Destination: St Louis, Missouri
Dates: April 27-28, 2019
Reason: Celebrate Josh’s birthday
Day 1 April 27, 2019
Julia and I left the house at 4:00am. The first stop was to pick up Josh, who had already drunk 2 cups of coffee. Next we got our friend Sabrina and hit the open road. Josh was extremely excited, as St Louis is where he was born and grew up, and we were going to celebrate his birthday. Sabrina had never been before.
The trip there was uneventful. We cruised to Indianapolis, the straight down to St Louis. We saw the Arch on our approach and got to our hotel around 10:30am. It was directly adjacent to the baseball stadium, a nice Hilton. They let us check in early and we met up with Dylan and Kat, who had arrived the night before. They took an extra day since Kat’s pregnancy was giving her a bit of trouble.
Once everyone was situated, we got lunch at an Imo’s pizza connected to the hotel. They specialize in St Louis-style pies, which are on a cracker-like crust and topped with a ‘special’ blend of processed cheeses. Josh was overjoyed, especially because Imo’s was supposedly among the best, but everyone else was less than enthused.
Next, we walked over to Busch Stadium to watch the Reds versus the Cardinals. We had exquisite seats facing the Arch, and those of us who weren’t pregnant got to drinking. Sadly, the Reds lost 6 to 3. We did put a message up on the scoreboard for Josh’s birthday though. After the game we went back to the hotel to rest and change clothes. We met for dinner at 5:00pm in the lobby.
Josh picked out a restaurant called Salt & Smoke, in the Delmar Loop district (like our own OTR). We took an Uber. The place was known for St Louis staples like barbecue and toasted raviolis. We ate, drank, then went across the street to Blueberry Hill, a bar and music venue that Chuck Berry used to frequent. We played darts (I had a miraculous shot to close out a 301) and had pitchers of beer. The place itself was kitschy and eclectic, with the walls covered in photos of the owner posing with celebrities.
We took a terrible Uber back to the hotel. Julia and Kat retired, and the rest of us went to the rooftop bar. We watched a little bit of a Blues hockey game and called it a night.
Day 2 April 28, 2019
We met in the lobby at 9:00am to check out and grab some Starbucks. We had all agreed to go to the zoo, which is free yet well-kept. We got there, entered, and immediately encountered sea lions. They were playful, and a unique underwater tunnel allowed for great views. We saw orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, polar bears, penguins, giraffes, and elephants. Their exhibits were viewer-friendly and got us close to the animals.
At noon we bid adieu to Kat and Dylan and got on the road. After a lunch stop at McDonald’s, we returned to Cincinnati around 6:00pm, dropped Sabrina and Josh off, and went home.
Robinsons on the Road 