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

Shine on, St. Louis!

St. Louis Arch

The redevelopment of the Arch grounds has been going on for quite some time - years, in fact. It was supposed to be completed by the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Arch, which was to be celebrated October 28, 2015. Oops...But great progress has been made, and the area looks really good right now. Pedestrian access is much improved, with people able to enter the park without having to cross multiple lanes of traffic. The museum is not yet open, with the latest prediction stating that it will be ready for visitors "in the summer of 2018".

Jim and I went downtown Saturday morning to check things out. We began at Citygarden, a lovely small park that opened in 2009. With its water features, it is packed with families in the summer looking for a spot to cool off during the intense heat that is prevalent here.

Citygarden

statue depicting Harry Kiener

Next we walked to Kiener Plaza. Dedicated in 1962, the park was named after Harry Kiener, a local amateur boxer, wrestler and swimmer who also was part of the U.S. track team at the Olympics held in St. Louis in 1904. The plaza recently underwent extensive renovations, and reopened in May of 2017. The new design is wildly successful, and includes a children's playground. There must have been 75 people taking part in a yoga class Saturday morning.

From there we headed to the Arch, stopping to admire the wonderful gardens that serve as the front yard to the old courthouse. It was great to see so many people out and about in the city, especially considering that it is not yet summer and no Cardinals game was being played. St. Louis gets such a bad rap in the media due to the way the crime statistics are tabulated. It makes me happy to see people enjoying the beautiful amenities our city has to offer. Shine on, St. Louis!

St. Louis City