We Interrupt These Spiralbound Cookbook Postings...

...to write a quick rundown of our spring break trip to St. Louis, Missouri!

 A St. Louis cardinal!!

NEVER have we worked SO HARD to get somewhere without a beach or mountains!  Since we fly "standby", we are at the mercy of "seat availability".  We started last week by thinking that London looked like a possibility...then that filled up.  Next we tried Los Angeles...yes...then nope.  Florida...yes (for about a day)...then no.  Washington, D.C...New York City...Kansas City...Texas...Arizona...and finally, after running out of possibilities...St. Louis.

I'd never actually BEEN to St. Louis, and always wanted to see the arch, so, we listed for the flight, watched the number of passengers grow throughout the day of departure, and decided to take the risk and go to the airport.

It used to be less "risky" to go.  Duane worked at a company along the light rail route, and we could park there, take the light rail to the airport, and, if we didn't get on the flight, head back home.  Now he's at a different company, and we have to go to a park and ride lot, and, if we don't get on the flight, have to come back to the lot, and pay for a day of parking...even if we've only been there for an hour.

The gamble paid off!  We were able to get on the flight, and arrived in St. Louis late Sunday night.  We stayed at a Drury Inn & Suites, which is now our favorite hotel chain.  In addition to free breakfast, they also have a free happy hour, with a "3 free adult beverages" punch card each day, plus things like nachos, hot dogs, salads, pasta, and other delicious possibilities.

Monday morning, we got up, and, as usual, hit the ground running.  We really wanted to go to the City Museum to play on all of the cool stuff they have there, but were told that they were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which was SUPER annoying.  We found out later that they AREN'T closed on Mondays and Tuesdays...more on that later!

We started our day with a visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  On the way, we found a really cool store selling lawn statues...

...but didn't figure we could get the giraffe OR the Roman statue back on the plane, so continued on to the gardens.

Living in Minnesota, spring is still about six to eight weeks away.  Missouri is far enough south that they are in the early part of their spring...the awesome daffodil/tulip/forsythia part of spring.  It was painfully obvious that we were from the "nether regions"...both because of our pasty complexions AND the fact that we took about 900 photos of flowers.  BEAUTIFUL!!

After the gardens, we headed downtown to check out the Gateway Arch.  It has been closed for renovations for months, so we weren't able to actually go to the top of it (which I hear is a little claustrophobic).  Apparently, it's reopening TODAY (timing is everything), but...we DID get to go into the visitors center up the hill from the arch, which was very beautiful.  We were also able to walk to, and get NEAR, the arch.  Except for the really loud construction equipment, fences, and dust, it was very serene and majestic.

After the arch, we checked out some of the local grocery stores (since that's what we do on vacation!).  We stopped at a Schnucks, and a Straubs.  We also had frozen custard at a local institution called Ted Drewes.  I had a really tasty mocha/hazelnut/caramel sundae!

After frozen custard, we went back to the hotel for happy hour.  We spent awhile resting our feet, and figuring out what to do next.  I had a hot dog and a chardonnay (as one friend put it on facebook, "when you want a hot dog, but also want to keep it classy")...

...then we headed out again to shop at some of the strip malls near the hotel.

We explored another grocery store chain...Dierbergs...which was DEFINITELY our favorite of the three we visited.  It was very classy, with a nice variety of items we didn't see at the other grocery stores...including Maple Bacon Pop Tarts!!!

Even though we have them here in the cities, we also went to Target, Trader Joes, and Cost Plus World Market (and BOUGHT things...to carry back to the twin cities...where we HAVE these stores...).

We also went to the St. Louis Galleria, and shopped until everything closed at 9:00.  It was at the Galleria that a clerk at Dillard's said that they thought the City Museum was open on Mondays and Tuesdays.  We then went back to the hotel, did some quick research to confirm, and collapsed EXHAUSTEDLY into bed (it had been a full day, after all!).

On Tuesday we headed to the City Museum, which WAS IN FACT, open!  I was hoping that others were also under the impression that it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but no such luck...the place was PACKED!  It was loud!  It was chaos!  It was fun!

"Museum" is a bit of a misnomer.  They DO have a few exhibits, sprinkled throughout the chaos, but many of them were closed for renovation (a predominant theme of our trip!).  They had an architecture exhibit, and we were able to see a few bits that weren't in the "work zone".

They also had a room with some modern art in it.  I'm not a fan of modern art, but I DID like the "hot dog man"...

I also thought the Star Wars "Death Star" sculpture, made out of odds and ends...including many cassette tapes, was cool:

I think we were the only people actually LOOKING at the museum-y stuff, but they had some really interesting items.  My FAVORITE exhibit was the display by the "Privy Digger"...a guy who goes to dig sites around St. Louis, and looks for areas that used to be the location of outhouses.  Evidently people used to throw their refuse and other items down the holes.  He's dug up some amazing stuff:

We DID "play" a little bit...

 After letting my "inner kindergartner" play for awhile (for which my outer adult was NOT PLEASED the following day), we headed to St. Charles to meet an old friend of mine for lunch.  Donna directed a couple of shows back in my hometown of Fairfield, Iowa, and we hadn't seen each other for about twenty five years.  As we were figuring out what to do in St. Louis, I remembered that she lived there, and contacted her to see if she wanted to get together.

She did (!), so we drove to Lindenwood University, and had a great lunch on the patio at Llywelyn's Pub.  It was GREAT to catch up, and we easily slipped back into familiar territory (theater), and had a great conversation.  Donna was one of my favorite directors, and it was great to see the theater in which she now teaches and directs shows.  If you are in St. Charles...go to the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts and see something!!

After lunch, we headed back to St. Louis, and spent some time at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park.

The museum has some great paintings by artists like Van Gogh, and Seurat, as well as a really nice collection of decorative arts pieces.  They also have a very nice Chihuly!

After the museum, we headed to the airport, and flew back to the twin cities.  I DO miss mid-70's and sunshine...especially since it's 40 degrees and SNOWING here today...

Here's hoping YOU were able to get away recently too, and that you found things to rejuvenate you too...even if there WASN'T an ocean or a range of mountains to admire!