St. Louis, Missouri

I met Jenni and Naomi when I was in middle school. Unfortunately, we didn't go to the same high school, but we've managed to stay in touch over the years. This year, Naomi and I flew out to St. Louis, Missouri, to see Jenni. Naomi, ever the world traveler like myself, is also super stupidly busy. The only free weekend we both had was in January... friendly word of advice: don't visit St. Louis in the dead of winter. Aside from the -8° F weather, I had a wonderful time seeing my friends!

We had a super packed weekend. We went out to drinks and went to visit the small town of St. Charles, which is famous for being at the end of the Katy Trail. I definitely want to go back (IN WARMER WEATHER) and do the Katy Trail.

The Katy Trail State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Missouri that contains the Katy Trail, the country's longest continuous recreational rail trail. It runs 240 miles, largely along the northern bank of the Missouri River, in the right-of-way of the former Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Trail_State_Park

We also went to the Gateway Arch, City Museum, and mini golf at Puttshack. The Gateway Arch is the smallest national park in the country and a few miles from the City Museum, which we walked to in under -8° F. Probably very doable on a warm, sunny day. It took stopping at coffee shops and galleries to make it there without frostbite (which you can get in 5 minutes at those temperatures!). The mini golf, which had built in mini games, was also a lot of fun, but a bit crowded with lots children. So was the museum, but it's so awesome it's forgivable.

If you're unfamiliar, the City Museum is in itself a work of art. Just walking up to it you can see the stone turret, the plane on the roof, the school bus also on the roof. Bob and Gail Cassilly bought an old shoe factory and then added tons of architectural elements, sculptures, and artwork to it until the entire building turned into one climbable sculpture to get lost in. There are tree houses, whales, and a 10-story slide. I've had friends take the slide and get lost in caverns below with giant crayfish. To the woman who asked me if I lost my kids, yes. The first time I went I had no idea there were caverns at the bottom. This time we didn't get separated (too much) though!

We climbed through so many things. How was I too tall to stand and no one else was??

I did forget to mention that while we were putzing around, Jenni took me to a pet shop to play with their husky baby! After I spent twenty minutes snuggling their dog, the shop keeper asked if I wanted to see her other pet. Jenni and I jokingly thought it was a Yorkie, after discussing for days the difficulties I had trying to help my mom adopt a small dog, and she pulled out a small dog crate... with an OPOSSUM IN IT. Bless, Missouri.