St. Louis, Missouri!

St. Louis

OK---not a vacation for me. This was my "home" for over 50 years. But it really is a pretty neat vacation city. Lots of history and lots of free activities!

Just a little info to start with:

The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, and after the Louisiana Purchase, it became a major port on the Mississippi River.  Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling prairie that features low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains.  With a Metropolitan Statistical Area  population of 2,812,896 it is the 18th-largest MSA in the country and has a total area of 66.2 square miles. 

Summers are hot and humid with the humidity often making the heat index feel well above 100°F. Fall is mild with lower humidity and intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall. The first snow flurries usually coming in late November. Winters are cold with periodic snow and sleet and temperatures often below freezing, however thaws are usually frequent. Spring brings frequent thunderstorms and mild temperatures.

On to some of the sites of St. Louis:

Anheuser-Busch Brewery!

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Forest Park

 Citygarden

 Kenner Plaza

Busch Stadium

Gateway Arch National Park

St. Louis Union Station

 old City Hall

 Edward Jones dome

Soldier's Memorial Military Museum

Delmar Loop 

Faust Park

Museum of Transportation

Laumeier Sculpture Park

6-Flags over Mid-America  
 

Grant's Farm

Casinos

 Wineries

Crystal City Underground

gastronomic landmarks! 

And those are just a few things I like about St. Louis. 

2018 March Knoxville, St. Louis trip

Time to head back to St. Louis, by way of Knoxville.  Time to dog and cat sit for the kids for the weekend, then continue to St. Louis to pick up our tax papers so Ken can get our taxes filed.   

 

 3-8-2018  heading up to Knoxville

 

3-9-2018  ride up into the Smoky's to Cades Cove: 

 

3-12-2018  Knoxville - St. Louis in a snow storm: 

 

3-13-2018 a disappointing trip to the Social Security Office! 

 

 3-15-2018  dinner and dominoes with the Wilkes:

 

 3-17-2018  STL - Knoxville:  St. Patty's day!

 

3-18-18  a walk through Carl Cowen park with Tim and Faith and Jesse: 

 

 3-19-2018  a rainy cold drive back to Atlanta.

 

All in all, we had a good time.  I do enjoy St. Louis a lot more now that we don't live there!  But I don't want to move back.   

2015 Aug/Sept STL road trip

8/19-9/10: road trip to St. Louis by way of Daytona, Edisto, and Knoxville.
 
When Ken agreed to rent an apartment in S. Florida for the year, he also claimed he was going to go back to St. Louis every 4-6 weeks.  So it came as a bit of a surprise to me when it was almost 3 months before he decided to head back for the first time.  His good buddy and x-work contact was going to be in St. Louis the beginning of September and had rented party rooms at 2 Cardinal baseball games and invited us to one.  That was enough incentive to even get me to come back to St. Louis for a "vacation"!  So on Aug. 19th, we jumped in our car and started our long trek back.  

The day after the food trucks we headed off on a road trip that took us to a night at the Wyndham Ocean Walk on Daytona Beach; the Wyndham King Cotton Villas in Edisto, South Carolina; 3 nights in Knoxville at our son and daughter-in-law's house; 2 weeks in St. Louis;  2 more nights in Knoxville; 2 more nights in Edisto; and finally back to Coral Springs.  Just a few pictures to highlight that trip---

2015-8-19 so long Coral Springs  

 

2015-8-20 on to Edisto    

 

2015-8-21 on to Knoxville

 

2015-8-22 Knoxville

 

2015-8-23 Riding around West Knoxville

 

2015-8-24 on to St. Louis

 

2015-8-25 MOBOT   

 

2015-8-28 and 29---visiting with friends and family   


2015-8-30---St. Louis Zoo 


2015-8-31---kids'  old house

 
2015-9-3---Butterfly House


2015-9-5---Cardinal game with Bailey's  


2015-9-6 to Knoxville and Boomsday celebration


2015-9-8 to Edisto


2015-9-9 Botany Bay


2015-9-10---on to Coral Springs


 It turned out to be a fun 3 week trip.  Even though at times I felt like we were back in the dark ages---no cable tv, just digital antennae; no computers, just a phone; no ac for the hottest part of the trip!  Was great seeing Tim and FAith and all our friends and family in St. Louis.  Am I ready to move back there---not hardly!!!

 

2015-8-25---Missouri Botanical Gardens

Day 1- I met up with a photography friend and she and I went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens and shot pictures of everything.  They were still set up for the Chinese Lanterns exhibit, so we got to see it by daylight.  This is made up of bottles of different colored water.

 found some more butterflies--Monarch, I believe.

 and lush beautiful plants.

 even found the reflections in the Japanese Garden pond interesting.

 colorful dragonfly

 More of the Japanese Garden.

 zig zag bridge in the Japanese Garden

 in the Italian Garden.

 The St. Louis symbol Flore de li made up of tiny plants.

 Karen getting a macro shot in the patchwork garden.

 more of the Chinese lantern decorations.  They light up at night.

 more Chinese Lantern lights.

 and, yes, more.

 close up of a hybiscus flower.

 cone flower

 bee checking out the garden, too.

 flowers with the Linean House in the back ground.

 some of the many roses.

 some of the many Chinese Lanterns.

 lastly, a water lily.  We spent 5 hours there catching up and exploring.  It was a fun time.

I do miss our Missouri Botanical Gardens!  It is impressive.  But so are the reciprocal gardens we find around the country!