Asparagus Grows Wild in St Louis!!!!!

Amazing the uses of a sewing machine

Sunday, September 12 took us from Paducah, KY to St Louis, MO.....by way of Illinois.  Our first destination was the Southern Illinois Artisans Center.  It was an interesting little place that showcased many talents of local artisans.  Some unusual stuff; some not so unusual.  Most of the pieces were hefty in price, but considering each piece is handmade and not mass produced accounts for the price.  While at the center we were told about another craftsman fair in a nearby town in southern IL.  So we packed ourselves back into the car and hightailed it over to the little town.  There must have been over 100 booths of different kinds of craftsmanship.  Lots of jewelry, pottery, artwork, gardening stuff, etc.  One thing that struck my fancy was the dedgirodoos and I kick myself for not getting one. Dave was the smart one and did get one!!!  I tried to play one and was surprised at the outcome.  For one, it takes great lung power and breath control, and the really surprising thing was that while I was blowing out, I could not hear one thing altho' others could!  I'm still mad at myself for not buying it.  The other booth that was interesting was jewelry made out of old coins.  While it was quite interesting and unusual, I did not find anything that struck my fancy.
After a couple of hours of looking we packed it in again and headed to St Louis.  Altho' I slept awhile, I did see some of the magnificent farm lands along the way.  They are HUGE!  The land was rolling at first as we left IL, but soon became flat and nothing but farms.
The closer we came into St Louis we could see the Arch in the distance.  As we got downtown we saw droves of people walking along the sidewalks.  We soon found out a pro football game was starting soon.  We also found out that almost all the parking was taken and it took us awhile to find a garage to park in.  We strolled along the Mississippi River on the way down to the Arch.  We looked over to the side and there is this big statue of Lewis and Clark.....sitting in the water at the edge of the Mississippi River!  How strange is that?  On the other side of the street is another really big flood wall.  We were told later that the water rises up that wall quite often.  I'm fascinated by all these flood walls and the amount of water that rises.  A sales clerk told me she'd much rather deal with flood water than the hurricanes we are accustomed to dealing with in the south.  Ooooo-kay.....

Flood wall beside Mississippi River on the way to the Arch

As we got closer to the Arch, we saw a guy on stilts carrying signs.  Turns out a Tea Party was taking place beneath the Arch.  We later found out that Dick Morris had been one of the speakers.  We were also told that 10,000 were in attendance.  I talked to one guy and his family that had traveled all the way from Wichita, TX just for the rally.  We also noticed after we came back down from the Arch and the rally had ended, that not one piece of garbage was on the grounds.
Okay, now for the Arch.  When you're standing underneath that thing and looking at the top, you're thinking no way in hell.  The top looks sooooo narrow!  And there are these tiny little dark things at the very top, and from a distance it looks like writing at the top.  Actually those are the windows.

Yep, narrow isn't it?  And we went to the very top!

When you get right up next to the Arch, the bottom is stainless steel or at least it looks like it.  And it is triangular-shaped, and big.  You walk down into a basement level building that houses a museum, a couple of stores and a place to buy your ticket to the top.  Ten bucks gets you to the top.  We walked up to the ticket counter and were told the lift was just shut down for maintenance.   We waited for about an hour; fortunately we were at the head of the line.  We took turns standing and waiting, standing and waiting.  Finally!  We walked a couple of more flights down into the ground and loaded into a tiny round capsule that would hold 5 people.  I didn't know my sister Martha was fearful of enclosed spaces.  She was a little on edge but we kept talking and took her mind off the few minutes of lift up to the top.

Replica of lift to the top.  And it holds 5 people.

Can you tell Martha was a little concerned?

Let me tell you about this lift, capsule, elevator....whatever it is called.  It is tiny!  Our knees were touching, it was brightly lit inside and not too noisy but the gears working could certainly be heard. The doors opened and we walked a few steps to the top.  WOW!  It's really neat to look down and see the flatness of the city, the river on one side and the city scape on the other.  We could see Busch stadium, the capitol, Citygarden, and lots of other stuff that we had no idea what it was.  After many pictures, we descended down and back to the car.  On the way to the car is when I discovered the asparagus garden.  Huge stalks growing out of the brick sidewalk.  Tried to get Terry to stand beside one so I could take his picture, but he, being the man he is, made a man remark and refused!

Terry was a little intimidated to have his picture taken next to these asparagus!

Terry and Thumper

Next we went to Citygarden.  It is a three block garden growing right downtown.  Many fine examples of plants and trees, fountains and artwork.  We even saw a domesticated bunny rabbit who didn't even flinch when I walked right up to him and took his picture.

Pinnochio does not lie!

After the gardens we found our Drury Inn.  By this time all of us were more than tired. We had eaten very little during the day and we needed nourishment really bad.  This hotel offered free wine and chips!  We partook and then headed over to Union Station for a quick look-see.  This is the old train station that has been converted into a mall.  Really neat!  We had supper at Landry's inside the mall and headed back to the Inn and straight to bed.  We were exhausted.