Welcome to Grafton, Illinois and to the Grafton Sky Tour
The Sky Tour has the option of open air or enclosed riding
Now why are we on this Sky Tour? Well we are headed up the bluff to Aerie's Resort
Here is a trio of the enclosed cabins heading back down
Now that we are at the top, let's take a look around Aerie's Resort
Quite the view of the Mississippi River valley
It is really pretty up here
All right, we're hungry, let's see what they have to eat
This hamburger with bacon and bourbon sauce was delicious
There is also a winery if you are into that sort of thing
Fine. Enough stalling, we are here for the Alpine Coaster
Right now, they are running a "buy 2 laps get 1 free" sale and we took full advantage
Heading out of the station
The route is completely in the woods which really adds to the feeling of speed
There is also some straight track which is rare on alpine/mountain coasters for some reason
One thing I noticed that was missing is a complete 360 helix which seems to be on every coaster that we have ridden up until now
Our thoughts? It is a little short for our liking, but definitely has a great setting. I think it was a lot of fun. Getting to it with the ski lift really reminded me of a miniature Anakeesta. Yeah, I would recommend a stop if you are in the area
I think if we had just done one lap each, we might have been a little disappointed, but with 3 laps we were more than satisfied and might come back in the future
Heading back down on the Sky Tour you are really treated to some great views
Again if you are in the area, definitely recommend a stop. It is not that far from north metro area of St. Louis. Maybe 30 minutes from 270 - plus the drive is very scenic from Alton to Grafton as the highway is right on the shore of the Mississippi River next to the towering bluffs