Family Time

Our daughter was in town the weekend before last for the first time since August. Her best friend from high school was getting married on the 6th, so she flew here for a few days. She had an appointment in downtown the afternoon she arrived, so I picked her up at the airport and took her to the meeting. While she was doing her thing, I was able to go and photograph three of the cakes I had been unable to get a few Saturdays ago because they are inside of buildings. Getting the one at Wainwright building was a piece of cake - pardon the pun. And the one at America's Center was no problem either. But the one at the Edward Jones Dome? Well, that was a different story. I had read on the Facebook page that there were only two ways to photograph that cake. One is if you have a ticket to attend an event at the Dome. (The next event I see scheduled is a Rams game in August.) The second is if you can find a sympathetic guard to let you in. I tried pumping the security guard at America's Center for information, just in case there was a way to get into the Dome from the Center. No such luck. I decided to walk over to the Dome anyway, and I spied two security guards outside directing a couple of delivery trucks. I hurried to the window where the cake is on display, and put on my most pitiful face as I attempted unsuccessfully to photograph the cake through the glare of the glass. Sure enough, the male guard came over and gestured for me to follow him. Success! Two swipes of his security pass and I was standing in front of the elusive cake. He was even kind enough to move the barricade out of the way so that it would not impede my shot.

Edward Jones Dome cake

On the way back to meet my daughter I came upon the "cakery", the abandoned storefront where many of the artists decorated their Cakeway to the West cakes. Through the filthy glass I could see some naked cakes, as well as a number of them that appeared to be complete. At that point in time only 234 of the 250 cakes had been placed throughout the metropolitan area. Apparently there are some snafus at several of the locations. At any rate, it was fun to see where the cakes were baked into works of art.

the Cakery

Once I met up with my girl, we went up to Three Sixty, the bar on top of the downtown Hilton. My niece joined us after she got off work, and we had such a nice time catching up.

On Friday, her friend's wedding went off without a hitch, with the added bonus of the fact that Rod Stewart was having dinner in the same location as the reception. Once he heard the bride's name was Maggie, he agreed to a quick photo with her before heading off to his performance at Scottrade Center. I wonder how many people in attendance actually knew who he was?

We had a nice weekend together, and before we knew it we were putting her back on a plane. Hopefully it will not be that long before she is able to come back for a visit.