, to see a show at the Fox Theatre. This will only be a day trip, but we plan on packing as much into it as possible.

We’ll hopefully get to St. Louis early enough to visit for a while at my parent’s house. They live about 20 minutes from the Fox and the restaurant we would like to lunch at. My goal is to get on the road in time to enjoy a leisurely lunch at Sweetie Pie’s Upper Crust. You may have heard of the place since they now have a reality show on the OWNnetwork. The show, “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s“, focuses on the loud, loving, musical Montgomery family and their work to expand their collection of the soul food restaurants.

I’ve already researched the menu and am looking forward to ordering the Pork Steak – Smothered in Gravy dinner. It comes with 2 sides, which I already know will be green beans and macaroni and cheese. When it comes to any kind of soul food or diner type food, I always judge the time based on their green beans and mac and cheese. (I know, it’s a real official way to “judge”. I just believe if they can make the green beans taste good and have a good mac and cheese recipe, they can pretty much demand repeat business from me. I know the rest will be good!) You can order their cookbook here:

After lunch, we should be able to walk over to the fabulous Fox Theatre and arrive in plenty of time to look around and take some pics of the décor before our matinee. If you really want a touch of history, you can take a tour of the Fox every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings for $7-$10/per person. We did this a couple of years ago and found the 90-minute tour to be very interesting. The kids particulary enjoyed the presentation of Big Mo, one of two Wurlitzer organs located in the theatre, which takes place on the Saturday tours.

We’re looking forward to seeing School of Rock–the Musical.

Entertainment Weekly calls it “an inspiring jolt of energy, joy and mad skillz!” I just hope it lives up to the expectations of my family.

We may or may not stick around after the show ends. We’ll probably be ready for dinner before heading back up the highway to home, so maybe it can be a kids choice dinner. Regardless, I’m looking forward to our time at the Fox in St. Louis and hoping we all create a fun memory of it.