11th Anniversary: Adventures in Air and Sea

 

Thanks for reading along with our mishaps from yesterday! I just shake my head and laugh now, but it didn’t feel funny that day!

            We saw that the rain wasn’t really letting up, so we decided to drive over to Union Station and see the fun things happening there. I had researched it and saw they had an aquarium, mini golf, some snack shops, a ropes course, and a huge wheel (Gondola…Ferris Wheel…whatever you like to call it) with enclosed cars. I figured we could spend a few good quality hours there! Plus, their site talked about a fire and light show that was really good, too!

            So we made our way over and strolled through to find out what we might want to try. We almost accidentally joined a conference taking place (whoops!) and decided at last that we would spring for the aquarium/wheel combo ticket. We normally try to do free things on trips, but my free ideas were outside with the rain, so we sprang for tickets.

            I’m a bigger fan of aquariums than Ryan is, but even he agreed that this was the most fun one we’d been to yet. It was fairly interactive and had some unique offerings. Here are some pictures from our time in there:

            After that, we got an ornament for our tree and some coffee for a mid-afternoon snack.

            The Fire and Light show never materialized, which didn’t surprise us too much after the way the day began.

            We made our way over to the giant wheel, which was a complete act of bravery for me. I am terrified of heights, and this one is hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh! 200 feet in the air! There were good and bad things about our ride. The good – GREAT – part was that since the weather was so lousy, there wasn’t a line. In fact there wasn’t another soul on the entire wheel when we rode it. We didn’t have to share a car with anyone. (The cars seat up to 8. We had our own.) The bad part was the rainy weather meant it was tough to see out the window at all – because it was laced with rain. And the clouds made it hard to see far in the distance.

            Maybe that actually helped me. I had to pray my way around the first time, but after that, I did pretty well and was even able to look outside without holding Ryan’s hand!

            We were sad for the things we didn’t get to see there because of weather (Mini golf was out, as was the fire and light show, apparently.) But it really was a fun way to spend part of a day. It would be one of the things we would recommend if you’re planning a St. Louis trip. They also have a Build a Bear there, and while we didn’t go to that, it could be fun if you have kids or have never been to one! (We did Build a Bear before our wedding.)

            The end of the day certainly redeemed the first part. When we were done with our adventures, we went back to the Airbnb to eat food we brought with us and watch movies.

            Never fear, though. We were not done collecting stories!

11th Anniversary...The Sandwich Chronicles

 

Our first full day in St. Louis was last Thursday. As usual, I had created a very specific itinerary for our time away, but I had tried to build in enough down-time that we could adjust if needed for bad weather. I just didn’t expect every single day to be bad weather.

            We got up and had the nicest leisurely morning in the Airbnb, and then we headed out for lunch. I have wrestled with how to tell this story, because I don’t want to be unkind, but at the same time, it’s just too much NOT to tell the story. So I just will begin by saying that our experience very well may have been the perfect storm of bad circumstances – and maybe on any other day, this restaurant is amazing! But for us, it was not so much.

            I’d read multiple travel blogs that insisted this little local shop that specializes in sandwiches was a great find, so I put it on the list. We navigated our way to the little old-town area and found some parking, which is also when we remembered that in the city, you have to pay to park everywhere. We always forget that!

            After we got out of the car, Ryan said, “Well according to the GPS, we should have passed it, but I never saw it. Did you?” Indeed I had not. We backtracked and found it – by the address alone. We never saw a sign of any kind. Nothing painted on the window or door, no sign over the top, no awning, nothing.

            The place was much smaller than it had appeared online. Just eight tables in the whole restaurant. Four tables seated four and four more seated just two. The place was already about half full, and apparently earlier in the day, something was a little overcooked, because there was a smoky haze throughout the entire room.

            I wanted to get a salad, but the one I wanted didn’t come with meat. I asked the cashier if it was possible to have chicken added to it, and I hastened to say that if it was a problem, I would happily choose something else from the menu. The cashier sighed heavily, rolled his eyes, and shuffled back to the kitchen to ask. I felt like the biggest imposition in the entire world! He shuffled back and said, “Yeah we can do that.” So I ordered my salad, and he asked what kind of dressing I wanted. I asked if they happened to have any lowfat options, and he didn’t even bother to sigh that time. He just said, “Yeah I don’t think so.” Alrightie then! No dressing.

            Ryan ordered a sandwich, which came with a choice of soup or salad, and noting that the menu said, “Ask cashier about the soup of the day,” he said, “What’s the soup?”

            The cashier slowly closed his eyes and said, “Some corn and shrimp….” Sigh…and off he shuffled to the kitchen. He came back. “Corn and shrimp soup.” After all that, Ryan didn’t dare to NOT get it.

            We ordered waters to drink, and the cashier said, “That’ll be $37.” For a salad and a soup/sandwich? We really do eat off the Wendy’s value menu way too much.

            We went to the two tables that were unoccupied and both were dirty. I chose the least dirty of the two, moved the dirty dishes off it to the other table, and sat down. Ryan went back to the counter to ask if he could have a washcloth to clean off the table, and before I knew it, the cashier was there with one, angrily scrubbing the table clean. I started to apologize and then realized it is not unreasonable, when paying $37 for a sandwich and salad, to find a clean table a basic expectation.

            We waited quite a while for our food, and eventually my salad arrived. (It really was pretty.) 

            The cashier came out and said to Ryan, “Hey did you want yours for here or to go?” Ryan just stared at him, and then looked at me with my salad in a real bowl, and then looked back at him again and said, “I think I’ll stay.” He shrugged and left. Why in the world would he NOT eat in if I’m eating in??

            In a moment, he was back. “Did you want soup?” Yes. Yes please. And shortly thereafter, Ryan’s tray arrived. A sandwich and fries.

            I don’t think I need to explain the picture.

            For the record, the soup did arrive eventually, but it was the most confusing experience.

            We left, intending to walk around the “charming shopping area” the internet told me would surround this gem of a lunch stop. By this time, it was raining one of those bone-chilling rains, so we tried exploring under umbrellas, but it seems all those charming shops have gone right out of business. Literally never found even one. The closest we found were some apartment buildings under construction – set to open in the fall of 2022.

            To say it was a disappointing start to the trip is an understatement. But I had high hopes. I had a whole afternoon plan for Union Station, and I figured much of that would be inside, so we could avoid the elements.

            That part of the day was mostly free of drama. (Mostly.) But I hope you enjoyed The Sandwich Chronicles!

11th Anniversary...Headed to St. Louis

 

Yesterday I took a trip down memory lane from all our anniversary trips over the past decade. We got the biggest laugh out of realizing we have gone to a city every single year…and we don’t even love cities! We did it again this year. We’ve been talking about going to St. Louis for several years. We have driven through it multiple times on our way to Kansas to visit my family, but we’ve never stopped to explore. I wanted to be sure we did it before we did our someday-trip on Route 66. (It will save us time then.)

            In short, this trip had the worst weather of any anniversary trip ever, and it was filled from start to finish with ridiculous, maddening stories. If we still had a podcast, this trip would have kept us well stocked for several weeks. But despite the bad weather and all that went wrong along the way, we managed to have some fun and we collected stories like nobody’s business. We also had a big chunk of time to simply rest and talk, which we probably needed more than we knew.

            We packed way too much (though please let the record show we actually used almost everything we took) and headed out on a pretty nice afternoon. We had a gorgeous sunset – and ridiculous traffic in Indianapolis. I am so glad Ryan is good with city driving!

            I actually did a little driving after that! This is rare, so we documented it.

            Illinois state sign was a fail…and Missouri’s was hidden, but I managed to find it!

            We arrived in St. Louis about 9 p.m. and of course it was completely dark by that time. Not only were we unfamiliar with the area, but we were staying in a loft…in a whole neighborhood of lofts. I am only sorry that you all missed watching the small-town kids trying to find the right building and then figure out a gate-opening app. It was…well…I thought we might end up on Dateline.

            After we finally got into the gate, we had to wrestle that app again to get into the building and then into the elevator…and then there was another code to get into the actual loft.

            I was not smart enough for that building.

            But when we got into the loft, it was really adorable. I’m such a sucker for exposed brick and original floors.

            I also love big windows and a view.

            Quite a start to the trip…but come back! I have so many more stories!

Grateful for Memories

 

Ryan and I enjoyed a little getaway for our anniversary and while we were gone, we reminisced about some of our favorite memories from all our anniversary travels.

First Anniversary: We loved having a front row seat to the lighting of the tree on Monument Circle in Indianapolis. We utterly froze out there…standing in the cold for over three hours from start to finish…but it was such a fun night. The best part? We stayed at a hotel on the circle, so our numb feet didn’t have far to go before we were cozy and warm in our room again!

Second Anniversary: We had a special, romantic dinner at the Signature Room on the 95^th floor. It remains one of our favorite romantic meals. The food! The cake! The personalized menu! The view! Loved every single bit of it. Ryan planned this one as a surprise for me, and it’s one of my favorite things he’s done!

Third Anniversary: This was our shortest getaway and we probably did less on this one than any other trip, but we had fun driving through the Fantasy of Lights in Fort Wayne! We still love going to see Christmas lights, and that was a highlight of that trip.

Fourth Anniversary: We did a carriage ride in French Lick during this trip. I accidentally threw Ryan’s new gloves out of the carriage, and we had to go search for them after the ride ended – oops! I’d always wanted to go on a carriage ride, so that was fun!

Fifth Anniversary: This was an extra long trip with lots of stops and it’s impossible to pick just one thing we loved most of all. But this was the time we toured the Biltmore during a snowstorm, and that is something we’ll never get to recreate, so that took top billing!

Sixth Anniversary: We visited Louisville this year, and while it wasn’t our favorite city of all time, driving through the Christmas lights in the cave was pretty cool. (Also minimal risk of being hit by a bat while inside the car.)

Seventh Anniversary: The year we went to Cincinnati! This was when we went to Winterfest at King’s Island. Ryan still likes to tease me about this adventure containing my most favorite meal ever. True story. It was colllllllllllllllld that night, but it was such a fun evening.

Eighth Anniversary: The chocolate trail in Richmond was so much fun, but I am pretty sure the Airbnb itself was the coolest thing about that trip. We only live about an hour away from there now, and sometimes I think about renting that same Airbnb again for a weekend. It was that wonderful!

Ninth Anniversary: The weather in Nashville was so good to us, and the little gondola ride through the river inside the Opryland hotel was pretty fun. (We didn’t stay at that hotel. Just visited.)

Tenth Anniversary: Another trip to Florida rounded out our first decade of trips. We had a lot of fun adventures on this trip – and one of my favorite things was getting to fall asleep every night with the sliding door open and the sound of the waves. But one of our extra fun treats on this trip was meeting Dan the Sand Castle Man and having a photo shoot with one of his works of art!

            We’ve done all kinds of trips for our anniversaries, but my favorite part of all of them? No shortage of stories and memories!