Lemons to Lemonade

 While we could never had anticipated that our first visit back to St. Louis following our move to North Carolina 11 months earlier would be to attend my sister's funeral, we decided to make the most out of a horrific situation. While the kids and my niece were still with us we ate our favorite local foods and on Friday the 18th visited the St. Louis Zoo as well as Forest Park. It was a beautiful day, and most people were socially responsible and wore masks even though we were outside. The masks were required by the zoo, but of course there was one family of four who didn't think the mandate applied to them. It took everything I had not to call them out on it. If they have health concerns that prohibit them from wearing a mask, then they sure as heck should not be out in a public place where they might catch something! Other than that, our visit was fun and uneventful.

St. Louis Zoo

Saturday morning we made a nice breakfast for everyone before Andy and Megan needed to leave for the airport. Then we took Katie and Sara downtown to see City Garden and the new museum under the Arch. We had a late lunch at Ballpark Village before we needed to take Sara to the airport.

downtown St. Louis

Sunday morning we had our last breakfast at the AirBNB, and then headed to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Advanced ticket purchases were required as they are limiting the number of people who can go in the garden. Katie, Jim and I had a wonderful time getting some exercise and admiring all the flowers. I have to say that one thing we miss in our part of North Carolina is all the flowering shrubs and flowers that were in abundance in St. Louis. We followed that with a late lunch before heading over to my friend Diane's house to unload the car as we were spending the next few days with her. We had a couple of hours to pass before Katie needed to be taken to the airport.

Missouri Botanical Garden

The remainder of our stay in St. Louis was spent visiting old friends. I was especially excited to be able to play pickleball with the two different groups of ladies I had played with for years. Jim was able to play with his friends as well, and even squeezed in a short motorcycle ride with his best friend.

The trip was bittersweet, and proved you can indeed go home again. But it's not the same, and helped to confirm that moving to our community in North Carolina was a great decision for us.

September sunset at home