St. Louis: Not All Bad

Amidst all of the nonsense that I experienced in St. Louis, I did take the time to explore the city. Of course the big draw there is the Gateway Arch. The Arch memorializes the story of the nation’s westward expansion and was created without the loss of even one life. It was completed in 1965 and is part of the National Park Service. What they don’t tell you is that you can see it from everywhere in the city. I parked in a nearby garage to see if there was a good view and it was alright. Nev and I took our time walking to the arch and around it, trying to ignore the construction. We sat by the river enjoying the sunshine and listened to the old time music coming from where the cruise boats go out, right up until horse drawn carriages started coming around and pup was losing his mind. There is the option to ride up the arch for city views, but we obviously couldn’t do that. 

 

Old Cathedral

Just around the corner from the Arch is the Basilica of Saint Louis, AKA the Old Cathedral. It is the only building to be saved when the park was created and is a historically significant sacred space; it has earned a space on the National Register of Historic Places. Traveling with pup also cancelled out the option of attending the Cardinals baseball game that night. Not much of loss for me, because I care little to none about sports, but it was fun seeing the city buzzing on game day. We walked around Busch Stadium and through Ballpark Village, where there are no dog friendly spots. All that out door seating and not one place I could go with my boy. Oh well. On the walk back to the parking garage we were walking in front of a group of people and I tripped. Not too bad, thankfully, and I didn’t fall or anything, but I tripped. Over nothing. I started joking with the dog about it as I walked away and realized people probably think I’m nuts the way I talk with him. I’m so used to him being my constant companion and talking to him always and, the truth is, he understands all of it so na na na na boo boo. I parked on the top floor of the parking garage and the view was decent. Better than nothing. 

Parking Garage View

Next stop was the area of Old North St. Louis and it's a good thing I paid attention while driving, or else I would have missed the stoplights. They are small, on the side of the road, and very easy to overlook. We passed by a few St. Louis Bread Companies, that look just like Panera, and it turns out they used to be owned by the same company. There was plenty of street parking available so we parked and walked the neighborhood. There was live music at a restaurant we passed by and as we entered the patio a small dog hauled ass for Neville and tried nipping him in the face a few times. The owner lolligagged over just before I kicked her dog away and she was joking about how her dog is so excited. Right, if excited means crazy and mean. Neville enjoyed the shade while I ate lunch and jammed with the band (in my head). I noticed that this restaurant and others in the area provide shuttles to the baseball game, which I think is a great idea. Especially since it didn’t seem like there was much parking in the stadium area. 

On the route from downtown St. Louis back to the campground there is the Malcom W. Martin Memorial park that is home to the Mississippi River Overlook. The overlook provided a nice view of the River and the city. Malcom Martin has a statue there, he is a St. Louis native who was involved with the Arch park. Learn more about him here: http://www.meprd.org/mmmp.html. The top of the overlook offers webcam directions to provided to your loved ones so they can watch you site see. Or for strangers to get a good view, whichever. There is also the Gateway Geyser in this park that erupts about 3 times a day for 10 minutes each! It isn't a naturally occurring geyser, it is powered by 3 pumps. It is, however, the tallest water fountain in the US and second tallest in the world. The Geyser is capable of reaching 630 feet (same height as the Arch), blasting 7500 gallons of water per minute upward at 250 feet per second. And I was able to catch it go!

Gateway Geyser

I previously mentioned that I stayed in a hotel for a few nights to escape the rain and creepiness of the dark, empty campground. The Doubletree Union Station is a dog friendly train station turned hotel in downtown. It is beautiful inside and out and whomever revamped it from train station to hotel did an excellent job preserving the history of the building. I love history and had fun wandering from room to room, floor to floor, imagining what has gone on inside these walls. It would be crazy to imagine something like that happening to Grand Central, and 100 years from now having families sleeping in rooms and having parties in what is currently a huge hub in NYC. There is a park across the street from the hotel which is handy for walking the pup. I walked the surrounding few blocks and, of course, you can see the Arch in the distance from just about any street. People’s reaction to Nev is entertaining: one man asked if he could join us on our walk, one man reassured himself that Nev was more scared of him than he was of the dog, and others are excited to pet him. 

 

 

There was a day, possibly my favorite day, that I enjoyed all the luxuries of a hotel. Long, hot baths, binge watching of reality TV marathons, snuggling the pup for hours, and being hooked up to wifi. A friend of mine told me that I must try Imo’s Pizza so I had some delivered. Doesn’t beat NY pizza but it was pretty good. A few hours later I was hungry but feeling awfully lazy. I finally talked myself into putting real clothes on, leaving the comfort of the room, and trying fried ravioli, another St. Louis must-have. Yelp showed that there was a bar on the corner so I didn’t have to venture far to get my fix, except that I walked up and they were closed for the 4th of July. There wasn’t another spot within walking distance so my effort was for nothing! I decided to regroup at the hotel bar, looked at the menu, and hey! Fried ravioli is on the menu! Got a local brew, ordered the food, and made friends with the couple next to me. They enjoy traveling and good drinks, so we got along famously. The bartender pointed out the light show that plays on the ceiling of the hotel lobby regularly and we watched those (they switch up what plays). The raviolis took forever to come out so the bartender gifted me another brew. I brought it back to the room to enjoy and Neville, for the second time ever, had torn up something while he was left alone. How dare he! There wasn’t even any fireworks that he could hear to scare him as an excuse. Thankfully, all it was was the plastic thing on his leash that holds his poop bags, but still. How dare he! I gave him a lecture and told him how rude he was before getting back to snuggling and TV watching in bed. My last night at the hotel I was determined to try the Gooey Butter cake to get in all of the traditional STL food I could, because I’m a fat kid. I barely eat desserts (not counting ice cream) and usually enjoy them most with caffeine when I do have them, but where I really made the mistake was ordering room service. The cake came, was expensive as all hell, and sweet as could possibly be. I couldn’t finish it, but hey, I got in all of the food I wanted, and that’s what really matters, right? When I got the glorious phone call that my car was ready, I beelined to MidTown Auto & Tire, where my new friend Dave greeted me. We caught each other up on our weekends, he gave me a huge, promised to keep in touch, wished me safe travels, and sent me on my way. Peace out St. Louis.