What's this? A piece of toast? A pretzel stick? Popcorn? What blockhead cooked all this?

I ran away from Thanksgiving this year. I went on a road trip to St. Louis by myself. When people asked my plans and I told them this, everyone just looked at me like I am crazy.

I feel like I get that look a lot.

In spite of these looks, I had a great time.

I got a really nice hotel room for cheap on Priceline. Love Priceline. Although I do have to admit it scares me a little bit. I put in a bid, fully expecting it to be rejected, and then it's accepted and I think, AH! Oh, wait, I wanted that. Ok.

The huge king size bed. Yup, I slept in it like I was making a snow angel, completely spread out.

The fancy bathroom

with a fancy floor

which was really cold, so I was glad I brought my little slipper socks.

Thursday morning I went to the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day parade. It is advertised as the biggest in the Midwest.

Waiting for the parade.

right in front of the Old Courthouse.

There were a bunch of marching bands.

And even a bunch of big balloons.

But these guys were the best part. They were four old men in these little tiny cars. Number 4 kept zipping around, spinning in circles up and down the street and around all the other little cars. The other two got into the act a little bit, but Number 5 did not. He drove very slowly in a straight line down the street. Every time Number 4 came near him, he just stopped and waited. It was so funny. I could almost hear him thinking, "You young kids! Always showing off! You'll poke your eye out!"

The rest of Thursday was my movie day. I saw two good ones and was safe inside during the snow. It was just a little bit, but snow on Thanksgiving nonetheless.

On Friday morning, I started all my major sightseeing. My hotel was two doors down from the Gateway Arch, so I started there.

I rode to the top in this tiny capsule.

Personally I thought this was one of my better pictures. I'm not a very good photographer, but I thought this turned out cool.

And I like bridges.

After I rode down in the tiny capsule, I went to the Expansion Museum. It was cool.

Then I walked across the street to the Old Courthouse.

The rotunda inside was really cool, and they had it all decorated for Christmas.

I personally like the pink courtroom. I'd feel so much better as the defendant in a pink room.

From the front door.

Friday afternoon I drove down to the Science Center. It is a very large science museum and I was really excited about going. So of course, I didn't manage to take any pictures.

The best part of the museum was the demonstrations. Every hour they had a different mini class. The first one that I went to was about extreme weather. The scientist made fog and clouds with liquid nitrogen and then he made a tornado with fire. Even though I have been to a lot of science museums, I haven't ever seen a fire tornado.

The other cool thing, or interesting to me thing, was the exhibit on Missouri's past. It has gone through many phases over billions of years. It has been underwater, a desert, and had volcanoes.

When I got back to the hotel Friday evening, there was a wedding. I tried to bride spot for a minute, but she was taking way too long.

So I walked down the road to Union Station.

The Christmas lights were on as I walked.

I watched a fudge demonstration that was pretty hilarious. After the demo, I treated myself to a good seafood dinner, instead of fudge.

All in all, it was a great new tradition for Thanksgiving.

For my final week of gratitude, I focused on the big things that I am grateful for that I didn't mention through the month.

1. My family

2. Friends

3. my house

4. my job

5. my students

6. my car that gets me places

7. prosperity

8. a really good life