T.J. and Archie Jr. watch the Rams dominate Peyton Manning. Archie Jr. was a sad puppy.

On November 16^th, Archie Jr. and I went on a trip to St. Louis to watch the Rams and the Broncos. Archie Jr. was so excited to watch his favorite football player, Peyton Manning. Even though Peyton let us down, Archie Jr. and I had a blast. Archie Jr. and I still managed to find a cake while it was snowing outside. The latitude was 38.635632 and the longitude was -90.178378. Louie and I drove 35.2 miles from the Wham building to my home. We traveled 88.2 miles from my home to the Edward Jones Dome. All together Archie Jr. and I traveled 246.8 miles.

Location: Edward Jones Dome
Address: 901 N Broadway, St Louis, MO 63101
Distance traveled: 246.8 miles
This year, Louie has traveled a total distance of 7,807.13 miles.

Road trip to Crystal Lake!

Kayla took Louie on an adventurous trip back home to Crystal Lake, IL. Louie met Kayla's two brothers, mom, and her step father. Everyone loved Louie! On October 10th, Kayla and her family took Louie to Randall Oaks Park and Barnyard, this was Kayla's favorite place as a kid. At the park we saw cows, mini horses, rabbits, chickens, pigs, and peacocks! Louie wanted to go on a pony ride, but he was too small to ride. After seeing all of the cool animals, Louie and Kayla's family had a lunch at the park connected to the barnyard. What a great weekend!

We began our journey from the Wham building to Kayla's apartment which is 1.7 miles. After, we traveled to Kayla's house in Crystal Lake which is 377 miles. After calculating our entire trip, we traveled a total of 757.4 miles!

Location: Randall Oaks Barnyard Zoo
Address: 1180 N. Randall Rd., West Dundee, IL
Latitude and longitude locations: 42° 5' N / 88° 20' W
Distance traveled: 757.4 miles
This year, Louie has traveled a total distance of 7,560.33 miles.

Sadie and Archie see the Spirit of St. Louis Airport

      Sadie took Archie on a trip home to Missouri.  We went to the Missouri high school state cross country meet to watch Sadie's little brother race in Jefferson City.  His team won! On the way home we stopped in Chesterfield at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport and saw one of the St. Louis birthday cakes.  It is located at 18270 Edison Ave. Chesterfield, MO 63005.  The latitude and longitude are 38.65 N and 90.55 W.  This airport is special because it is small enough for private planes and pilots but also large enough for corporate jets.  The cake was designed to look like the metal that airplanes are made with.  Sadie and Archie traveled 488.6 miles round trip from the Wham building to Festus, Jefferson City, Chesterfield, and back to Carbondale again after stopping in Festus for the night.  The total miles Archie has traveled so far this year is 6802.93 miles.

Marilou and Louie Snoop Through Lincoln's House!

On October 3rd, 2014, Marilou came up with the bright idea to visit Lincoln's house in Springfield! I know Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth president.  Besides being our president, I had no clue he had a wife AND kids!!! Seeing his house gave me a new perspective on Abe Lincoln.  It was interesting to see how he lived his life. Lincoln and his wife had separate rooms and his two kids shared a bedroom. One thing I found interesting is in the upstairs hallway there were no decorations or pictures on the wall. This was because Lincoln's wife thought it was pointless to decorate spaces that will not be visible to guests.

We began our journey from the Wham building to Marilou's apartment, which was 0.6 miles.  From there we traveled to Springfield, IL to Abraham Lincoln's house, which was 169 miles. All in all, we traveled 339.2 miles round-trip! 

Location: Lincoln Home National Historical Site, Springfield, IL
Address: 413 S 8th St, Springfield, IL 62701
Latitude and longitude locations:
39.7972° N, 89.6450° W
Distance traveled: 339.2 miles
Total distance Louie traveled in 2014: 1,460.9 miles
(Shawna&Louie- 329.2 mi., Sam&Louie- 792.5 mi., Marilou&Louie- 339.2 mi.)

Archie's First St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Game

On September 3rd Archie took a trip to St. Louis with Ashleigh and her twin sister Cassie. While they were there, Archie saw his first St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. After watching the Cards pull off a win in the bottom of the 9th inning, they took a different way home and stopped by two stl250 cakes. The first one was located at Emma Kunz House located at 602 Fulton St. Belleville, IL 62220. This house was built around 1830 and was named after the last resident of the house, Emma Kunz, who lived there for 77 years. The house is modeled after the 'German street homes' that were common in Europe. 
After we left the old Kunz home we headed to Eckert's Belleville Country Store and restaurant to eat dinner. The second stl250 cake we visited is located at this little country store (951 S. Greenmount Belleville, IL 62220) We concluded our adventure with a tastey fried chicken dinner and a dessert from the Eckerts Country Store/Diner.

Latitude and Longitude of locations- 
Busch Stadium: 38.6272 N, 90.1978 W
Belleville: 38.5317 N, 89.9953 W
 Miles Traveled: 240.2 miles
Total Miles Traveled by Archie thus far: 6,314.33 miles
   

Stephanie and Archie go to Oregon

On October 9, 2014, Archie and Stephanie set off on an exciting adventure to visit Stephanie's boyfriend, Matt, in Beaverton, Oregon. The trip started off with a walk from the building Wham at SIUC to Stephanie's apartment. Then Archie and Stephanie drove to SIUE in Edwardsville, IL so Stephanie's sister could take us to the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport so we could finally start our journey to Oregon. Once we boarded our plane in St. Louis, we flew all the way to Seattle, WA. Once we were in Seattle, we had to wait for a small plane to take us to Portland International Airport where we would finally see Stephanie's boyfriend. Archie and Stephanie were exhausted after all that traveling! On October 11, Archie, Stephanie, and Matt went to Hillsboro, Oregon to visit the Roloff Farm from the TLC show, Little People, Big World! They were all so excited, but especially Stephanie and Archie! We took a tour of the Roloff's property and even got to meet the Roloffs! (Archie was a little shy, so he did not want his picture taken with Amy Roloff). After an exciting day at the farm, we decided to go see the house where the movie The Goonies was filmed! Although we could not go inside the house because someone lived there, we were able to get our picture taken in front of the house. We were so excited!! Our trip was not over yet but Archie was getting very tired from all the traveling and sight-seeing so he stayed inside until it was time to come back to Carbondale, IL.

Location: Roloff Farms and The Goonie House

Address: Rollof Farms 23985 NW Grossen Dr

Hillsboro, OR 97124

45°35'59.8"N 122°55'21.9"W

The Goonie House: 368 38th St, Astoria, OR 

46°11'35.0"N 123°47'58.8"W

Total Round Trip Miles: 4,226.23 mi

Total Miles Archie has Traveled: 6,074.13 mi!

Archie Travels to St. Louis!

On October 4, 2014, Archie traveled with Melissa and her mom, Sherri, to the beautiful city of St. Louis, MO.  Archie, Melissa, and Sherri traveled to St. Louis in search of the 250 cakes that were located throughout the city.  The drive to St. Louis was roughly a 3 hour drive and approximately 144 miles, from Melissa's house. 
Once in St. Louis, Archie, Melissa, and Sherri went and found the cake at the Gateway Arch.  The Gateway Arch is now a monument for Thomas Jefferson and other pioneers that used St. Louis as, "The Gateway to the West."  After Archie was done with his photo-shoot at the Arch, Melissa and her mom decided to go up into the Arch for some sightseeing.  Archie was afraid of the elevator and the height, so he stayed in Melissa's purse until the Arch trip was over.  The Gateway Arch is located at 100 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO and has a latitude of 38.624953 and a longitude at -90.18429.
After the excitement of finding the cake at the Gateway Arch, the group decided to go find more!  The second cake they came across was the cake at the Old Post Office.  The Old Post Office is 1 of 5 U.S. Custom Houses built after the war in the fastest growing cities.  It is now, the only surviving building of these 5.  The Old Post Office can be found at 815 Olive Street St. Louis, MO and has a latitude of 38.6272733 and a longitude of -90.1978889.
The third cake found was at the MX Complex/Future home of the National Blues Museum coming in 2015.  The National Blues Museum is going to show examples of Blues music and how Blues influenced America.  The National Blues Museum can be found at 618 Washington St. Louis, MO and has a latitude of 38.6303 and a longitude of -90.1898.
The fourth and final cake found, was at the Lammert Building.  The Lammer Building was a furniture company founded in St. Louis.  The Lammert Building can be found at 911 Washington Street St. Louis, MO and has a latitude of 38.6311 and a longitude of -90.1933. 

Archie, Melissa, and Sherri all had a great time in St. Louis finding the cakes and visiting their locations.  The three of them cannot wait until they can visit St. Louis again sometime soon to visit more interesting places. 

The total miles roundtrip was 354 miles.  After that much traveling, all three individuals were exhausted!