September 6, 2006

We left the hustle and bustle of Louisville morning traffic and welcomed the unclogged roads of southern Indiana. It was lush and green and beautiful. We detoured from 64 West for a stop at Santa Claus, Indiana. Santa Claus was originally named Santa Fe, but so was another town in Indiana. So the town had to change their name, and apparently capitalized on America’s obsession with the jolly man in the red suit. Santa Claus, IN is the home of “Holiday World” an amusement park that looks, well interesting. The Santa Claus city post office hand stamps each letter with a postmark that changes each year. Local high school students compete in an art competition each year to design the stamp. Volunteers come in each November and December to stamp the hundreds and thousands of Christmas cards that people send to Santa Claus, IN to be stamped and mailed from their post office. In addition, the Santa Claus post office receives letters to Santa himself. These are passed on to “Santa’s Elves.”

Not a lot to report from Illinois except that they have a lot of corn.

Arriving in St. Louis, Missouri we made a quick stop at the St. Louis Arch, the gateway to the west. Built in the 1960’s, the Arch is actually two separate structures joined together. We visited family and enjoyed a famous Tedd Drewe’s concrete. Seth was more than mildly confused by the concrete concept and to be honest, he still doesn’t get it. Take a native St. Louis-ian to help you order.

One note in general “Welcome to (Insert state name here)” signs are not in photo friendly locations. While I have managed to get most, the Illinois sign is a total blur. Missouri’s sign I totally missed – it was a on a bridge right where 4 interstates were merging and mixing. So, sadly the “show me state” isn’t making a showing.