Meet me in St. Louis, Louis

Total miles traveled: 824
Stated visiteed: 5

The scenery through Illinois was pretty much the same: farms, corn, silos, until I got to the edle of the state and greenery gave way to concrete and skyscrapers. Finally after one bend in the road, the Gateway Arch appeared.



I went insde the museum below the arch and was facinated with the artifacts collected from the settlers, farmers, soldiers and indians of the day. Unfortunately I didn't go to the top of the arch because the wait was 2 hours, and I had better ways to spend my time.

It was a strange feeling sitting underneat the arch outside. The Gateway to the West was the furthest west that I would be going on this trip.



I had a late lunch at Laclede's Landing, a restaurant row nesr the waterfront, and then took the MetroLink to Union Station. It was an old train station converted to a mall and hotel. Very touristy, but the original structure was intact and renovated to it's former glory.

I was quickly bored with St. Louis. I had to get out.



I took a detour to Bonne Terre, MO to visit Patty at the bar she owned, Crossroads. Patty screamed when she saw me, it was completely unexpected. She instantly introduced me to her friends as 'the girl I met in Chicago that I was telling you about."

I had a wonderful time visiting her and had the most fantastic filet mignon I've tasted in a long while. Yum!

By 10pm I was ready to head back on the road and took a winding, dark, lonely backroad back to the interstate. I looked out the sunroof and yelled, "WOW!" The view of the stars was amazing, like somone scattered sequence across the sky. Now, this was America.

Get your kicks on Rt 66

From Bloomington, IL through St. Louis, MO Rt. 66 runs parallel to I-55, so I'd jump off the interstate every now and then to take a ride on the 'Mother Road'. For the most part I'd have cornfields on my right and the interstate on my left but once in a while I'd drive through a small town with little bungalow houses that look slike those on 16th Avenue in Belmar, NJ. Or I'd see a block of shops that comprised of their Main Street, complete with the train tracks running through at the edge of the block.



The best surprise was driving and coming upon this roadside attraction of a huge ax embedded in a stump, and a huge Abe Lincon riding on a covered wagon, This is the Land of Lincon after all.

Sweet Home, Chicago

Upon leaving the hotel, I went across the street to Grant Park where they were cleaning up from the Taste of Chicago festival. The Buckingham Fountain was amazing...



but was not to be outdone by the beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, designed by Frank Gehry.




From there I roamed the city, ate lunch at Navy Pier, took a trolly up to Lincon Park. On it I talked to a nice woman about places to see while in St. Louis. I walked through the neighborhoods filled with beautiful townhouses, some old with amazing architecture and some new and modern. From there,I took the 'L' to Wrigley Field and stayed just long enough to take a picture.



By 4:00 I was ready to be on my way, but since I'm jobless, I forget that the rest of the world still does work and sat in traffic leaving Chicago on my way to St. Louis.

Last night I stayed in a town just because I liked the name, Normal, IL. I'll leave it to you to decide if I actually deserve to be here.

Yeah, but does She vote?

Seen on a bumper sticker:

God is not a Republican