Alton, IL is a bit of a milestone since it means we have completed travel on the Illinois River and entered the Upper Mississippi River.
Alton is also 20 miles outside of St. Louis and near Grafton and St. Charles making it a stop filled with lots of exploring. For us, we have been counting down the days until we pulled into the marina knowing both Jacob and Cory would be meeting us. Cory drove south about 4 hours from Indiana, while Jacob and Pepper Mae drove north about 8 hours from Oklahoma. Having the three of them onboard for a few days filled our hearts! Unfortunately, we could not coordinate having Zach meet us at the same time, but we did see him in Chicago.
After securing Three Sons and waiting for two sons to arrive, we had fun catching up with some loopers. We meet Keep Calm at The Old Bakery Beer Company Brewery for dinner and beers/wine and then enjoyed some drinks at a cool Irish pub with live music.
Our second day in Alton was quiet while the remnants of Hurricane Helene passed through. The Alton Marina is huge and has covered docks so other than having to readjust our Starlink, Three Sons floated quietly while waiting out the rain. This is our first time being in a marina with covered docks and we certainly miss the natural sunlight coming through windows. We were told that all the docks float along with the roof. As the water raises so does the entire structure even including the pool and office. It is an amazing thing to stand on the dock, look around and take in what that means.
We spent a day exploring St. Charles, a river city just west of St. Louis with a fun cobblestone historical downtown, tons of shops and restaurants and nice slow pace. Luck was on our side that this weekend St. Charles was hosting an Octoberfest at Frontier Park off the Katy Trail. Tons of food and vendors, beer stands throughout the grounds, and activities including an antique car show, Wiener Takes All Dachshund races.
Exploring St. Louis was easy and fun! We enjoyed checking out the outside and inside of the Gateway Arch. We stopped for Lunch at Mama’s on the Hill and took a walk to a local bakery to stock up on delicious sweets!
