A Bit More Sightseeing and Shopping!

Saturday morning dawns; we have all agreed that today will be a later start, so we meet our partners around 10:00 AM. Our first stop will be in downtown Saint Charles again; one of our partners has asked for more information about the City of Saint Charles, which is readily available at the Visitors Center. We find several interesting brochures for everyone to take, and head back outside.

Frontier Park adjoins the Missouri River, just one block away from the downtown area, so we walk over to get a closer view of the river. This is a typical small-town "city park": we have a large bandstand (used for the Municipal Band concerts in the summer and other events and presentations all through the year), walking paths, the old MKT "Katy Line" railroad depot building (no longer used for railroad activities, but available for private meetings and gatherings), and (the latest addition) a large statue of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, placed in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore and map the lands gained by the Louisiana Purchase. It's a nice park, a pleasant place to walk and enjoy the outdoors, even on a cold and windy day.

Then it's off to the main event - shopping at Saint Louis Mills, the newest outlet mall shopping center in the region. While some people do not see shopping as a tourist activity, it can be a very good model of the "Great American Dream" - lots of specialty stores, entertainment venues (cinema, skating park, indoor paintball maze and outdoor mini-car racing, etc.), and a food court that offers examples of many kinds of American-style "fast foods".

Our partners enjoy the opportunity to pick up last-minute souvenirs and specialty items to take home. Eventually, tired but happy, we head back for the hotel. Tomorrow is the flight home, and there is packing to finish (for the partners) and a very early start (for all).