You Can Go Home Again - But You Might Not Want to

Last month we went back to St. Louis to visit friends and family. We also made sure to hit some of our favorite food and tourist attractions. For the first part of the trip, Jim and I were together for the food and attractions. Our first stop after picking up the rental car was Imo's Pizza, and we hit the one near our old house since it was too early to check in to our hotel. After eating, we stopped by Jim's old business, SWT Design, to say hello to some folks. Then we drove by the house that had been our home for 32 years. It was so nice to see that the new owners are taking good care of the 1902 beauty.

Imo's & Favazza's

That night we had dinner with Jim's former business partner and his wife at Favazza's, which is our favorite Italian restaurant in St. Louis. The next day we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden, Merb's Candies, Dad's  Cookie Company, and Ted Drewe's. We were saddened to hear that Ted had died the previous month. He was quite an institution in the area! We had dinner with another couple that night.

MoBot, Merb's, Dad's, & Drewe's

The rest of our time together passed quickly, with stops at the Missouri History Museum to see the World's Fair exhibit, looking at new SWT projects in the area, and finding a nice spot for a sunset. It was also great to see my sisters family for just the second time since she passed in 2020. We, of course, managed to get in a little pickleball as well.

Missouri History Museum, Creve Coeur Lake, MO Pickleball Club

Jim then met up with his motorcycle riding buddy, and they took off south for a few days ride. I drove out to my friend Diane's to stay with her for a bit. She has a new house out in the O'Fallon area, and it was fun to see her place. We spent time eating, walking, going to parks, and checking out the Rawlings baseball museum in Westport.

fun adventures

The fun times were somewhat marred by Hurricane Helene, which somehow managed to swing up and around to North Carolina. With all the rain, Duke Energy had to release water from the Lake Norman dam, which then flooded our lake and subsequently the lake below us. Our community was without power for about 30 hours, so of course food spoilage was a big concern. Our area was very lucky compared to what went on in the mountain region of North Carolina, however. It will take years to recover there.

My flight to come home was on September 28th, while Jim was scheduled to come back on October 2nd. But something happened to my rental car on the 28th that messed up all those plans. And it is why I may not want to go home again. I'll write about that in my next post.

Seeing the City

St. Louis is blessed with many unique, beautiful, quirky and fun communities. It is amazing how few of them I have really seen. But I crossed one of them off the list when I visited The Grove yesterday with a photographer friend. The district is located between Kingshighway and Vandeventer along Manchester Road, and a Sunday morning was the perfect time to do some exploring without a lot of cars and/or people to get in the way.

The first thing that caught our eye was Demo Man, which is located at the intersection of Vandeventer and Chouteau. Since 2002 the 20' Demo Man sculpture has been overlooking the intersection of Chouteau and Vandeventer. The small parcel of land is owned by Don Bellon of Bellon Wrecking and Salvage. One of his employees created the piece, replicating a small statue that has been on Bellon's desk since 1973 when he started his business.

Demo Man

The Grove sign

From Demo Man you can see the iconic The Grove sign, which was lit for the first time on December 17, 2010,  announcing the entrance to The Grove. A second sign hangs at the east entrance near Kingshighway. The area takes up about a mile along both sides of Manchester Road. Originally a commercial district called Adam's Grove in the 1950s, the area fell into urban decline. New businesses began to open in the 1980s, and since then the area has been successfully revitalized. With new branding, it is now known as The Grove.

The architecture in the area reminds me a bit of The Loop in University City. The vast majority of the storefronts are full - I did not see many vacancies, which is wonderful. But it is the number of public art pieces, primarily murals worked on by local artist Grace McCammond, which really capture your eye and give life to the area. Painted fireplugs and electric boxes, as well as bright splashes of trim on building exteriors, add to the colorful atmosphere. The Grove is definitely a photographer's dream, and my friend and I enjoyed living it for the morning!

The Grove