We left for St. Louis at 2:30 Friday afternoon, I got to sneak out a little early because we had spent all the money that was designated for our agency by noon on Friday.
Our Friday night was going to consist of going to Joe's Crab Shack, hitting the hot tub at our hotel and then going to Ted Drewes. By the way, before we even start this. I gave myself permission to take the weekend off from counting points. I gained a little and knew I would but man, it was good! And YES, it was worth it......especially eating Imo's Pizza at Midnight. We felt like a couple of teenagers.
So......Joe's Crab Shack...
I may have already mentioned that we got one night free at our hotel because of having Gold Key Points, yes, we are Drury addicts and this particular Drury is our favorite. When we got there, the manager was checking us in and she said Rachel and somebody else would be there to take care of us, I said, "Rachel's here, she's usually here on Saturday nights?" She said Rachel was in the back eating dinner, when Rachel heard her name, here she came around the corner, saw us and immediately came around the corner to give us both hugs. The manager asked if we knew each other (new manager) and I explained just through years of coming down here and then we were in Louisville one time and she was working there. Anyway, that was the only time we got to see her but it was still good to see her.
So then we got to our room and look at what was waiting for us....
It had bottles of water, cheese and crackers, mini candy bars and mints....as well as a little note about how happy they were to have us back. Talk about making a person feel important!
I tried to take pictures of Ted Drewes, but the lights were too bright, look it up if you are ever in St. Louis, it is a must!
First night, we were in bed by midnight.
Saturday morning, we slept in, well, I was up at 7:30 which believe me, is sleeping in for me. My normal wake-up is around 5-5:30, earlier if I am being good.
We did a little shopping---Andrew needed a jacket to wear to the Muny as it was supposed to be cool that night. So first stop was Burlington Coat Factory. We then took in the US Grant home, Whitehaven. What a nice place and what a cool story. We always hear about Ulysses Grant, the war hero but let me tell you, Ulysses Grant, the husband and father was a very important part of his life too. I love the fact that Julia, his wife, was truly his helpmate through life. I picked this place for Andrew but I thoroughly enjoyed the trip as well.
The next place we went was to Adrianna's, an Italian deli on The Hill. Before there was an Andrew and Mindy, Andrew ate on The Hill a few times, I never have--you can easily buy an entire week's worth of groceries for what it costs for one meal on The Hill. As much as I would love to see inside some of the restaurants and "do" the experience, I have never been able to do it. The Deli is a little crazy priced too but not as bad as some of the other places and you still get to have the experience of being on The Hill. We had homemade Italian sausage sandwiches, olive salads and cheese bread. It was a good thing we had a fridge in our room because we had leftovers.
We went back to the room after our late lunch to take a nap, I know us old folks and my normal bedtime is 9 at the latest. The show started at 8:15--so yep, we needed a nap.
We left for the Muny about 6 p.m, got a fantastic parking spot and enjoyed the live entertainment while waiting for the gates to open.
There are rules against taking pictures during the show, but here is what I did take.
Mary Poppins was great! This was a Muny first as Mary was going to fly over the audience. It was the very last scene and it made me cry as she left. I love the Muny and already can't wait until next year's trip.
After the Muny was over, we went to Imo's. If you have never had Imo's pizza, this is another St. Louis MUST. We had toasted raviolis and pizza and yes, we ate every last bite. It was WONDERFUL!!!
Somehow, we didn't get a picture of the pizza before it was gone, but here's the ravs...
Scrumptious!!
Sunday came way too quickly but was a wonderful end to a great weekend. We started out by doing a little shopping (again) this time for Andrew some shoes....the one thing we intended to shop for over the weekend. (I ended up with quite a few purchases too over the weekend). After that we hit Fitz's Root Beer for lunch. This is a favorite of ours. We were hungry for Black and Bleu Burgers, they were fantabulous. Of course, they bottle their own soda, right down to Diet Root Beer, which of course, we had.....to surely help discount some of the burgers.
Our original plans were to go to the Jewel Box and the Art Museum in Forest Park but it was crazy there and we were wanting relaxing, not chaotic. So, we headed south, to Mastodon State Park, it was nice, they have a little museum of all the fossils they have found and they have natural trails.
This is the only picture we took there, I was sitting because we had hiked about a mile and I had to sit because I didn't take my 10+ lb purse to the car and I didn't change my shoes. I deemed it more of a workout that way.
Our last stop before heading home was to Jefferson Barracks, this is where Grant was stationed when he met Julia Dent. There is a national cemetery there. National Cemeteries humble me in a way nothing else does. Please just take a moment and look:
Yes, there is tombstones as far as you can see, it's like an ocean....all of people who gave their all. As I said humbling.
We stopped in Highland on the way home at a really nice Chinese restaurant. It was nice too. All in all, it was a perfect weekend.
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