2013/03/09 Saturday: Meet Me in St Louis

We woke up in Springfield and drove the 100 miles to St Louis.  Our first stop was QuikTrip, because we needed gas and I miss QuikTrip's delightful fountain soda.

We then picked up Stan & Patti and headed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  I love the orchid show, and that's a big part of what lured me that far south.  Going to the Garden without my friend Janette made it seem like something was missing.  I did throw some coins into her favorite fountain on her behalf.  Nick bought the kids souvenir pouches of rocks in the gift shop, and I've been amazed at how much time they've spent playing with them.

We wanted to go to lunch at Pappy's, but the line had been forever long, so we tried a new place that was pretty fun, 3 Monkeys.

We took O to the art museum to fulfill the educational mandate, and also, we like art.  Nick stayed in the car with a sleeping Gigi.

 We went back to the Smith's house, where we continued O's education by watching episodes of "I Love Lucy."  Patti made us an amazing dinner.  Then we went to our hotel for the night, exhausted from fun.  I didn't tell St Louis friends I was in town because I knew I couldn't spread myself thin enough to visit them all.  I'm hoping that if everything works out, we will be back to say hello again this summer.
Go Cardinals!