Austin visits the STL

Austin has finally gotten some time off from the Army, and came up for a weekend visit. We were so excited to have him come for a visit, even though he is sporting a cast, and it definitely slowed us down! As soon as we picked him up from the airport we headed to the Arch. There was a hike from the parking lot to the actual arch, and Austin had to stop for water....

I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my camera phone, and the quality isn't quite as good. Either way, we kept taking pictures! Here's Austin and me at the Arch.

Austin and Mark at the Arch...

The "pod" that takes you up to the top of the Arch....

Austin and me inside the pod...its a tight fit!

Austin at the top of the Arch....

Later that evening we went out to a wonderful Japanese restaurant for sushi. Austin can eat quite a fortune in sushi, and this night was no different. This place, Tachibana, specializes in authentic Japanese sushi, and we had several types that we had never had before. Mark and I had tried to find it one other night and had ended up at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant, but this time we were finally rewarded. The booths are closed in with Japanese seating, although the little old lady hostess INSISTED that Austin had to sit in a chair with a back due to his cast. He said, "Yes, Ma'am," and did as he was told. Good soldier!

Mark and me...waiting on the sushi.
We then went home and watched a very sad Georgia football game. The next morning we headed to Grant's Farm, since we figured Austin could ride the trolley ride.

Here's the gate to Grant's Farm, with some very pretty ironwork.

The fence that surrounds Grant's farm is made out of rifle barrels from the Civil War. I can't remember the exact number of barrels, but it was in the thousands.

When we got off the trolley we rented a wheelchair for Austin. He was a pretty good driver, considering he's had very little experience!

Grant's Farm has lots of animals, and lots of opportunity for pictures. Here's a few....

We also watched the Animal Encounters show, which featured animal tricks. Here's an indigo macaw doing gymnastic rings....

And a trio of parrots doing an imitation of the Budweiser Clydesdales carrying the wagon...

There is an area of Grant's Farm that has a lot of historic horse drawn carriages. Here's Austin in front of one of the Budweiser wagons.


After Grant's Farm, we decided a drive through Lone Elk Park would be good. This is a huge county park which features elk and bison. We had almost completed our drive through the park without spotting anything bigger than a squirrel when we finally started finding the big critters!

After the drive through the park, we had a wonderful lunch at Schlafly's Brewery. Austin and Mark apparently whetted their appetite on the bison they had seen since they both ordered bison burgers. I opted for a smoked turkey sandwich, but we all thought the food was great!

Then we headed to Mark's lab in Barnes Jewish Hospital so that Austin could tour the lab. There were some mice actually in the lab (unusual since they are usually housed in a separate facility), and Mark gave Austin a pretty good lesson in storage diseases and how they affect the mice. This particular mouse is a twitcher mouse, which simulates Krabbe disease in children. We also watched a mouse with Batten disease have a seizure while we were there. Interesting stuff....although heartbreaking to see the actual children with these diseases.

Unfortunately, Austin's visit was way too short. I will see him again next month when I head to NC for the MPS Board meeting, and he is coming up to Raleigh for the weekend. I'm looking forward to that!