“Meet me in St Louie, family…”

This past weekend marked the actual receiving of the Christmas gift that we gave my parents this year. We paid for a really nice hotel for them and all took off to do a family mini vacation to St. Louis together.

Mary and I drove over to St. Louis Friday morning as did my sister Abby and her hubby Mike and we met our parents there. After chowing down the first event of the day was a visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful day and the gardens were fantastic…so much so that it at once inspired me to do more in my yard and intimidated me at the same time. Perhaps I need gardeners! In addition to the beautiful flora all around the garden was sponsering Glass in the Garden featuring the work of renowned glass sculpture Chihuly.

(Chihuly work hanging in entryway to MBG)

(Close up of above work)

(Another close up)

(photo by Mike M.)

The great thing about these Chihuly pieces, in addition to how fun they are, is that they make for interesting photographic compositions.

The ponds were also full of these fun Chihuly glass drops

as well as a boat full of odd glass creations

(photo by Abby M.)

Founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw this 80 acre garden area had some wonderful buildings on site:

including this crypt where Henry Shaw was laid to rest:

(He has a nice view of the garden)

(close up of crypt window)

There is also a small labyrinth which was unfortunately closed.

In addition to the temporary Chihuly pieces there were a number of statues and sculptures on display. I was especially fond of this iron bell tree:

Don’t know if this is a statement on modern women or what but the outfit looked similar to what I see girls running around in today:

Mike was the least interested in visiting the garden but ultimately had the most fun. He found a special prize that he carried with him throughout the day. He also took a special liking to the statues:

He was especially enamored with this one. I’m not sure, but I think this statue is only a temporary display.

And since you’re probably sick of the garden shots last but not least were these fun marbles that ever so slowly rotated…just enough to initially make you think it was an optical illusion.

When asked what his favorite part of the botanical gardens was, Mike said, “The exit sign.”

On Saturday my brother Jason and his family met us early in the morning to tour the Anhueser-Busch factory, home to Budweiser and a host of other products (photo by Mike).

(My nephew, Elijah)

This place is home to the famous Budweiser Clydesdales

who of course pull the equally recognizable red beer wagon

The tour was very interesting in large part because of how pristine each and every part of the factory is. The landscaping was as impressive as that in the botantical gardens and there was not a shred of trash anywhere. Every structure, new and old, was made of brick and there were some terrific buildings on site.

Of course the best part of the tour was the free samples at the end! Fresh, ice cold beer early in the morning…what could be better!

After the tour we went to the Union Station area to eat and do some shopping. The Union Station is the old train station modernized with eating and shopping areas.

Much of the old architectural detail is still intact and though these pictures didn’t all focus well I wanted to include them to show you just how cool the place looked inside.

The girls were all prepared for shopping:

(My niece Haley and daughter Tori)

and while there the requisite amount of silliness occurred:

On Sunday we visited the Arch.

I had been outside it last year but had not been up in it. Other than Tori none of us had been inside so there was much speculation as to how scary it would be.

We watched the short documentary on the construction of the arch which was quite fear inducing. The guys did not have any type of safety harnesses on, etc. 13 deaths were what the “experts” projected for the project but amazingly no one died. Watching the movie beforehand had the effect of making us all feel weak in the knees, but the ride up and the experience in the tower was really no different than being up in an airplane. The arch is 630 feet tall and it was quite a trip to look out over the city from up there. Mike took the following pictures out of the tower windows:

(View of downtown)

(The new Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals)

(The old courthouse)

(The Casino Queen across the Mississippi River in Illinois)

Across the street from the arch is an old part of downtown St. Louis that has some interesting architecture and cobblestone streets.

Mike took this picture of a building that would definitely be right at home in a horror show:

We ended the vacation with a trip to Grant’s Farm, the 281 acre ancestral home of the Busch family. If you ever get a chance to go to St. Louis it is a fun, free place to take the kids. (It is also fun if you like beer as you get 3 free glasses while there!) We watched an animal show and walked around the park looking at the various animals, many of which you can feed and pet.

(picture by Mike M.)

(Pucker Up!, picture by Mike M.)

(The bald eagles were quite impressive! Photo by Mike M.)

(photo by Mike M.)

And of course there were more of the famous clydesdales there as this is where they are housed.

All in all it was a very fun and relaxing weekend getaway and I thank you for letting me share it with you! Happy Tuesday everyone!!!