We're Going Up!

You can't come to St Louis & not see & go up the Gateway Arch.

Richard & Beth really wanted to go up but Rose suffers from vertigo & so she stayed on the ground with Cheryl & looked around the Museum of Westward Expansion (which is under the Arch). This contains some Cowboy & Indian type exhibits & as Rose collects Indian figures & ornaments she was more happy to look at the displays.

I also wanted to go up in the Arch, but had been told that the tram to get up to the top was really small & that the door to get into the 'capsule' was even smaller - not good for a big chap like me! Still, I needn't had worried since there was plenty of room. As we were one of the first trams up there was only the three of us in the capsule.

The weather was a bit overcast, but we still had a really good view of St Louis & Illinois from 'up top'. Due to the inverted triangular profile at the top of the Arch, you can actually look vertically down. There is no time limit to how long you stay up there, but once you have seen the views there is nothing else really to do.

Fritz's Frozen Custard

When you mention frozen custard in St Louis, everyone automatically thinks of Ted Drewes. We couldn't let Rose & Richard not try this tradition. However, rather than making the longer drive to Ted Drewes, we went to Fritz's. Fritz's is closer to us than Ted Drewes & is in a really cool looking 50's style building that is lit up at night. As well as a parking lot there are also seating & tables out front which is good because at Ted Drewes you line up almost in the road. I would rather be somewhere where if you accidently step backwards you don't get run over by a bus!

The frozen custard is just as good at both Fritz's & Ted Drewes but Fritz's gets my vote because it is closer, it looks cool, tastes just as good, & I have seen a few hot rods & musclecars in the parking lot.

Baseball Heaven (Again)

The school district that Beth is in had a number of baseball tickets for sale at a discounted price. I had been to baseball games before, but Cheryl & Beth hadn't. As Rose & Richard were over, we got a couple of extra tickets for them so that they had the opportunity to experience 'America's National Pastime'.

The weather wasn't the best for the game with periodic light rain, but we had really good seats that were undercover. Cheryl & Beth really enjoyed the baseball so we'll definitely go & watch a few more games at the stadium rather than just watching on TV.

Throw Me A Roll!

On the way back from Memphis, we stopped off at Lambert's Cafe for lunch. This was recommended by our neighbours, Sandy & Gerry, & is the home of throwed rolls.

The restaurant serves traditional 'home style' food with free 'pass arounds'. These include fried okra, fried potatoes, macaroni & tomatoes, black eyed peas, & sorghum & honey, & are brought to the table by servers who are just walking around the restaurant with huge pots of the pass arounds, serving them to anyone that wants some (the fried okra was good, but the fried potatoes were the best). However, the real attraction are the hot bread rolls that are throwed at you from wherever the server with the rolls is in the restaurant.

Lambert's gets through quite a few rolls, with their ovens operating from 9:15 am to 9:00 pm (usually without stopping) each day. Last year they averaged baking 520 dozen rolls per day, for a grand total of 2,246,400 individual rolls in the year. The rolls are 5 inches in diameter & if they laid all the rolls that they baked in one year side by side, they would have 177 miles of rolls! In the past year the restaurant has used 15,900 gallons of milk, cooked 368,940 eggs, 132,743 lbs of choice round beef, 253,980 lbs of chicken, 48,409 lbs of Mississippi pond raised catfish, 73,440 lbs of Arkansas okra, baked over 68,000 potatoes, along with 33 tons of French fries, 130,480 pounds of onions, served 71,900 pork chops, 52,322 lbs. of ham, country ham, & pork steak, & 48,960 lbs. of white beans.

We got to the restaurant at about 11:30 am, but had to wait about half an hour for a table. By the time that we left the restaurant, the line to get in was event longer - it sure is a popular place!

Are we there yet!

The weather for the journey back to St Louis was much better than when we drove to Memphis - beautiful sun for the whole journey. This meant that we could really see how flat the surrounding land was (very flat). To try & alleviate the boredom I needed to find something to focus on. I chose bends, or rather guessing when the next bend would be. The longest straight we drove along was 22 miles!

4lb Burger - No Problem?

When we arrived in Memphis we went straight to Graceland & spent the day looking at the various Elvis exhibits without stopping for lunch. After we checked in at our hotel, we had a look at the downtown Memphis guide to see where we could eat. It didn't take long to decide upon the Big Foot Lodge as this was the home of the Sasquatch Challenge. If you could eat the Sasquatch Burger without any help from anyone else, you got the burger for free - simple eh? Everyone else ordered their food, had eaten their starters, & were well into their main courses before I even saw my dinner (since it took 45 minutes just to cook the meat). This gave me plenty of time to actually think how big the burger could be - 8 double quarter pounders with cheese, 16 quarter pounders, God knows how many White Castles (a US fast food joint burger)!

It was absolutely massive! About 18 inches in diameter & at least 8 inches tall. The burger meat was at least an inch thick & it didn't even fit in the burger bun (or should that be loaf of bread). I only had to eat the burger & the pickle on top. I could leave the fries if I wanted to - like it would make any difference. After having my photo taken for the web-site & the server starting his stop-watch I started eating. Pickles aren't my favourite thing, but just one pickle on the top was OK. I lifted up the top of the burger & was greeted by about 3 tomatoes, half a lettuce, & about 150 sliced pickles - darn! In addition to this there was also about 1/4 inch of cheese smothering the meat.

After eating solidly for about 20 minutes I was done - & it looked like I hadn't eaten anything! Turns out that only one person has ever finished the burger, & he just happened to be a 'professional eater'.

Elvis After Dark & Sincerely Elvis

We also had a brief look the Elvis After Dark & Sincerely Elvis exhibits. Elvis liked to party at night & often had after-hour shopping sprees at department stores. He also rented out the Memphis Fairgrounds as his own personal amusement park.

The Sincerly Elvis exhibit featured 56 of Elvis's 'tasteful' stage outfits from the major concert era of his career.

Elvis's Jets

Elvis had two jets & the visitor center for the aircraft tour was set out a bit like an airport. There was a really interesting film playing that described why Elvis bought the jets, how he customized them, & some of the typically celebrity-type things that the did (like being flown to another city just for a late-night snack!). His daughter, Lisa Marie, had her 11th birthday on board the plane named after her at 35,000ft - how cool? The film also showed how the Lisa Marie (the bigger of the two jets) was partially dismantled so that it could be driven down Elvis Boulevard to Graceland. The jets have been preserved just how they were when Elvis used to fly in them. We got to walk through 'Lisa Marie' & see the luxuriously appointed living room (for the 70s), conference room, sitting room, & private bedroom.

The Elvis Car Museum

The car museum was surprisingly small. It contained vehicles owned by Elvis, including his 1955 Pink Cadillac, 1956 purple Cadillac convertible, 1973 Stutz Blackhawk, the red MG Elvis drove in Blue Hawaii, his Harley Davidson motorcycles & three-wheeled super cycles that he rode. There was also an automotive orientated gift shop.

Graceland Mansion

The Mansion Tour is probably the main attraction at Graceland. Despite the fact that the visitor center is just across the road from the Manson, you have to take a minibus across the road to begin the tour. At first glance the mansion is a bit of a let-down. Taking into account the size of properties owned by celebrities today, & what a huge superstar Elvis was, the mansion is really just a house! It does have reasonably sized grounds (14 acres), an in-ground swimming pool, & some outbuildings, but the houses close to where we live are probably bigger!

You tour the mansion with the aid of a radio unit & headset so that you can listen to an audio commentary by Elvis & his daughter Lisa Marie. It was very interesting to see the house (the 'Jungle Room' was pretty cool) & the tour provided an interesting glimpse into the personal life of Elvis. The mansion included exhibits of clothing worn by Elvis (often accompanied by pictures of him wearing the outfit on display), personal mementos, & a huge display of his many awards.

Memphis, Uh-huh

Richard is a big Elvis fan & so we agreed that for his & Rose's Birthday & Christmas present we would take them to Memphis to see the 'Home of the King', Graceland.

It took us about five hours to drive from St Louis, but this did include a stop at Sikeston for breakfast. The journey passes quite quickly as we were driving along a weather front & so spent most of the time looking at & driving through really bad weather. At times the rain was so heavy we had to slow to about 30 mph due to the greatly reduced visibility. It was really noticeable how flat the land was as we headed south & it was easy to see why this part of the US is called the 'Great Plains'.

We chose a tour that included the main exhibits at Graceland.

Budweiser Tour

Budweiser is brewed here in St Louis & since Anheuser-Busch offers the public the opportunity to see how its products are made during free tours of the brewery, we though that we would take Rose & Richard to see how 'Bud' is made. There is a large visitor center which includes a shop selling just about everything & anything Budweiser related, some static exhibits (including a small stunt-plane & a NASCAR racecar), & a description of the various brewing processes. The tour includes a look at the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale Horses, the brew house, beechwood aging cellars & the packaging facilities.

After the tour anyone over 21 years of age can enjoy two free Anheuser-Busch produced samples. Rose & Richard both had a couple of beers, but since I was driving I just had soft drinks along with Cheryl & Beth.

Kimmswick

I was only able to take a few days off work as I don't get much vacation here in the US, so Cheryl & our neighbour, Sandy, took Rose & Richard to the Blue Owl restaurant in historic Kimmswick.

Rose & Richard Visit

Cheryl's Mum, Rose, & her husband, Richard, visited us for about 10 days. It was really nice to see them but I think with the fully-packed itinerary that we had planned for them they probably needed another holiday to get over this one!

Mustang Owners Club Show

The Mustang Owners Club of America held a show at a local Ford dealership. I had completely forgotten about this show show, but purely by luck we drove by the dealership only to see the parking lot full with classic & modified Mustangs. The cars ranged from early, mid-1960s cars to the latest S197 Mustangs, some completely stock & others totally modified. The weather was really hot & sunny but after I had walked around the show for about an hour I noticed that there was a line of really dark clouds heading our way. I decided to leave before the bad weather passed over, which turned out to be a really good idea. As I was drove home the wind got up & when the rain started falling visibility was reduced to about 25 ft!

Local Fair

Beth was invited to the la nearby fair held just down the road from us at a local church. The rides all looked like they were fun but although it was free to get in you had to buy expensive tokens to get on the rides. Most of them were three tokens each &, of course, the tokens were only sold in strips of 10. Pretty typical for a travelling fair I guess. After making our way through the fairground, we found the church amusements. These offered much better value for money & you knew that the money was going straight to a good cause. It was absolutely heaving since the weather was really hot & sunny (probably the first really hot day of the year) & although we were only there for an hour or so, Beth really enjoyed herself (which was the most important thing).

Kansas City

The information booklet in our hotel room mentioned a large discount mall just south of Kansas City. We decided to head there first for a bit of retail therapy & then drop into downtown Kansas City on our return journey to the hotel. In the end it took about an hour & a half to get to the mall, & half the shops were vacant - not good. Still, at least we got to see Kansas City & cross the state line into Kansas - no sign of Toto though!

Poms Finals

After an early breakfast (which was included in our hotel stay), we took a short drive to the college where the poms regional finals competition was being held. It was a lot quieter than the local finals due to the larger venue & the way that the competition was split so that the younger cheerleaders completed all their competitions before the older girls even started. There were so many teams in Beth's age-group that they were split based upon the number of girls in each group. Beth did really well in the competition & came in a very impressive 5th place - way to go Beth!

We were finished by about 11:00am & so decided to have a drive around to see what we could find.

Kansas City Here We Come!

Beth's cheerleading team came second in the local finals competition which meant that she qualified for the regional finals. These were held just outside Kansas City, which is about four hours away from St Louis. The competition started at 8:00am on the Saturday morning so we had to be there the night before. We managed to get a good rate at a local hotel where some of Beth's friends were staying as well, so we thought that we would make a weekend of it & drive home on the Sunday.

We left at about 4pm on the Friday night & stopped off for some early tea in a local McDonalds. We noticed that there were four or five helicopters flying around the restaurant which was due to a really bad accident on the nearby highway. The traffic jams seemed to be a bit of a feature of the journey with it taking about an hour & a half just to get away from the St Louis area.

We briefly stopped at a rest area for a stretch. These are completely different to UK motorway service areas. There were some toilets, a couple of vending machines & a landscaped grass/picnic area - very nice!

We eventually got to the hotel at about 10pm. By the time we had checked in the pool had closed so Beth wasn't happy as she really wanted to go swimming before her competition. She really liked our room & the fact that she had a bed to herself, but getting to sleep was a problem as she was so excited about the next day.