Visitors!

We've been lucky enough to have had a couple of visitors recently. After we got back in town from Rochester, Mark's college buddy Chuck Barney, and his family visited St. Louis. The first night we went to Schlafly's Bottleworks, a regular favorite of mine and Mark's, where we had a great dinner. The second night we went to the famous St. Louis "Hill", home of lots of Italian eateries. Chuck and Leslie used to live in STL, and their favorite spot on the Hill was Favazza's, so we joined them there for dinner. I had never been to the Hill, it has just been one of those things we hadn't accomplished yet, but we will definitely go again!

Here's Leslie, me, Mark and Chris at the entrance to Favazza's. Great food!

After Favazza's, we headed to the City Museum. This is a place within the city of St. Louis that is owned by a sculptor. He takes "junk" from within the city limits and has tranformed this 11 story building into a playground for adults and children alike. It is hard to describe...part Tim Burton scenery, part Alice in Wonderland, part The Cat in the Hat, and a lot of other types of fun thrown in. The roof of the building is filled with slides, a ferris wheel, cat walks, and a school bus which hangs over the edge of the building very precariously. Yes, you can go inside the school bus, and even open and shut the doors, although they are safely caged in. Here are Chuck and Leslie at the back side of the school bus. I did go in, but not all the way to the front!

Here we are standing in the fountain at the top of the building.

Here's a two story slide that Mark and Chuck slid down...

Here's Chuck coming out of a claustrophobic's nightmare...it is corridors and rooms that get increasingly smaller the further in you go, and it is all pitch black. I got about halfway in, then bumped my head and decided it was time to back out!
I think the most amazing thing were these "gerbil tubes" that ran throughout the building, inside and out. Some of them were several stories above ground! Mark worked his way through one of them....

City Museum was quite a crazy place to spend an evening, and I can't wait to go back once I'm completely recuperated!

The following night we went to the Cardinals game. Here's a great picture of Pujols up at bat that I stole from Chuck's Facebook posting. I don't have the telephoto lens to catch a shot like this one, but it is definitely on the "wish list!"
Unfortunately, the Cards lost again. I have yet to go to a winning game, and beginning to think I'm a jinx!

The last day of their visit Leslie bailed due to a severe allergic reaction to something (she was pretty miserable during the game, but a great sport about it!), and I didn't figure I was up for all the walking, so Chuck and Mark went and spent the day at the farm. We really enjoyed their visit and are thinking that we will brave the climate of Minot, North Dakota (their home) sometime next July, when there is hopefully no chance of snow!

A few days later, I had an old friend from Warner Robins come into town for a visit. Joyce and I met in fourth grade and were good friends throughout school. We have been in and out of contact through the years, but had reconnected through Facebook. She realized that I was in St. Louis, and let me know when they were headed into town for a visit. We met down at the Arch for the day. She had her twins, Aaron and Jenna, her sister, Mary, and both her parents with her. Her mom is 88, and her dad is 91, and both of them were excited about their opportunity to get to the top of the Arch! We had a great visit, and I am so glad I got the chance to spend time with them! Here's the Arch...I continue to be amazed each and every time I go there for a visit. I have finally gotten past the point of being terrified of the ride up and the height of the arch (although it took many times!), and truly enjoy the vistas.
Here's Joyce, her dad, Aaron, Jenna and Mary getting into "the pod" for the ride up.
And here is the Rutherford clan at the base of the Arch.
I welcome any and all visitors, I love being a tour guide, and learning more about the city with each visitor!