Labor Day Vacation - Part 3

So after packing up everything in the hotel and a good large breakfast we set out for our final adventure on our weekend vacation to St. Louis. Today was suppose to be the much anticipated paddle river boats though it turned out to be a very large flop in our minds. I would not recommend this place personally. 

The riverboat area itself is very nicely done with old time music and  places to sit and a small cafe down on the water. 

They try to get you to buy their pictures at the end of the cruise but charge $15! We said no especially after our disappointment with this trip. We made our own pictures.

Here was the problem with the whole trip! The paddle didn't paddle!! It was nothing more than a large boat ride with someone talking about various factories and items on the riverfront. The facts were interesting enough but when you promise your children a steam driven paddle boat and all you get is some underwater motors pushing you along it's rather disappointing especially since I remember being amazed about paddle boats when I was little. 

That was our vacation to St. Louis for Labor Day weekend. We tried to squeeze in a good week's worth of activities into just a couple short days but we had fun, we got to learn things and the girls got to go back to school today with fun tales of their adventures. 

There were a few things we could have done differently to save some money but I loosened up the purse strings for this trip wanting us to be able to have a good time without completely stressing out over every little cost. I thought about this being one of those, "We Paid Cash" sort of blogs but then I thought to myself if someone goes on vacation and doesn't have the cash for it then they are being more than a little silly. 

After paying the pet sitter some gas money, gas money of our own, food, lodging, activities, etc. our little 3 day, 2 night trip to St. Louis cost $744.95 (including all the change used for those flatten penny machines the kids love).