Visit to Saint Louie

Neither flood waters or a broken arm could keep us away from visiting our son in St. Louis last weekend. We were supposed to go last fall and a visit to an acupuncturist sent me into a tailspin with flu-like symptoms - so we weren't able to go.

Jud and Kara have such a busy schedule - it was hard to find a weekend that worked for all of us, so that we could finally visit the city with the arch! We put this date on the calendar long ago - way before my clutzy move on my bike resulted in a broken shoulder. Despite pain and a sling, I was determined to go!

We took off last Friday after working a few hours in the a.m. We'd heard they had rain similar to the onslaught we'd had in DSM on Wednesday night - but didn't realize we'd run into a roadblock an hour north of Jud's place. That resulted in a, not one, but two hour detour. Ugh!

We were happy to finally arrive about 7 p.m. Friday night. Jud and Kara had recently moved from one apartment in their complex to a larger ground floor unit - AND they'd stayed up late to put up pictures/decorations. Nothing like the looming prospect of visitors to spur you on! The place looks great.

We walked through their neighborhood to a corner bar for some supper. The area reminds me of the East Village 10 years ago - it's just on the edge of taking off to be cool. Now there are some nice things and some that aren't great. After we ate, we walked to a huge brewery for a beer. We were on the edge of a neighborhood (there are tons of them in STL) called the Grove.

 In the morning we picked up a local pastry at the corner bakery (Amy's Bake Shoppe). Plus some muffins - yummy. After a quick stop at a bike store to get a tire pump (they'd been riding on 20# tires) we headed to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, the largest urban park in the United States. It's right in their neighborhood!

There were displays on the neighborhoods of STL - with what was going on in the city back in 1875. And there was another on Nazi propaganda. Did I mention it was all totally free? As is everything at the park, including the zoo. It was a great way to get to know some things about the city - like its sense of competition with Chicago.

Speaking of Chicago - the Cubs were in town. So the city was rocking with lots of traffic. Our plan to go to a barbecue joint for lunch was busted when we saw the block long line. Plan B was a delightful kosher deli off the beaten path. I had a great corned beef sannie with cole slaw on rye.

Note manila cards for "Now Serving!" love it



After a rest, we then ventured to Anheuser-Busch to see if we could experience the brewery tour. Alas...the crowds had beat us to it, and they were booked for a couple hours. So we took the short tour right to the bar for a fresh one! The neighborhood near here allows people to drive around in golf carts. What a world. It reminded me of the Atlantic Country Club.

After that, we headed to another neighborhood only about 10 minutes from Jud's place to a another brew pub called Square One. We were one a mission to meet up with an old friend and his wife. I met Kevin Aleshire (otherwise known as Dairy Cow or DC) during my sophomore year in college. He lived on the same dorm floor at ISU with our pals Steve and Moose, who we met when they became our flag football coaches. Through Moose and Steve we met the whole dorm floor - Pig Farmer, Dirger, Dirty, and a variety of other aptly named characters. It must have been much like a scene from Animal House, living on that floor. "We'll call you"...

Anyway...I'm Facebook friends with Kevin and he'd seen we were visiting his home of the past 35 years. He too works at Boeing where Jud now works. He and wife Julie have two children who are all growed up and successful. Their daughter is doing a residency after recently completing medical school. It was really fun to catch up with them - and Jud and Kara enjoyed it too. We hope to see them again before 30 years have passed.

It was still fairly early when we said goodbye and headed back to J&K's. So we sat in the little grilling/garden area at their complex and had a beer. Then we finished the night by laughing together watching the Lego movie. The next morning we caught breakfast at a good place called The Shack on our way out of town. Flood waters only took us out of our way by about 20 minutes on the way back.

It was a swell time. It's fun to have grown up kids!