St Louis - again

Just a couple of pictures of St louis that I took on the way back to the car park after the baseball. Nothing specific, but just some views that you probably wouldn't see in tourist information.

Go Cards!

Although St Louis has a number of professional sports teams (The Rams - American Football & The Blues - Ice Hockey), St Louis is really a baseball city. I arrived just in time last year to see the old Busch Stadium being demolished to make way for the new state of the art Stadium which is know as the home of 'Baseball Heaven'.

As this year is the inaugral season at the new stadium every game is pretty much a sell-out. However, Mark Beumer (my line manager at work) had a spare ticket & very kindly invited me to watch my first baseball game - Thanks Mark!

We had excellent seats in the lowest level of the stadium that were really close to home base. This gave us a great view of the game & the Cards won, hurrah!

New friends

Beth regularly goes to Michaels (the art & crafts superstore in Gravois Bluffs) on a Saturday morning to take part in the Kids Club, where she gets to do all sorts of arts & crafts. The lady who runs it is called Mary F, & she is really good at arts & crafts. We have become regulars on a Saturday morning (Beth also did the summer camp during her school holidays) & it wasn't long before Mary kindly invited us over to her house for dinner & to meet the rest of her family still living there.

Mary, Tony, Tanya, & Bubby live about 35 miles west of Fenton & their house is really out in the sticks compared to ours. The main road to get to their house looks like a wide gravel track (with a 40 mph speed limit!), but they have loads of land & a really huge house that they had built - cool.

The homecooked food was really good & we really enjoyed ourselves. Tanya & Bubby looked after & played with Beth, whilst we had a look at Mary's eggs. These are empty eggs that have been decorated (both inside & out) by Mary. Cheryl the spent the rest of the evening chatting & looking at photos with Mary, whilst I had a look at the guns & rifles that Tony restores (some of these were quite modern whilst others had been used in wars 100+ years ago, but the finish on all of them was superb). After playing some games of pool & watching a few episodes of the first 'new' series of Doctor Who it was dark enough to go outside.

One of the advantages of being this far out in the state is that you get to see cool wildlife (we saw some Hummingbirds earlier on), & that light polution is sufficiently reduced to see the night sky in a whole new way. Although it wasn't the best night (apparently) the stars took on a whole new dimension out here. It was possible to see the Milky Way, Cheryl saw a shooting star, I watched a sattelite pass overhead, & then we had a look at the moon & also a planet with a moon through Bubby's telescope.

We had a really good time & have since gone over there again to do some arts & craft. Mary's Dad was there this time, who is also a good artist. I spent the evening painiting on canvas with guidance from Mary & her Dad, & Cheryl painted a tray for Beth with help from Mary. We had a really good time & appreciated the hospitality extended towards us.

Smokey Bones

Having enjoyed the food at Bandanas, we thought that we would try another barbeque type restaurant.

Smokey Bones is one of the the eateries in the gravois Bluffs shopping area & as the name suggests it offers smoked type food. The food was good (as we have come to expect from US restaurants now) but a really cool aspect of this restaurant was the 'jukebox' style box mounted on the end of the table. There were a number of TVs mounted in view of the tables throughout the restaurant, each showing a different channel. There were a row of numbered TVs above the bar & you used the box on the table to choose the appropriate audio channel to match the TV you wanted to watch.

Time for a swim

Beth has been continuing her swimming lessons on a Saturday morning & has now progressed to the top class - well done Beth!

Beth is now swimming lengths of the competition pool, learning new swimming strokes, & diving off the biggest board. It won't be long before she's swimming the English Channel!

Too much is never enough!

It was time to go to the local car show again - hurrah! This month we got there at about 5:30pm & the place was already quite full with a line of cars waiting for a parking space. The day was especially hot so Cheryl & Beth went to Woody's Cafe which is located in the church building complex & is similar to Chuck E Cheeses (i.e. food & amusements).

I had an initial walk around & as usual was drooling over most of the cars. It was quite ironic to see a Morris Minor & a Ford Popular (sorry, Anglia) as these are part of the backbone of British hot rodding. The steering wheels being on the 'wrong' side (LHD for the US market) just didn't look right.

As was was making my way past the entrance, I noticed alot of head turning. Not wanting to miss out, I looked around only to be greeted by just a slightly OTT Ford Model T hot rod. Putting a high powered V8 into something the weight of a shoebox usualy makes for a pretty big grin factor but this Model T was also twice blown. Two roots style superchargers had been mounted on top of the engine in such a manner that you probably had to stand up whilst driving just to see over the engine. Very 1960's show car & very cool. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the car had been signed by Paul LeMat who played Milner in the film American Graffitti - Where were you in '62? This is a cult American hot rod film that was directed by George Lucas & also starred Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford & Ron Howard (Richie from Happy Days) & of course the legendary Wolfman Jack. Yet another good show, but now the only question is how long will it be before I get to show my car there?

4th of July

The 4th of July is American Independance Day. This is celebrated with the American Flag being displayed even more than usual & lots of events, concluding in fireworks (lots of them) on the 4th.

Striped marquees started appearing along major higways about a month before the 4th, & it wasn't long before signs started to advertise buy 1 get 5 free firework deals. The marquees were open 24 hours a day & whenever we passed one, it was busy.

Beth had made some friends at her pom & cheer class who lived fairly close to us. Emily & Jordan's mum & dad, Sherri & Steve, kindly invited us to their house to join in with the celebrations on the 4th. Beth & the other children played on the trampolene & swam in the pool whilst Steve looked after the barbeque before we all went inside & enjoyed the food that Steve & Sherri had prepared.

The weekend had been really hot & sunny (& of course humid). However, at about 7:00pm it started to rain really heavily. Eventually the rain stopped (for a while) & the fireworks display started. The fireworks were just placed in the middle of the road & lit. All the children had some sparklers & there were these really cool firework race cars that were rocket propelled. It started raining again about an hour later but this didn't stop the fireworks. We had a really good time & didn't leave until about 11:00pm. It was only then that you appreciated how many fireworks had been set off as the road was absolutely covered with empty casings & there was a smoky smelling fog with still more fireworks visible in the distance!

Bandanas

It was the 4th of July weekend & I worked extra hours to get the Monday off work (this meant that I had another 4 day weekend). It was really hot & sunny (about 38 degrees C, but the humidity made it feel like the mid 40s). To keep in fashion with the holiday feel of the weekend we ate out at Bandanas. This retaurant chain specialises in southern style barbeque food, seasoned with a "dry rub", cooked sauceless, & then hand-cut to order straight from the smoker. The pork, beef, chicken & ribs are prepared over a pit of select hardwoods to create their signature smoked flavour.

Beth had a childrens meal (which was probably big enough for any of us!), & Cheryl & I shared a 'Combo Platter' that included pork, beef, chicken, ribs, garlic bread, fries, & beans. This cost about $25 but the plate was absolutely piled high with meat. The food tasted good & you could really taste the smoke. Apparently it takes up to 14 hours to smoke the pork & special beef cuts, & 5 hours for ribs & chicken. This makes the meat really tender & colours it red (which is known as a "smoke line). Yummy!

Paws, claws, scales, & tales

Beth has been taking part in the 'paws, claws, scales, & tales' programme at our local library. This comprised of three sections to record Beth's reading. Every time she read for 20 minutes she could colour in a book on the record sheet & at the end of each section she got a prize. When she had completed all sections she was entered into a prize draw & she won a t-shirt - cool.

The library is quite small as Fenton only has about 4500 residents, but unlike UK libraries you can hire DVDs, videos, & CDs, at no cost. They also have a selection of magazines & you can order anything available in any of the other St Louis libraries.

Ted Drewes

Ted Drewes is a St Louis tradition & has been selling frozen custard (better than ice cream) & Christmas trees (!) for decades.

Since arriving here in St Louis, my co-workers have often mentioned Ted Drewes frozen custard & the association with St Louis Cardinals baseball. After a game, many fans can be found at Ted's, the queues often being 10+ people deep (I can vouch for this).

It all started when Ted Sr. opened his first ice cream store in Florida in 1929, followed the next year by an other store on Natural Bridge in St Louis & the South Grand store in 1931. In 1941 the family opened a second stand which is the current Chippewa location on historic Route 66.

We took a trip to Ted Drewes on a particularly warm evening to try some frozen custard. They also do concrete (a very thick frozen custard that won't fall out of the container when turned upside down) & specialities. I had a Crater Copernicus (Devil's food cake topped with custard, hot fudge and whipped cream), Cheryl had strawberry shortcake, & Beth had chocolate frozen custard - yummy!

Krispy Kreme & Kool Kars

On my way home from the office, I pass a Krispy Kreme drive-through. They have a sign that can be seen from Hwy 44 which is illuminated when hot doughnuts are available. Although I had resisted the temptation so far, on the way back from meeting the Wizard of Oz characters we decided that some nice hot doughnuts would make a superb end to the evening.

The selection was pretty good & there was a special offer where for $8.99 you got 24 doughnuts (12 plain iced & 12 of whatever you wanted). We ended up with kreme filled chocolate iced, strawberries & kreme, chocolate with sprinkles, New York Cheesecake, & the plain doughnuts.

We didn't go through the drive-through & so were able to see the doughnuts being made. Beth got a Krispy Kreme hat & they had a promotional late 1930's van outside, so I had my car 'fix' & so was happy. As a bonus, when we got back to the car park there was a Dodge Ram Mega-cab pickup that had been lifted (with 22+ inch aftermarket wheels) & a Dodge Charger pace car which was used at the NASCAR racing at Gateway Raceway just over the river in Illinois.

We're off to see the wizard.....

The Muny is an outside theatre in Forest Park that is open during the summer. One of the shows this year was the Wizard of Oz, which Beth really likes. As part of the show promotions, some of the characters visited the St Louis library headquartes a couple of evenings before the show started. We had to book in advance for the event (although it was free), but the really mad thing was that if it hadn't been for Beth's Nan in England telling us about the event we wouldn't have known (thanks Mum!).

The event was really popular with the function room being full & a queue to get in for the entire time that we were there. Beth really enjoyed herself. Some of the things she got to do included meeting Dorothy & the Scarecrow, doing some colouring & writing about the Wizard of Oz, playing pin the heart on Tin Man, try & win a prize by choosing a lollipop from a rainbow, & make her very own 'pet tornado'.

Cathedral Basilica of St Louis

Now that Cheryl has her own car she has started to explore St Louis. Mary, a friend that we have made who works at Michaels (the craft shop where Beth does arts & crafts on a Saturday morning) arranged for Cheryl & Beth to meet her & her teenage children to visit the Cathedral Basilica whilst I was at work.

The Archbishop, John Glennon, began building the cathedral 1907, with a unique design that combines Romanesque style architecture externally with a Byzantine style interior. In the narthex (vestibule) the mosaics depict the life of the cathedral's patron, Saint Louis IX, King of France. The great center dome & the two lesser domes & half domes, together with the arches, reveal in mosaic art the story of the Catholic Faith from creation to the last judgment. Portraying scenes from both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, the mosaic works picture men and women from Judeo-Christian history as well as illustrating the more recent development of the Catholic Church in North America & particularly in St Louis. This is the largest mosaic collection in the world created by 20 different artists and covering 83,000 square feet. It contains 41.5 million pieces of glass tesserae with over 7,000 colors & was started in 1912 & finally completed in 1988.

Cheryl & Beth really enjoyed their visit. I have yet to visit the cathedral, but the pictures that Cheryl took really convey the ornate architectural details & cathedral interior.

The journey back to Fenton included a detour to 'The Hill'. This is the Italian area of St Louis that is well known for the Italian restaurants & bakeries. Cheryl brought back some authetic Italian rolls. These were really cheap & were quite nice as they weren't as sweet as the rolls bought from the local supermarkets.

Phantom of the Opera

JAG, (the social group at work) has been really busy so far this year organising lots of events, the latest that we attended being The Phantom of the Opera at The Fox Theatre. Cheryl has always wanted to see this show, so when the opportunity of getting discounted tickets through JAG arose, I really needed my arm twisted - not!

The Fox Theatre opened in 1929 as one of the crown jewels in William Fox's motion picture empire. It cost of six million dollars, & with a seating capacity of 5060, the Fox was second in size only to New York's Roxy Theatre. It was billed as "St. Louis' largest and most magnificent temple of amusement", & Fox's wife filled it with paintings, sculptures & furnishings gathered from her travels around the world. From the dome in the auditorium hangs a 2,000-pound chandelier, 12 feet in diameter with 2,264 pieces of jeweled glass. A giant four-manual Wurlitzer organ, one of only five of its type ever built, filled the hall with music from its 36 ranks and 2,700 pipes.

In 1981, the Fox was privately purchased & restored. The 4,500 seats were completely re-upholstered and restored (although they skillfully managed to retain the authentic comfort level from the 1920's - i.e. not much!), 7,300 yards of carpet were woven in the original elephant pattern, & even the 106 foot hight ceiling was meticulously vacuumed. The chandelier was restored to its original brilliance, & the majestic Wurlitzer organ rebuilt.

We were on the upper level of the theatre & had a good view of the stage, although as the seating area doesn't seem to extend that far back we were sort of looking down on it. The show was good, but as I wasn't really that fussed about seeing the show I think that Cheryl & Beth probably enjoyed it more than I did. The special effects at the beginning of the show weren't really up to much & I was a bit dissapointed as I was expecting more from what is undoubtable the biggest theatrical show. However, I think that I was being lulled into a false sense of security as when the phantom went to his lair he was on a boat that he pushed along with a pole. The lighting, smoke, & automation of the boat were superb & this scene was seriously impressive.

The Fox has lots of coming attractions including Monty Python's Spamalot, Cats, Mama Mia, & Edward Scissorhands to name a few, so no doubt we will be back there some time whilst we are in St Louis.