St. Louis, Day 2: Cahokia Mounds, Science Center, Valhalla Cemetery
In my TripAdvisor search, and from a hitchhiker we picked up on Sunday, we heard Cahokia Mounds to be highly recommended, so we went to see them, knowing nothing but the name.
[Side note: I forgot to mention that we picked up a hitchhiker on Sunday. We saw him walking out of Phillipsburg as we were driving in. It was raining and we like to pick up hitchhikers. I had a professor, Stephen, at BYU-Idaho who always picked up hitchhikers. He told this story that his in-laws were in the car with him and his kids once, the kids saw a hitchhiker and started exclaiming to stop and pick him up. The in-laws were mortified. They said they never pick up hitchhikers unless the Spirit tells them to. Stephen replied, "Huh. We ALWAYS pick up hitchhikers unless the Spirit tells us not to." That has stuck with me and is our philosophy, too. So we turned around, picked up Luke, drove to church where Shad dropped me and the kids off, then drove Luke to Norton and returned to church. Luke just had a really bad breakup and is walking from Indiana to some site in Wyoming to clear his head. Nice guy. Oh, also, I'm the Primary chorister at church, and Easter was a really great day for me. The Primary kids sang the medley we've been working on, Beautiful Savior & I Wonder When He Comes Again, in sacrament meeting. Then in Singing Time, I had eggs hidden around the Primary room that had song numbers in them. The songs I selected were all physically active songs, which the kids loved! They noticed the pattern and asked if I chose all of the wiggle songs, and were grateful for the holiday gift I had given them! I like it when they appreciate the things I do for them.]
Digression ended, we're at Cahokia Mounds. (Say: Kuh-HOE-key-uh) It's a Native American World Heritage Site. Many, many centuries ago (I think it was around 800 AD) this urban city was founded and thriving just a few miles east of the great Mississippi River. At its peak, Cahokia reached 20,000 in population, greater than London at the time! They built many mounds in the 6 (?) square miles of their city, including the 100 foot high Monks Mound for their chief. It took 300 years for them to build it! Seriously, this was a mind-blowing experience of "You'll learn things you never knew you never knew." Couldn't have said it better myself, Pocahontas.
We toured around inside the museum, learning many new things about this ancient city, as well as making connections to the Kaya American Girl books we're currently reading! Then we drove across the street to the Monks Mound and walked to the top.
In the museum, looking at a 4 seasons diorama depicting life in Cahokia
{Tommy, Dancy, Megan, Katie}
Thora looking at the scale model of what archaeologists call Woodhenge. The Cahokians built this massive astrological circle for a calendar to mark the solstices and equinoxes. They moved the wood poles 3 times over 300 years to be in line with the center of the ever-developing Monks Mound.
Dancy, Megan, Katie and Tommy looking at the three different types of mounds built in Cahokia.
The chart behind me depicts how much dirt was hauled up in back baskets to build Monks Mound. (Click the picture to view it larger)
Dancy reading letters.
At the base. Tommy and I counted (as best we could) 150 steps to the top.
{Samson, Megan, Dancy, Tommy, Katie}
This picture says so much. Katie was the first to the top. I named her Beastmaster. I carried Samson and held Dancy's hand because she really didn't want to do this. Tommy walked with me, counting steps. Thora stepped up the whole way!
She's so happy with herself!
We made it! It really wasn't that hard...but for some people it was ;)
{Tommy, Samson, Megan, Thora, Dancy, Katie}
At the top of the Mound.
Yup. Some happy, some distracted, some pouty. Tom and Katie are doing crane pose from what I showed them at the zoo. Thora is wandering, Samson picking at the bench, Dancy pouting because she wants to be done with this confounded mound.
You can see the Gateway Arch in the distance!
{Thora, Shad, Dancy, Katie, Samson, Tommy}
We ended our mound visit by driving the mile down the road to the Woodhenge site and eating lunch in the parking lot. With air conditioning in the van. The poles at the site are modern, the originals having decayed away. However, archaeologists have them in the original holes and used the correct wood, after testing remains found in the holes.
Then we drove to the Science Center, and some things in life are just funny.
Eh, Mr. McKinney?
On the side of the Science Center, there are two huge satellites opposite each other, spread out a good distance. If you whisper into the center of them, the discs are curved so that the sound waves will reverberate to the opposite disc, which acts as a speaker. We were whispering too quiet to hear each other under normal conditions, but heard each other loud and clear.
Giant hamster wheel that propels balls along a long, winding track in the vast, open space overhead.
{Megan and Thora, with Tommy}
Samson in the dinosaur dig. I love that you can see his smile in his eyes!
Samson, Katie and Shad building a sled.
Shad and Katie with their sled
In the Experience Energy exhibit, they had so many stations set up to demonstrate varieties of energy: a Tesla machine, showing magnets generating energy to turn on a light bulb; a roller coaster, showing potential and kinetic energy; a coal furnace; a bicycle, showing how much physical exertion would be required to play a DVD or blend a smoothie; a wind power model; a solar power model; etc.
Me showing Tommy how solar power works. Check out the awesome reflectors on my running shoes!
Furnace to the left, solar to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with Tesla!
{Dancy, Megan, Tommy}
Thora feeding the coal furnace
When we got restless with the active play stations, we went to the interstate walkway, a bridge connecting the Science Center to the planetarium across I-64.
Floor viewing windows were fun.
{Dancy and Thora}
Samson take a nap in the stroller? Nah! Not today!
But he liked looking out the windows. We don't have any kid-height windows in our house.
Tommy
In the planetarium end. Large floor Solar System with Dancy on the sun. The ceiling overhead was designed for echoing acoustics when you stand on the sun.
After the Science Center, our aims were to find a Target for Katie to buy an umbrella, her lifelong dream, and to find an IHOP because Dancy wanted to eat at a pancake place. We avoided the interstate rush hour traffic, and ended up driving by a Valhalla Cemetery. Oh, my, did that excite me! Valhalla?! The great hall in an Asgardian palace where Odin, Freya, and Thor feast and where the Vikings believed they would feast with the gods if they died in battle?! What a great name for a cemetery!
I couldn't resist.
Valhalla Mausoleum
Posing with the Asgardian guard
Oh, when architecture is actually artistic!
Shad posing with the other Asgardian guard.
We did not arrive in Valhalla shiny and chrome, but at least we can say we've been there!
We did get Katie's umbrella, and enjoyed a delicious dinner at IHOP where the kids all ate their whole meals! When does that ever happen at a restaurant?
