119 days

exactly 4 months from today, we leave to go to Japan for 2 weeks.  i'm pretty pumped about this.  e hasn't been back in almost 12 years, and i've never been.  we've been trying to get this to happen for quite a while now. 

but before we get to that trip, i have to take the msw licensing exam.  which means i have a lot of studying ahead in the next several weeks.

what to do?

we had no particular holiday plans this year.  it's a bit of a pain to get from our small town to any of our family members who are scattered all over the country, and we had already traveled several times earlier in the year for weddings, graduations, and other family events. 

so on christmas day, we drove to st. louis.  the trip took us through a dry county, so naturally, this is what greeted us as soon as we crossed the missouri border:

if we'd done a little more pre-trip planning, it might have occurred to us that hardly any businesses are open on christmas day.  this finally sank in when we resigned ourselves to lunch at waffle house - the only restaurant open anywhere along the missouri highway.  things didn't improve much when we got to our hotel in downtown st. louis, meaning that we were forced to seek out some dinner (and play a few slots) at lumiere place on a lovely winter night.

 

on sunday morning, we met our friends megan and andrew for a leisurely breakfast at uncle bill's pancake house.  then we headed to trader joe's, which we have missed having around since we left dc.  we spent a little time exploring forest park:

and then we went back downtown and visited the arch.  note: if you buy tickets for the 4:30 trip up the arch, that does not mean that you will actually go up the arch at 4:30.  or anytime near 4:30.  we didn't make it to the top until about 5:45, well after the sun set, but the view was still pretty good.

monday morning, we went back to trader joe's to finish stocking up and then made our way back home.