2017 RV Trip - St. Louis, MO

Friday, June 23^rd - This morning we left Cadiz, KY in a steady rainfall. Not pleasant for Earl in getting all the outside ready for the road, but it is what it is. As much traveling as we do, it’s surprising it hasn’t happened a lot more than it has.  We drove to Granite City, IL for our next stay – just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis which is our destination. We’re at the KOA Journey ($48 night). This is a nice pull through, but we have very close neighbors on either side, nothing like the huge site we were on in Cadiz with that gorgeous lake view! But….that’s quite rare, and this is perfect for our stay here, as we won’t be spending much time here anyway. This will be a much busier stop than usual. 

Saturday, June 24^th – BUSY and FUN day! And such incredible weather!

Sights going into the city.

Our first view of the Arch...

This is where we went to pick up the trolley.

This is the casino inside the hotel. Lots of people in there, even in the morning! You know I just walk through these places thanking God the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous! :-) We worked way too hard for our money to lose it here!

We rode the St. Louis Trolley for the 2 hour tour this morning. We always like to do that first if we’re in any city we’re not familiar with. They often point out sites to see that we might not have known about and it gives us helpful info on the city. What a history St. Louis has! Wow. Even on our way across the river and while driving downtown and several times throughout the trolley ride, you get glimpses of the famous St. Louis City Arch. It is definitely a presence in this city! 

 One of the stops we made from the trolley was The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Just spectacular! The exterior architecture is Romanesque, with granite walls, rose windows and two massive towers. Construction began in 1907 and took 75 years to complete, with over 20 artists contributing. Imagine this – there are over 41,500,000 pieces of tile in more than 8000 shades of color! Pictures just can’t do it justice. If you’re anywhere near St. Louis, this is a must see!

 

We didn't have long to spend there as they were just getting ready for a wedding. Judging by the flowers, I'd guess it will be beautiful.

MO History Museum - next time I want to go inside!

This building is the French inspired City Hall, built 250 years ago. Interesting, our tour guide told us awhile back they felt it was in desperate need of cleaning, so they hired a pressure washer, and note the difference in the lower level. This is as far as they got, deciding that they were doing more damage than good, so the upper portion remains in its original state.

One of the original men who settled in St. Louis, wanted to "give back" to the city, allowing some of the poorer residents who might not be able to afford much entertainment to enjoy a fun time with their families, so he bought the old 600,000 sq. ft. Shoe Factory and put a carnival on the roof! 

Next came the front of the building where he continued his theme....

ALL of the materials used are recycled or repurposed, such as these 2 repurposed airplanes, turned into jungle gyms. It has two 10 story slides and numerous multi-floor slides, cantilevered school bus, a pipe organ, and hundreds of tunnels that traverse from floor to floor.  He used salvaged bridges, old chimneys, construction cranes and miles of tiles. Fascinating.

Another pass by the Arch.

We had to pick and choose due to limited time, but I love botanical gardens, and we've been to some amazing ones all across the country. This afternoon we toured the MO Botanical Garden. Perfect weather accompanied us and chirping birds provided melodies throughout the afternoon.

Founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw, the Missouiri Botanical Garden is the oldest botanical garden in continuous operation in America and one of the few gardens to achieve National Historic Landmark status. It's an oasis of great beauty in this amazing historical city.

I really liked that in this section, they showed what goes well in each setting, east window, west window, etc. Very helpful, I'm sure for people who live here.

 A wedding had just taken place prior to our arrival, we saw the very end of the photo shoot.

This was interesting to note. See how the pea gravel is raked into designs around the plants?

Isn't this root formation unusual?

The Iris Garden was not in bloom, unfortunately, but still made me recall such fond memories of my mother's beautiful Iris. She had over 100 varieties and was known for her beautiful arrangements of flowers.

 Having walked over 12,000 steps today, my knee was screaming at me by the end of the day. We came home and rested awhile and then headed out to El Torero for Mexican dinner. Loved their proclaiming both their faith and their patriotism!

 

 There is SO much to see and do here! We should have planned a longer stay and would have indeed spent a few more days, but our site was booked here too, so we will need to move on next Tuesday.

Sunday, we talked about doing several other things today, but decided a day of rest was in order. So with idyllic weather, we spent most of the day outside reading and enjoying our downtime. I had hoped to see Rock Island Arsenal and CityGarden and possibly take the River Cruise, but we can’t fit all that in tomorrow, so we’ll need to prioritize. And I've about maxed out how much my knee can handle, I think. We did decide to go out tonight and try Imo's Pizza, recommended by our friends and next door FL neighbors, Earl and Becky Lewis. YUMMO!

Monday, 6/26 – Today is our granddaughter, Sarah’s 13^th birthday! We love this sweet girl so much and we are so proud of how sweet and wholesome she is! Can’t believe she’s a teenager!

Our friend, Scott Crawford had said we must go have a BLT at Crown Candy Kitchen, so today on our way to the zoo, we found this little hole in the wall place….oldest soda fountain in St. Louis, dating back to 1913, known for their Heart Attack BLT and milkshakes! 

We were early, having not had breakfast, wanting to allow time for today’s activities, so at 11:00 when we got there, there was a line out the door! Whaaat? The place was packed! You can tell from the photos, it’s like stepping back in time. 

Our office manager's husband, Mark Seeley, is known for his taking on challenges all over the country at famous places. So Mark, here's your next challenge!

We sat in the tiniest booth I’ve ever seen! I quickly saw that the “Heart Attack BLT” was the most expensive sandwich on the menu and wondered why – more expensive that a burger or a roast beef or patty melt, etc.?  What’s up with that, but since Scott specifically told me about that, that was what I ordered. You have got to be kidding me! I know my mouth fell open when she brought our plates. 

I have never seen that much bacon at one time. It must have been a good 3 inches of bacon! NO way could I even fit it in my mouth! So immediately, I took off most of the bacon, leaving a thin layer, and the sandwich was good, but what a waste! Earl enjoyed his ham and cheese.

Can you see how tiny/narrow this little booth is?
 

At any rate, here's my plate when I left! Looked like a lb of bacon on there!

In all honesty, my favorite tomato sandwich is just thick sliced ripe tomatoes on soft fresh white bread, with lots of mayo, salt and pepper – that’s it! I guess you can’t take the country out of the girl.

After lunch, we went on over to the St. Louis Zoo for most of the afternoon. Beautiful day!  This is supposed to have been voted #1 Zoo in America – not sure about that, but it was very enjoyable.

These elephants were so cute, playing in the water!

And these sea lions....

 

Is this not the mangiest camel you've ever seen?

 We about walked our legs off, and I kept hearing Dr. Radnothy saying, “With your torn meniscus, avoid steps and inclines.” Oops…. Not much chance of that. It definitely let me know it wasn’t happy with me on Saturday and today, let’s just say it was speaking loud and clear! But what can you do? Just keep on keeping on....

These were taken from the top of the parking garage when we went downtown to see the Arch. Shocking that we had to pay $30 to park! Yep, you read that right! It was a game day today, and they just gouge you - nothing we could do other than pass up the Arch and we wanted to see it so.... and parking at the zoo was $15, so that's $45 today just to park!  Ugh...

We had seen the Arch from many angles by this time (you can’t possibly miss it), but seeing it up close and realizing how high 630 feet really is, and then going up to the top was quite a memorable experience.

These were taken from the top of the Arch.

This was coming back down. These tiny little elevator "cars" are just a tad unnerving....very jerky and noisy, with these little 2'x4' doors that you have to crawl into. But we made it. What a memory!

Earl said we walked over 14,000 steps today. I hope Dr. Radnothy doesn't find out. haha

As we left the Arch to walk back the several blocks to the parking garage, this horse and carriage was down below us. I snapped this, thinking how much I feel like Cinderella. I have found my prince and we are traveling all over the place. I still have to pinch myself. So grateful. So blessed. 

And tomorrow we travel again.... just a short distance this time - on to Springfield, IL. Stay tuned.