Christmas in July!

It's still ridiculously hot and it might be hard to imagine the holiday season yet, but we have 20 Fridays left until December hits us and the holiday season is abound! 

The holiday season is one of the busiest seasons for photographers! All families are aiming to get their holiday photos done and get all their plans in place!

Usually you might wait until October and think "Oh my goodness! The holidays are right around the corner! We need to get our family photos done!" By then, your favorite photographer might be booked on days you want or need!

By booking now during the 'Christmas in July' special, you will pay for, schedule, and save money on your session! Beat the holiday rush and the cold weather! Just think about it! Presents for relatives. . . Done! New photos to hang in your house . . . Done! Holiday Card photos. . . Done! (Make your cards early and be the first of your friends and family to get them in the mail! No more holiday cards that turn into 'New Years Cards!') 

You can either choose a specific date or choose the month and leave the date open until it gets closer! 

Message me on Facebook for more info or email me at jamiecothranphotography@gmail.com

**Must be booked by July 31!**

**Session must be between September and December**

Can't wait to hear from you soon!

Route 66 - Day 4

I was scared to start our day today. This day has the most miles we needed to drive yet, approximately 200. We had a lot to see and IT'S MIA'S BIRTHDAY!! We're really going to need that luck from Lincoln's nose!

We started out our day again with swimming in the pool. We were only allowed to swim before hours if the kids promised to be quiet when they were swimming. I'm sure you can all imagine how difficult it was for a 7, 9, and 11-year-old kid have free reign of a pool, but must be quiet.

Mia was most excited about Jesse James on our trip. Two of our stops today had Jesse James ties, so it was perfectly timed for her birthday. Meramec Caverns was a hideout of Jesse James in which relics have been found from when he used it, and right outside of the Caverns is the Jesse James Wax Museum. She was ecstatic!

After swim time we headed to Meramec Caverns. We had an absolutely hilarious tour guide - Jeremiah. We all enjoyed our tour, except for Jade. I think she has inherited a touch of my mom's anxiety. She was nervous through the whole tour and when we got down as far down as we could go, the tour guide turned the lights out so we could experience the pure darkness. I picked up Jade before he turned out the lights, held her tight, and she still instantly screamed out "TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON! LIGHTS! LIGHTS! LIGHTS!". Everyone laughed and find it quite funny. Riley was wearing a glow in the dark skeleton sweater, and when the lights went out it was quite spooky to have that be the only thing visible to you. Near the end of the tour, they do a light show against the cavern wall which was quite beautiful and dedicated to our Veterans.

 

 

From there we headed to the Jesse James Wax Museum. We were hoping to learn a lot more about this famous outlaw but were left with more questions than answers. We did get a few of our questions answered, but not many. Mia was still very excited and enjoyed the museum. Out of everything in the museum gift shop she asked for a Jesse James baseball hat for her birthday! Jade decided to spend some of her own money and buy, of all things, a whip. Look out!

 

We started our drive for the day after these stops and had a beautiful sky ahead of us! We purchased the first Little House audiobook to listen to during our drive and I bought them each their own copy before we left home so they could read along while we were driving. We learned today that Jade gets carsick when reading. We won't be buying her any more books for our trip! Yikes!

We stopped briefly in Cuba to see the murals and in Fanning to see the World's Largest Rocking Chair. Riley and Jade were asleep by then and couldn't be bothered to wake up so Mia took a picture with me.

We were excited to see John's Modern Cabin Ruins outside of Rolla. They were tricky to find, but find them we did. As soon as we parked and started to walk around, a lady strolled up to us and told us that they were now private property and we could not explore. Riley was super bummed. They were in all of our Route 66 books and we wanted to see them. After our quick glimpse and sudden hand slapping, we packed back into the car and drove off to our next destination.

Mia had the privilege of choosing our lunch today. She didn't want to picnic today. I had noted that there was a stop today where we could eat in a cave by an underground waterfall, I thought she would like. Alas, she said no and opted for ... you guessed it, the famous yellow arches. Off to McDonalds we went for the birthday girl where they gave her a free ice cream cone!

In Marshfield, the hometown of Edward Hubble, we stopped to see a 1/4 size scale model of the Hubble Telescope.

We got a kick out of the 2 front facades in Strafford. Route 66 used to be on one side of the buildings, so obviously, buildings were built with the front facing that side of the street. But as Route 66 has done over time, it changed and they ended up rerouting it to the back of the buildings. To still provide business for the stores, a new front facade was built on the back side of the buildings. When they were done both sides of the building were front entrances. It looks like over time they have started to break down the 2nd facade that Route 66 still goes by. Hopefully, with renewed interest in Route 66, they will over time re-do it to its original glory. I found it an interesting history. We also peeked around Yeakly Cemetery where both Union and Confederate soldiers are buried. We found some interesting stones marked with H all over the cemeteary in random places, but haven't been able to figure out what it means yet.

We found the spookiest/coolest house in the ghost town of Plano. The kids spent 20 minutes exploring the jungle that once was a house. They even face-timed my mom and took her through the jungle to explore with them. I didn't even get any pictures of this jungle-house because I was so nervous while they were in there. I turned into a mother hen. "Look out!" "Don't step there!" "Watch that hole!" "This is freaky, let's go!" Once they were all safe back into the car, we did get some photos of the other buildings left in this ghost town.

By then it was dark and we rushed the last 30 minutes to our iconic Boots Court Motel. The manager and owners were sitting outside and applauded and hooted as I drove up. We were the last patrons of the night to arrive and they were waiting for us. The manager was amazingly kind and was a joy to talk to. Unfortunately, during our conversation, Riley locked his sisters out of the car, and they were knocking on windows to the office, putting their faces squished up to the office window, coming in and complaining, and creating pure chaos. It was time to end the night. The motel was a perfect Route 66 motel. The neon was half destroyed 2 weeks before we arrived in a hail storm, but we were still able to see some. The motel had beautifully restored wooden floors and awesome authentic 1940's radio playing 40's music when we entered the room. I really enjoyed our stay and recommend this hotel to anyone who travels Route 66! One note though - don't leave your door open when you move your bags in! We did, not thinking anything of it and ended up inviting half of the bugs in the state into our room. We spent 20 minutes killing bugs on our bed, the walls, the ceiling. Anywhere they could be, they were. Riley was so freaked out he stuffed toilet paper around the neck of his shirt so they wouldn't crawl down his shirt in the night. Put Mia's hat on to sleep, and covered his face with a towel. He was quite the sight! On the doorframe of our room, the largest Cicada I've ever seen was perched. We had to google it and found it was called a Silver Bellied Cicada.

All in all, I think we did very well with the time/miles combination today! Mia had a number of phone calls come in throughout the day. Her daddy sent her photos of the cards that came in the mail for her, and she enjoyed her Jesse James stops today. She had a great birthday, hopefully, one she will remember forever, and we weren't on the road until 11!

Here are a few other photos from our day! We stopped to read about the Modern Cabins of Graystone Heights, visit an old gas station, and enjoy this scenic bridge, and best of all, a quick top at the Uranus Zoological Park. Ha!

Tip for today - Don't book hotels ahead of time or make a day to day schedule. Make your list of what you want to see in the different towns and take your time. It's not worth it to stress about getting to your hotel too late or needing to rush because you're losing daylight, or not getting to see things because they're closed already. This trip deserves more than that. Not one hotel we've been to has been close to being booked. In most cases, there were only 2-3 other patrons. In fact, most vintage Route 66 hotels I booked with wouldn't let me pay ahead of time because people call them all the time to change their reservations the day of because they needed more or less time to see what they wanted to see. Route 66 has a way of making you lose track of time. I can't count the number of times I've looked at the clock and been astonished at how much time we've already spent doing things and how much more I wanted to see that day. Let Route 66 take you back in time to it's heyday. Go with the flow and get all the kicks you can!

Route 66 - Day 3

Today we were determined to not be an hour late for everything! We were up at 8, ate breakfast, had 20 minutes of pool time, and we were off and away.

First, on our agenda today were the Lincoln Sites. To start with we headed to the Lincoln Home. All I can say is . . . WOW! It was a haunting experience. The house and furnishings have been so exquisitely cared for, it was easy to imagine him writing letters in his room or laying on the floor in the living room while Mary sewed in the chair. Fun fact the kids got a kick out of -- Lincoln's toilet was a barrel! The entire section of town where Lincoln lived is slowly being returned to accurately show what it would have looked like when he lived there (sans the muddy dung-filled streets).

 

  



From his home, we traveled to his tomb. What another unforgettable experience. Just to drive up the cemetery road and see his massive tomb gives you the chills. We all rubbed the nose on Lincon's bust which is supposed to give you good luck. We sure need it to get back on track for our trip! After reading the plaques outside about the significance of the external features of his tomb, we entered inside. When you walk in, it immediately brings tears to your eyes to know you are in the presence of this great man. We stopped to read every sign and Riley insisted on rubbing the shoes of each Lincoln statue as we walked through. When you enter the room where he and his family are laid to rest, your breath is taken away. I don't know how to describe the moment, the experience, the emotions.

      

 

If you walk around the tomb you will see behind it, a granite marker where he was temporarily buried for a few years while they were building his current tomb. Even further down the hill is the crypt where his body was held immediately following his assassination.

 

I wanted to visit his law office and the Lincoln Library, but it was almost already 2:00 by that time and we had to get back on the road. We moved on to the town of Chatham, through the neverending corn fields, to find Sugar Creek Covered Bridge, and picnicked there. We enjoyed it until we had spiders crawling on us and some of the biggest flying insects I've ever seen attacking us. We packed our things and continued on with our day.

We stopped at Doc's Soda Fountain in Gerard and enjoyed new flavors of Route 66 Soda and some ice cream. The ladies working there were very kind and shared with us all the history of the building and pharmacy relics on display. We also found quite a few old gas stations.

We continued on to Henry's Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, but alas they were closed already. We walked around for a few minutes and moved onto the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River and the border of Illinois and Missouri. We walked for at least a half hour and didn't even make it to the other side of the bridge. We took some pictures and headed back to our car.

          

From here we were headed to St. Louis to see the famous Gateway Arch. Parking here was only $5. Thank you St. Louis! We walked to the base of the arch, touched it, discovered that it was crawling with little roaches (yuck), and wimped out at the thought of traveling to the top. Standing at the base and looking up Jade and I both said "Nope! We're good!". On the way back to the car, the kids were able to see fireflies for the first time in their lives. Riley found two mating in the grass and gently picked them up to show his sisters. They spent quite awhile trying to catch some more in the park after that.

      

By the time we got to our car, it was already 9:00 and we decided to just eat dinner where we were parked. It was pretty neat. The street was old cobblestone (crazy to drive on, and even crazier to imagine riding on it in a carriage!) and the restaurant had outdoor seating in between two other buildings.

     

After dinner was over it was already 10:00 and I had to throw in the towel. I gave up the last two stops on our agenda (Riley wasn't happy - one was a Civil War site), put the address into Google, and get to the hotel ... 45 minutes away as fast as possible, on the freeway.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be back on schedule and will make it everywhere on time (with the luck from rubbing Lincoln's nose!).

Tip for today - Sleep in St. Louis on day 3!