So we are in St. Joe right now, but I'm a little behind on the blog posts (we've just been so busy having fun!) So in this post, you get to hear about our time in St. Louis.
Well, last Saturday (June 1st), we reached St. Louis at night. For Ryan, it was his first time driving over the Mississippi and we had a very warm welcome from the St. Louis skyline. I never realized how nice the city looks at night, where you can't really see the old, abandoned warehouses and can really see the Arch come to life! Ryan noticed that all the Paneras in St. Louis say "St. Louis Bread Company" and he couldn't get over how weird it was the whole time. Why does St. Louis not name their stores "Panera"? If you know the answer, let us know!
We were welcomed with open arms by my cousin Cassie and her boyfriend John. They live in a really nice neighborhood in the Ballwin area of St. Louis. We were also welcomed by Cassie and John's dogs Romeo, who, true to his name, loves everyone and Beckett, who only loves John and is terrified of everyone else! Ryan and I were sad the dog didn't like us being there. It was just sad to see the dog run away from us every time, but that's what pets do at times.
But we settled in for the night and awoke to a delicious breakfast casserole that my cousin made for breakfast. Ryan had yet another first, as he had never had the dish before. Seriously. In the midwest, breakfast casserole is just a given breakfast food, so we were shocked! But once we got a taste of the delicious sausage, eggs, and cheese combo, we couldn't get enough!
After watching a few episodes of Snapped! on Oxygen with my cousin, Ryan and I finally went to explore. First stop, the Arch of course! I had been to St. Louis to see family several times, but I had never been to the top of the Arch because my sister was always too afraid of heights. So Ryan and I were eager to explore. It was cloudy, which wasn't ideal to go to the top of the Arch, but we dealt with it. So the Arch ride was really interesting. Unlike other sites, you take this little tram to the top. I was a bit worried at first, because I thought I would see more of the bottom of the Arch as we rose upward. But actually, it's pretty confined. So tight that I was worried with Ryan and I couldn't fit, they cram five seats into a tiny little capsule and Ryan and I were a little squished, but it was worth it because the view at the top was spectacular! I thought it was cool that a Cards game was going on nearby at Busch Stadium, as I could see the game from above. We really enjoyed getting to see the city and the river and I thought it was interesting to see all the flooding in St. Louis.
Views from the Arch!
Afterwords, we drove to the headquarters of Panera (or St. Louis Bread Co.) and snapped a picture at our favorite casual food place's headquarters.
Then, we drove to nearby Forest Park and were stunned. Forest Park was constructed as the grounds for the 1904(?) World's Fair and traces of that fair linger still today. The park is surprisingly huge. The welcome pavilion still stands today as well as some other structures. Ryan and I were in awe over how beautiful the park was and if we had more time, we definitely would have explored more. We were also impressed that all of these things in Forest Park were for free, considering every similar activity in Atlanta seems to always have a high cost.
Anywho, we ended up back at Cassie and John's and we had a cookout where we hung out also with my Uncle Jerry, Aunt Lynn and their kids Ben and Claire. We had a lot of fun and John cooked amazing food with Bobby Flay recipes (like his baked beans with cilantro, which was amazingly tasty!) We sat out on their deck and listened to their plans for their house. John is a great carpenter and hand makes all of this cool furniture. Really enjoyed the style of their house and took note of some of their style ideas for the future.
In the end, we were definitely impressed with St. Louis. I had never been a huge fan of the city when I lived in Missouri, but it's growing on me and its definitely somewhere where I could see myself living if the situation ever presented itself. But yea, we enjoyed our time there.
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