So, a few days before I left for St Louis, I led the bike club on a loop around the Highline Canal and Platte River Trails. Actually, all the eBikers passed me by, and I let them get ahead because they were kicking up so much dust (it hasn't rained here in ages and part of this trail is crushed gravel). The joke was on them, however, because they missed the turnoff on the trail back to the cars and ended up riding down Broadway Blvd with all the traffic.
So, a few days later, I boarded a plane to St Louis - usually a nightmare, but this time there were fewer people on the plane so the middle seat next to me was empty. I think all the hurricanes were keeping people home. A couple of my teacher friends picked me up and we went to lunch and, of course, Ted Drewes. I found out that the real owner, Ted Drewes, Jr, died just a couple months ago. At his memorial service, they had a floral arrangement in the shape of an upside-down concrete. Ted Drewes was 96 when he died, so I guess eating frozen custard your whole life doesn't clog your arteries.
This time when I went to St Louis, I decided to tryout the Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop. This is an 8-story "boutique" hotel created by Joe Edwards (who spearheaded most of the renovation in the Loop). This building used to be an old funeral parlor, but it's been totally renovated and expanded into really nice rooms. There is a rooftop deck on the top with the world's largest manmade moon (everything inside is space-themed). This part of town was considered an extremely sketchy area about 20 years ago, but the whole street has been renovated.
I met my referee friend, Fred, at Magic Mini-Golf across the street. It looks like I'm playing golf with Santa on vacation in Hawaii. Fred has started letting his beard grow out each year, so he can dress up as Santa for the robotics kids at the December tournaments. You've got to admit, he sure looks like Santa.
I don't think I've played mini-golf, since we went to Cool Crest back in the 70's. All of the holes had a Delmar Loop theme (this one honored Chuck Berry and the Blueberry Hill restaurant). It was a little hard to play, because the courses were about 5 inches off the floor (and you weren't supposed to stand on the bases). I ended up winning by 2 points, though.
The next day I took Amtrak to Washington, MO to see a friend from SLUH, but I totally forgot to take a picture. I continued onto Lee's Summit the next day where I met my sisters for lunch - HiBoys tenderloins and onion rings... YUM! (Notice the big junk food theme that seems to be going on here???).
The next day we all went to the Pumpkin Patch. Pumpkin patches are not my favorite thing, because there usually isn't much for the older people to do (and you still have to pay full price). But I'll admit, those Oreo Cookie mini-donuts we got from the food truck were delicious.
They had a petting zoo at this pumpkin patch with some fairly unique animals. Violet is feeding a camel here. The first time she tried to feed him, she screamed and dropped the spoon with the food. It didn't bother the camel, because his neck was so long, he could just reach down to the ground.
They had an "axe-throwing" booth, which was really a bunch of Velcro volleyballs thrown against a large target. Violet is on the volleyball team, so she usually hit the bulls-eye, though I got close several times (I also hit it over the top of the target, so I can't brag too much). Lincoln is standing just behind me wearing his dirt bike goggles.
They had a scary ghoul in the gift shop. The cashier kept trying to fiddle with it (I thought maybe it was supposed to moan or something like the ones at Home Depot). On the way out of the store, she finally got it working and the thing rose up 8 ft tall, shrieking all the way. We almost knocked over some of their displays, because it scared us so bad.
So, Janet and I left the kids to their fun (and their parents) and headed off to the Smoke Brewing Co. Janet and I ordered the beer flights to go with our barbeque lunch. They were very tasty, and a good stress-reliever after spending the day with 4 kids.
And where was Bruce when I was having all this fun? Back home working on a house project, of course!
