We visited St. Louis from July 4th - 9th, 2000. We were there partly for vacation, but mostly to volunteer at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) National Youth Gathering. We were part of the Local Arrangements Volunteers (even though we were from Iowa) and helped in a variety of ways. |
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Someday we will go back to spend the entire time vacationing in the area. We enjoyed helping with the Youth Gathering though, and found it a very rewarding experience. The Gathering involved over 42,000 youth from across the country over a 2 week period. There were over 18,000 high school kids the week we were there. The Gathering was a neat experience highlighted by seeing Archbishop Desmond Tutu give an inspiring talk at one of the evening worships.
Among the places we visited in St. Louis were the Arch, Busch Stadium for a Cardinals game, Budweiser Brewery, State Historical Society, Old Cathedral and the Zoo. St. Louis is a pretty cool town - although in July it is hotter than... well... it's really hot.
We had a very enjoyable trip. It ended up being quite a bit of work, but it was very rewarding as well. We also saw a lot of cool things in St. Louis and think it is an excellent vacation area. There are an incredible amount of things to do and see there.