St. Louis, MO

Monday October 8th - Once we finally got some wheels; Captain Keith and I went into St. Louis to see the Arch.  I had been up in the arch several years ago and once was enough for me (it's a height thing).  Keith and I both watched the movie that explains the building of the arch and then Keith went up to the top.  I checked out the museum exhibits and the museum store.  The arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947.  Construction was not started until February of 1963 due to many factors.  The monument was completed in 1965 for $13 million.  At 630 feet high it is the tallest man-made monument in the Western hemisphere.  A tram in each leg transports passengers to the top of the arch where a viewing station is located.  Each tram has 8 cylindrical (egg) shaped cars which hold 5 people per car.  The cars swing like a Ferris wheel cars as they ascend or descend the arch.  The trip to the top takes 4 minutes.  Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the US, the arch represents the pioneer spirit of the men and women who won the west.  This is also the area from which  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to explore the new western territory of the US and map a route across the western half of the continent to the Pacific Ocean.  They left on May 16th, 1804 with 31 members in their party, "The Corps of Discovery".  They made it to the Pacific and arrived back in St. Louis in September 1806.

St. Louis Gateway Arch

View of the Old Courthouse and Downtown

Views from the top viewing station courtesy of Captain Keith

Downtown St. Louis

Looking out over the Mississippi River

The Old Courthouse

Busch Stadium home of the St. Louis Cardinals

We went back to the boat after our visit to the arch, as it had been a long day already.  Having a little time to relax and start some laundry was helpful.  Ate dinner on board and planned our Tuesday activities.

Tuesday Keith and I took a fellow boater over to the Enterprise so he could pick up a rental car for his family to do some sight-seeing.  We then left from there to go back into St. Louis for more exploring.  The St. Louis Zoo was our first stop of the day.  This is a great zoo.  I really like the way they have it set up.  The exhibits are very well done.  Animal environments have been done nicely and there are a lot of enrichment things in the enclosures for the animals.  

In 1904 after the end of the World's Fair which was held in St. Louis, the citizens for the city purchased the Flight Cage from the event and thus began the St. Louis Zoo.  By 1910 the Zoological Society of St. Louis was formed and the zoo continued to grow and improve over the years.  There are still some historically significant buildings on the property and the carousel is also a highlight (unfortunately it was closed, I must have bad luck with Carousels).  There are some other fun facts about the zoo.  Marlin Perkins of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was the zoo director from 1962-1970.  Raja was the first elephant born at the zoo in 1992.  Siegfried the walrus was one of the most popular ambassadors of the zoo back in 1960's because he let visitors tickle his chin.

Pengi was excited about his zoo visit.

He had to pose with a blow-up animal part of "Boo At The Zoo"

His eye patch was considered his costume

Of course our first stop had to be Pengi's people

Other friends who posed for us

Oh dear,  as I well know, even the animals need a doctor now and then.  Hope it is nothing serious.

This hippo was too cool.  She was right at the glass window.

We could have spent the entire day at the zoo, but there were other things we wanted to do as well.  So about noon, we headed to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in downtown for a tour.  We had signed up for a 2 hour behind the scenes tour.  In 1852 German-American brewer, George Schneider opened the first brewery in south St. Louis.  Schneider had financial difficulties with his brewery and so in 1860 it was bought by local pharmacist William D'Oench and soap manufacturer Eberhand Anheuser.  Adolphus Busch a German immigrant and wholesaler married Eberhand's daughter Lilly in 1861 and purchased D'Oench's share of the company in 1869.  Adolphus Busch was the first American brewer to use pasteurization to keep beer fresh, first to use mechanical refrigeration and refrigerated railroad cars, which were introduced in 1876.  Several buildings on the brewery campus are historic landmarks.  There are also original works of art, tile, sculptures, and chandeliers.

Some of the inside of the buildings

Just look at all that beer.  Our guide told us that every employee gets a voucher for a free case of beer every two weeks.

Of course the highlight for me was seeing the on site stables and the Clydesdale's.  There are usually only one or two horses in town however, they must have had something planned as there were probably a dozen or so horses as well as the Dalmatian running around.  Too Cool!

The stables are also on the historic register

After the tour Keith and I had a soft pretzel and a drink at the Beer Garden.  Pengi snuck in even though he was under aged.  We let him have just a sip.  

Pengi posing with the Budweiser Chelada.  We had never heard of this.

This was a really fun day.   We were back at the marina in Grafton by later afternoon.  To top off the day we ate at a winery on top of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.