Tara's Birthday - St Louis Style

Birthdays should be celebrated with an adventure.  And just so, for her birthday, Tara and I jetted over to St Louis for the day to see what we might see.  And a lovely day it was - leaving behind the hot, sunny 90s for clear, blue 80s was a treat.

An 8:40am flight was perfect - not too early, but not too late to squeeze in a good day of adventuring.

Adventuring with Tara is a bit different from adventuring with my Boo.  Tara is game for the slow wander in a gift shop or reading details at a museum.  It's a stroll through a garden catching up on all the things.  And today was a good day for a leisurely exploration of a town new to both Tara and I. 

Plus, at this point, we've decided that experiences are great gifts -- better than more stuff.  So, it was a day of celebrating one of my favorite people.  Happy (belated, at this point) birthday, Tara!  You're a blessing indeed!

We were in town by 10:30am-ish.  Enough time to decide we needed a car for the day and to scope out lunch. 

Checking out well rated vegan restaurants is a thing now, and Tara was game for a food adventure at Lulu's Local Eatery.  In the land of southern cookin' and BBQ, vegan is a bit hard to come by.  Lulu's perseveres.  The sweet potato tots with spicy sauce - big win.

Next on the agenda, the Missouri Botanical Gardens for an afternoon stroll. 

Despite being late in the season, the gardens were lovely with late blooming flowers.

The people watching was rich, what with ladies hobbling in heels and men pulling at neckties as they ambled towards one of the several weddings hosted that afternoon.  Ladies, burgundy and navy are in for late summer weddings.










A fun thing about the day's trip was that we created the itinerary as we went, and Tara, being the birthday girl, called the shots.  So next up - the Anheuser-Busch flagship brewery.  Walking about in the afternoon sunshine made beer sound good!

Tours were full, but we decided a beer in the Biergarten would hit the spot.  I tried an original Budweiser - the beer brewed to appeal to all tastes, as we learned in the brewery.  And pretzels... of course, pretzels. 



And finally, the arch.

We'd been a talking about seeing the arch for a while, so we made sure there was time for a visit.  It was our final stop, and pretty neat.  It commemorates the "gateway to the West" and is dedicated to the American people.  I don't know about you, but I'm a better American person on account of the arch. /shrug

Sure, the arch is neat, but I'm not quite sure I grasp the point.  In reading up on the history, I learned that the design of the arch was determined in a competition, which a Finnish-American architect, Eero Saarinen, won in 1947.  It was finished in 1965.  It is meant to symbolize the pioneering spirit of the men and women who won the west.  I'm not sure all parties involved would celebrate the "winning" of the west.  To be technical, St Louis was founded near the intersection of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers where Lewis & Clark began their western expedition.

The Museum of Westward Expansion, under the arch, is a good one, and worth the time.  I enjoyed learning about the rich history of St Louis, founded by French traders, Pierre Laclede and his stepson Auguste Chouteau, via their monopoly on fur trading with the local American Indian Osage tribe.  The St Louis settlement was rich in diversity and seemed to be open in thought for the times.  I'm intrigued to learn more. 

We were back at the airport in time for a 7:00pm-ish flight.  Adventure complete.  The only thing we missed throughout the day was a celebratory cupcake.  All in all, a great day with my great Friend.