As said in a previous post, for Thomas’ birthday, I gifted him with a trip to St. Louis & Kansas City as a part of our “Tour of The Ballparks,” as well as a perfect mid-summers getaway. Our trip date could not have come at a better time, I had been working triple the hours I normally do, and Thomas is always putting in tons of hours, so this trip was perfect!
We headed out about 5am, with just a little over 9 hours from Dallas to St. Louis, heading out early was almost a must if we wanted to have time to see the City on Saturday! We (I) drove and drove and drove some more (while Thomas slept) and finally made it to St. Louis by early afternoon.
FIRST STOP? After the hotel of course- UNION STATION!
What was once a central hub for many train stops, is now an awesome hotel-mall-plaza area.
I’ve loved penny press machines since I was little and got my first one while in Animal Kingdom in Disney World, so getting on to commemorate this trip was a no-brainer.
Union Station was a giant-semi-abandoned mall. I figured out after we departed that there was an entire other section of Union Station that we missed out on, but after seeing some of the interesting people who were meddling about in there, we were ready to head out!
NEXT STOP? THE ARCH!
We were truly amazed by all of the amazing architecture we were able to experience in St. Louis! It was simply breathtaking!
I had never been to the Arch, much less STL before, so I was quite excited as you can see!
This picture does it NO justice on size, I can’t even begin to explain the size in all of it’s entirety! I had no idea you could go up to the top of it, or that there was shops underneath! Thankfully, Thomas had been before, and knowing a little more than I did, enlightened me about all that I was uneducated on.
One of the awesome shops they have under the arch is the “Levee Mercantile,” where Thomas and I loaded up on candies of all sorts, peanut brittle, and a wee smudge of fudge.
Although we opted out of traveling to the top due to a very long wait, we thoroughly enjoyed walking around below the Arch!
NEXT STOP? DINNER!
The Fountain on Locust is a small, but very popular, little joint nestled in Midtown of downtown St. Louis. It has a great old time soda bar with amazing decor
We had some of the best food, and Thomas had some awesome drinks here! His grilled cheese had apples and turkey on it- can you say AH-MAZING? They were famous of their ice cream martinis, which Thomas gladly indulged in!
Their ice cream was no joke! As you read above, it is a totally different form of ice cream, which clearly made all of the difference! The topping, being all natural with no preservatives, were the perfect addition! This restaurant was a 10/10!
Unfortunately, while finishing up dinner, a torrential downpour came about, bringing with it high winds, and lots of thunder and lightening. Thomas and I opted for drinks at a small bar just doors down from The Fountain to wait out the storm
Our last stop for the night was Small Batch | Whiskey & Fare. Although we did not eat anything here, the drinks were on point, and the bartender was awesome! The great decor and wide, floor to ceiling windows made this the perfect spot to indulge in a few drinks and watch the storm pass.
After a long day of traveling, tons of sightseeing and indulgent-worthy foods, we retired to our hotel room to catch the end of the Texas Baseball game, which was sadly the last game Texas baseball saw of the College World Series-better luck next year boys!
Check back tomorrow for day {2} of our {4} day adventure!
XoXo-Tiffani