Meet Me in St. Louis...and Bring Some Cash

Has anyone out there ever seen that old Judy Garland movie called "Meet Me in St. Louis?" It's a musical about the 1905 World's Fair held in St. Louis. Anyway, I couldn't stop hearing that song in my head all day.

Now for our adventures. Jeff had to do a claim today an hour from our hotel hence why we had no car. We (I) still wanted to do something fun so I attempted to take the Metrolink to the zoo and science center. The kids and I loaded into the hotel shuttle which took us to the airport where the metro station is located. A kind lady gave me her one-way ticket metro ticket and since the kids were free, I didn't bother to buy a ticket or notice that the metro ticket machine didn't take credit cards. Had I turned down the ticket, I would have noticed right away I had no cash or debit card. No don't worry, I got right on the Metrolink and headed downtown with nothing but an American Express in my purse.

Next we arrived at the Forrest Park station and waited for the shuttle to the zoo. I don't know about you, but the term "shuttle" makes me think free. I've never taken a shuttle that wasn't free. This one charged $2.50 each in cash. Keep in mind that we waited for said shuttle for 20 minutes in the most disgusting weather I've ever encountered. I don't know how people live like this. It is 95 degrees but that isn't the worst part. There is a sweltering mist in the air that leaves you sopping wet as soon as you go outside. I know I've been to Thailand and Costa Rica so I must have encountered such before but I was probably wearing a bathing suit and not a backpack and full clothes and pushing a heavy double stroller. So of course I found out the inevitable when the bus arrived. I had no cash and I had a one-way metro ticket and no way to buy another one to get back to the hotel. I spotted a sad looking bank in the area of town we were in so started walking toward it. My instincts told me to be glad it was daylight. The bank said they didn't take American Express and there were no other banks around. Not good.

So I did what any wise person would do and got back on the Metrolink to go back to where I came from. I felt panic inside knowing I had no real ticket and prayed inside that no one would catch me. The sign on the front door said that violators would be prosecuted and could serve jail time. I could just see myself at the police station with the two kids and having Jeff leave his claim to bail me out.

By this time, Nicky was very unhappy especially since we got on the wrong train and had to do a bunch of waiting to back track to get on the right train and then transfer to another train. I'm so glad to be getting on wrong trains and such when I have no ticket. There was no zoo as promised and Nicky kept making everyone laugh by complaining about how sweaty her back was.

Finally we made it back after our 3 hour ordeal on trains and saw little of St. Louis other than graffiti and a black guy in the train that looked like he could kill Andy for banging his Lighting McQueen (red car) on the back of his seat. It was probably too hot to go to the zoo anyway. At least I wasn't poor Jeff. He said it was the worst claim he's ever done. He was in a burned down house all day with no shelter from the searing sun. The owners wanted to jabber with him and wouldn't let him get his work down as fast as he desired.