Meet Me In St. Louis

Happy holidays from Terre Haute, Indiana!

Two days into the trek from Colorado to New York and dad, girl and car are all holding up pretty well. Buzz is probably in the best shape, actually; who would've thought my 18-year-old car would get almost 30 miles per gallon and be running like a champ after four state lines and over a thousand miles? Go figure. He was made for the open road!

While the reason for this trip is kind of a bummer, it's been really cool getting to see the heartland of America for the first time. It's a different world in here. And I decided to take this opportunity to add another Olympic stadium to the list!


It may not look like much of a stadium -- 'cause, uh, it's really not -- but St. Louis hosted the Olympics here back in 1904. They were the first Olympics ever held in the western hemisphere, the third modern Olympics ever. And now the stadium is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. Kind of cool!


The field itself was closed, since it's a college campus smack in the middle of winter break, but we did a lap around the perimeter to see what we could see. It didn't hurt that I'd just been driving for four and a half hours and my legs could use a stretch. And that it was probably around 60 degrees outside. And that the campus is gorgeous!


It's kind of interesting that the Olympics were held in this little thing in 1904, yet a mere 32 years later they were held in this monstrosity.


The Olympics were a hot mess in 1904, having barely survived the debacle that was Paris 1900. But I say this completely seriously: blame Hitler! (Also, I think my Olympic sites list can be renamed, "Darci visits places in her blue coat." Sheesh.)

So Francis Field isn't what I'd call an attraction, but I'm really glad I got to experience a bit of the first chapter of American Olympic history. Three American Olympic cities down, four to go!

But first... let's just get home.
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