Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A tale of 2 cities: St. Louis

So, while Annabelle was off visiting Mike in Tallahassee, Fred and I decided to get away on our own. He suggested Vegas, I suggested Cancun, and we opted for . . . St. Louis! Turns out that with a military rate, even the Ritz-Carlton can be downright affordable.

Thursday morning, we dropped Ginger off at the kennel and hopped on I-70 heading east. (It still freaks me out to think of St. Louis as being to the east. That is just wrong.)

We got checked in at the hotel around mid-afternoon and set back out to familiarize ourselves with the area. We were stuffed from our Qdoba stop on the city outskirts (why no Qdoba, Kansas City? why?), so we worked up an appetite walking around the mall before stopping at a Thai place for dinner and getting back to the hotel in time to see FSU turn it around on the basketball court. Or rather, Fred got to see it. I couldn't stand the stress and had my sweater zipped up to my eyebrows.

Friday morning we started off with a quick visit to Washington University, just to grab breakfast and see if we could imagine Annabelle going there. Turns out it is just as gorgeous as it looks in the brochures:









From there we spent some time exploring Forest Park, which is right next to the university. This is the Jewel Box, an Art Deco greenhouse:





Then we stopped by the Third Degree Glass Factory to kill a little time:





From there we headed up the street to the Delmar Loop, a fun and funky district just a few blocks away from the university. City Hall is at one end:



There is also a cool walk of fame featuring famous people with Missouri ties, like Scott Joplin:



And a Chuck Berry statue:



We had lunch at Blueberry Hill, a Loop hotspot:



Other Loop-iness:







That night we went out for an amazing dinner at Scape, which had come highly recommended by the concierge at the Ritz (tee hee, I love saying that!). She had also recommended The Cup, which was just around the corner from Scape, for dessert, and it was likewise a winner:



The next morning we had delicious omelets at a crepe restaurant, but sadly the crepe was nothing to write home about. Ironic, no? At any rate, I figured maybe it was the universe's way of telling me to PUT DOWN THE FOODBAG! We puttered around a little, but we were getting itchy to get on the road home. I did have to stop for a shot of this unusual looking building. Love the turtles and the slogan:



We made great time on the drive home and even made it back in time to pick Ginger up from the kennel that same day. She was happy to go home but maybe a little sad to leave her new friend Wesley:

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