Why Missouri?

This has been a fun question to answer! I love watching all of your faces as you navigate asking what we were thinking in taking this trip.  Yes, there is a National Park. But the deal maker was MoBot -- the Missouri Botanical Garden. 

The Garden was created by Henry Shaw in 1859. It has about 80 acres of different gardens and research facilities. Fun fact: One of us used the MoBot plant finder in her job on a daily basis. You can too!: Plant Finder  In the perfect Spring Break world that we dream of every year, it's NOT March, and it's warmer, and in this case, there would be many more plants in bloom. Not so.  I give you March.  In Missouri.  

It was soooooo cold today. Well, it wasn't so much the temperature as the biting wind. We headed first to the Climatron as that is a big old bubble of warmth. It has around 1,500 plants from the lowland rain forest. Obviously I'm parroting some printed information here. Ha! All I know is that it was warm, and there were some HUGE plants.

I'm quite sure all of these plants have wonderful names, both scientific and common. And I don't know a one of them! But I travel with a walking plant encyclopedia, and she'd love to share. :)

After the Climatron, we headed to the Japanese Garden, which was really beautiful, and balanced in all the ways that Japanese Gardens are. It's really quite striking to be in a place where you can feel the harmony, where each branch and rock serves a design purpose. 

And after the Japanese Garden we wandered into the Chinese Garden. One thing I learned today is that Chinese Gardens are built, meaning they include architecture as focal points, and Japanese Gardens are grown, meaning they focus more on the natural elements. I sort of learned that today. I've recently had help remembering. Ha! :)

And the first day would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of the inside of the Linnean House, named after Carl Linnaeus. I didn't have to look that up! He is the father of modern taxonomy, the naming of animals and plants. I won't forget that as there was a minor familial skirmish over the spelling of his name. Ha!

And then, miracle of miracles, we found high tea at the London Tea Room. Right here in St Louis. If there's a better way to warm up than earl grey and scones, we don't know of it!

Bonus, there was a retail side to this tea shop. We came home with clotted cream in our suitcases!

The Down Day

You know when you’re on vacation and you just need a day? That was Thursday! We slept in, and the headed out for a shopping adventure. The Galleria (I think that’s what it was called) isn’t an especially interesting mall, but we do love to shop and can make most things work. 😉 The trying on is half the fun! If you get stuck in a dress with the lining out the left arm hole and the waist wrung around your neck and you’re alone, that’s just tragic. With a friend, it’s downright hilarious! 😆

On our list of things to try in St Louis was frozen custard. We went to Andy’s. Mom had a mint Oreo “Concrete” which is basically a Blizzard. I had a frozen root beer float. 

If it looks like I’m sucking my brains out through a straw, that’s right! 😂

For an afternoon adventure we drove back to the Alton/Grafton area (we’ll never tell why!). This time instead of driving by the corner of the “Great Debate” we stopped. The Great Debate was the last between Lincoln and Douglas. We both assumed it was the debates in the run up to Lincoln’s presidency. But it was for senator! I didn’t know this: Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for senator of IL, and lost. Later he ran against him (and some other folks) and won the presidency. In these parts, the 7 debate series for senator is thought to have shaped part of his future run for president. And it was cold, so the only picture evidence is an original brick road. Which I took from the car. ☺️

To close out another great day, we ate at Sen Thai, which was a Thai/Japanese restaurant. We had gyoza, tempura, and Pad Thai. And Japanese French fries. I have no idea why they were delicious! They had saffron on top, and delicious dipping sauces, but however they were fried was special too. No pics of that either/devoured too quickly! 

Not bad for a down day! 

The Pig Lizard at the Zoo

Once you start with move/tv references, it's hard to stop. 😉 The pig lizard is the creature that "exploded and turned inside out" after they used the digitizer in Galaxy Quest. While we use that quote quite a bit, we haven't seen a pig lizard before.  They call it a "takin" here, and it seemed to have considerably less teeth (and drool) than a pig lizard. 

We spent the day at the St Louis Zoo!

It was another cold and rainy day here in St Louis, and while we wished for different clothes, and tried on ear muffs, we had a wonderful day exploring this FREE zoo.

Besides the pig lizards, we saw lots of animals. Maybe because of the breezy conditions, or maybe because they were happy to see us, the animals were super active. We saw bears digging holes, monkeys running around in their overhead canopies, hippos frolicking about, and painted dogs herding each other around. 

Before we rolled up on the penguins, the bears and zebras were our favorite stops. But the penguins! It's a good thing they are separated from the rest of the animals so there isn't a lot of jealousness about their humorous charm. Despite the frigid conditions, we stayed in the penguin habitat for quite some time. There were some zookeepers in the exhibit trouble shooting a sprinkler problem and restocking the ice. And the penguins were giving them the business! The king penguins were following the every move of the workers, while the rockhopper penguins in the other exhibit were nearly losing their minds with squawking. My favorite was a gentoo penguin, who despite the chaos, seemed to be taking some personal time on a snorkel tour. What fun creatures!

We were SO COLD today! We've reminded ourselves (or tried) that this isn't the coldest we've been on Spring Break. We were ill prepared for the winter storm in Jasper National Park. or the snow in Santa Fe. We expected temperatures about 10 degrees higher, but it hasn't ruined our fun! 

Long Johns and Sprinkles

Do you know that part in American President when the president confidently says, of a Dogwood, "It's a tree and a flower"?  (American President is quoted by me almost as much as Fawlty Towers...) The Dogwood scene inspires me to quote that in any sort of word play.  Today it was in a donut shop after the gal told us they had Long Johns in many flavors. 👀 Long John: An underwear AND a donut. Ha! 

We found the best donut shop just a few minutes from downtown St Louis. Fun fact #1: It's on the old Route 66. Fun fact #2: It was called Donut Drive-In and was NOT a drive-in! 😆 They had the sprinkle donuts like the old ones QFC used to make before they went to Top Pot. Heaven! 

Donuts in hand, we headed out to Illinois (again!) to Cahokia Mounds. Cahokia Mounds is a pre-Columbian Native American City that, in addition to being a National Historical Landmark, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Even though the interpretive center was closed for a remodel, and the weather was not on our side, we really wanted to see it. How could we be so close to something so amazing and NOT see it?

I would like so desperately to tell you all about what we saw, but...even if the interpretive center had been open, I'm not sure what we would have learned.  It was a city of approximately 20,000 people at its heyday (1120 CE), built across over 100 mounds. Like many ancient civilizations, they just disappeared. There's no evidence of war on the grounds, but they built huge fences and defense palisades. Or possibly they moved because of drought or disease. One of the neat things archeologists have found on the site is evidence of trading with peoples from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and the Gulf Coast. One of the not so neat things is evidence of human sacrifice. Sigh. They know so little about these people, that they don't even know who they are! The area had been abandoned for centuries before the Cahokian people (an American Indian people from this area) made it their home. I love that in a time when we know so much, and have so much information available at our fingertips, there are still mysteries out there to be solved, and stories to be told.

The story of today turned out to be weather. It was rainy and cold in the parking lot, but downright breezy at the top of Monk's Mound about 100ft up. 

At a certain point you really can't get any wetter! This is why you bring extra Long Johns on your vacay. See what I did there? Ha!!

☔

El Burro Loco

 

No, I am not the burro. 🤣 But the picture makes me laugh (my hair is SO FRIZZY here), and makes me laugh even harder with the blog title. Another choice was "alluvial fan" which also is a good photo caption. Ha! 

Actually, El Burro Loco is a Mexican restaurant not far from our hotel. We've driven past it several times, and each time I do the bit from Fawlty Towers with Manuel and the butter. Do you know the episode I'm talking about? Fawlty Towers is a British comedy from the mid-70s with John Cleese. It was on the PBS fundraiser circuit when I was growing up, but I think that is a thing of the past given that is WILDLY inappropriate. (I can recite all the episodes from memory though....😉) 

So yesterday we went up in the Arch! Gateway Arch is one of our newest National Parks, changing designation from a National Memorial to a National Park in only 2018. 

 In the 1930s the park was was created both to improve the waterfront appeal of St Louis, and commemorate the role St Louis played in Westward Expansion. The museum is excellent. It instructs on the history of the area from the Osage Nation, clear to the creation of the Arch. It's so interesting to travel somewhere new and learn all about the history. Sure, we know the basics of our nation's history, but not the detailed history of this area. It is so rich with different cultures! 

While refreshing our knowledge of events like the Louisiana Purchase, we were also treated to the entire history of how the park was made. The display really highlighted the innovation in the design by Eero Saarinen, who designed the Arch.  We also watched the documentary on how it was made. Sure, the design was innovative, but building it was also groundbreaking. They couldn't create a scaffolding because of the curved shape, so they constructed a...thing...on a track of sorts that was strong enough to support the workers and the section they were seating. When that section was complete, they built a new track, and moved their pseudo scaffolding up. By engineering standards that was a terrible explanation, but for the rest of you, it's probably okay? Also, it was just amazing to see this incredible structure completed almost entirely by hand. So much today is automated and computerized - it's easy to forget that things were created a different way. Anyway, if you go, see the documentary! It'll give you a whole new appreciation for the Arch. 

Of course, you can also go UP in the arch! 

This drawing is from the NPS site and gives a very accurate look at what the tram is like. I'm a little claustrophobic, so I'm pretty glad I didn't have time to think about it before we got in! As we were standing in line, and the guide was telling us what was going to happen, I realized the doorway was teeny tiny, just as she was cautioning not to hit your head. 

And the inside! It was like being in a little egg. While there were five seats, I certainly cannot imagine being in that thing with four other people! 

At the top, of course, you have amazing views of the city. The very top of the arch is 630 feet. 

From there, we went down to the river, and took a riverboat ride. I was explicitly told not to do this by a high school friend, and Amy, you were not wrong! But how can you go to St Louis and not ride on the Mississippi? Working against the tour was the fact that the last riverboat I was on took me on a tour of the Thames... And also working against the tour was the fact that St Louis is not a very pretty city. Industry is not pretty, is not glamourous. And as I have mentioned before, spring has not yet sprung, so there is no greenery to offset the grime. I have a whole other monologue about pollution and recycling, but I've even exhausted myself with it, so I'll save you from it. 😉

That brings us full circle to El Burro Loco, and some of the best Mexican food we've had in awhile. Not a bad way to end a great day!

¡Buenas noches!

circuitcir

♥