Day Five: A bird's eye view of the Gateway to the West

Brent and I got up and left St. Charles fairly early.  It wasn't as far away as I thought it was.  Within fifteen minutes or so, the arch came into view.  There was hardly any traffic and we were able to find the arch parking garage with little trouble.  

As we got closer, I took some pictures while Brent knocked on the arch.  "It's steel," he said.  ???  I asked him what he thought it was made of and he said concrete.  Hmm.  History Channel needs to play that Modern Marvels episode more often I guess.  Brent marveled.  I took pictures.  then Brent had to take his pocket knife to the car.  I took pictures while he was gone.  Then we went underground.  And unbeknownst to me, there was a museum down there!!  And a really cool one at that!

It was the Museum of Westward Expansion.  It had animatronic indians, explorers, and soldiers that explained their viewpoints on westward expansion.  There was an extensive exhibit of presidential coins that was kind of cool to see.  The whole room was set up like a wagon wheel or something, which was kind of confusing.  At the hub of the wheel was the earliest information on the timeline of westward expansion and on edge of the wheel were massive wall photos of the wilderness encountered along the way.  Those would make anyway want to drop the life they knew and march off into an uncharted wilderness just for giggles.

I didn't realize the timeline part until the end.  It probably would have helped to see the ceiling in the beginning and it would have made the museum a little less hodgepodge like.

One of my favorite exhibit signs... "Please do NOT touch.  Only live animals can grow new hair."

After aimlessly wandering through the exhibit, we got tickets to ride the tram to the top of the arch.  This was an interesting experience.  It was more of a pod than a tram.  It could sit five people in a circle and almost touching knees.  It looked like an egg, bright white and kind of oval.  It was tall enough for someone sitting down but you had to curve your back to the shape of the pod so as not to bump your head.  It was a four minute ride to the top.  Out tram swayed back and forth and it did it's best to keep us level on our journey upward.  From the top, we got a bird's eye view of St. Louis!

After hanging out in the top of the arch for about 20 minutes or so we hopped on a pod for the 3 minute ride down.  Of course, we hit the gift shop and then trucked across the park to waterfront.  The might Mississippi River wasn't so mighty from where I was standing.  At this location, it wasn't very wide and it didn't really smell like I thought it would.  Brent and I debated our planned helicopter ride and decided to go for it before lunch.  Neither of us had ever been on a helicopter and now we're so glad that we decided to go that day.  It was awesome!! There really are no words for the awesomeness.

When the helicopter returned from fueling up we got taken out onto the deck.  One at a time we got loaded into our seats.  Brent first.  I was left standing at the nose of the helicopter with the whooshing of the blades going overhead.  Then I was loaded up.  Seatbelts secured and headset on, we were welcomed by our pilot.  He explained takeoff and said we would be tilting forward and flying off the deck.  He said not to freak out we really weren't going to be falling forward into the river.  It was a blast!!

Once we got air born I started snapping pictures like crazy...

A small part of Budweiser factory.

Botanical gardens.

City Museum, complete with dangling school bus and ferris wheel. 

Busch Stadium 

The postcard shot.

Back on the ground and super excited about our tour around St. Louis, we grabbed lunch just down the riverfront at the Riverboat Cafe.  Simple food with a great view.  Brent had shrimp, I think I had a corn dog.  Good stuff!

View from out cafe table.

After lunch we wandered back to the car in hopes of making it to the Budweiser factory for a tour.  After a wrong turn and trip over the Mississippi and back, we track down the factory and found parking (harder than it sounds).  We got on the next available tour and killed time looking at their exhibit cases while we waiting.  Budweiser survived Prohibition by making de-alcoholized beer and ice cream.  I want some Budweiser ice cream!  

 The tour was about an hour long and it took us from old building to old building.  We got to see the Clydesdales and their dogs.  All of the buildings were all incredibly well preserved and filled with so much ornate detail that Brent and I were in awe.  My photos just don't do the place justice.  The stone and brick was amazing.  And inside the brew house the metal chandeliers and railings were so cool!  To see the bottling plant we took an escalator up seven floors!!  And then took them all down to the canning floor.  We saw the massive tanks that hold 270,000 6-packs worth of beer.  It's aged before bottling.  One room alone had six tanks, each about 75 feet long and 40 feet in diameter.  That's a lot of tasty beer!!

The tour ended at the tasting room.  I tried the Pumpkin Spice brew.  It was yummy!  Very seasonal!  We finished off the tour by hitting the gift shop.  We found the coolest Budweiser St. Louis fishing sign.  It now hangs proudly in the kitchen!!

With the day winding down, we decided it was time to track down some good St. Louis BBQ.  We went to Pappy's Smokehouse, another Food Network featured hometown favorite.  You have to enter a side door in order to get to the back of the line.  Like Arthur Bryant's, Pappy's walls were covered with photos of celebrities who had visited and news articles about the place.  The place had some of the biggest picnic tables I've ever seen.  There was no room to sit while we were standing in line but by the time we ordered it had slowed down considerably.  The red shirts had slowly disappeared as the St. Louis Cardinal fans left for the game.  Our food was ready in a jiff and we sat down at one of the massive picnic tables.

On the menu was shredded pork for me and ribs for Brent.  We both got the sweet potato fries, which were awesome!!  I also tried the deep fried corn on the cob.  That was interesting but not that good.  I had a few bites and that was it.  I prefer normal corn on the cob, I learned.  While eating, a chef came out to talk to us.  He and Brent were quite gabby.  Then the guy brought Brent a shirt.  Before we knew it, some people sat down and starting talking to Brent about his Wyoming shirt.  It never failed on this trip, whenever either of us had a Wyoming shirt on, someone would ask us if were from Wyoming.  This time, it led to Brent meeting people in the HVAC world that consult with engineers for the City of Ft. Collins of all places.  One of them was from Wyoming.  It was bizarre.  I can't take him anywhere.  So, our short dinner trip to Pappy's turned into a longer one.  We got out of Pappy's later than expected and still had a few hours of driving to get to Springfield, Illinois for the night.

Needless to say, Brent was proud of his visit to Pappy's.  And proud of his shirt.  He wore it for three days straight when we got back home.

We passed over the Mississippi one more time and bid goodbye to St. Louis.  It was a blast and worth the one day stop.  

Day Four: Belgian waffles, American bikes, and one great war

It rained last night. Lightning, thunder, rain, and wind engulfed our bed and breakfast just before bedtime. I watched as the windows slowly covered with rain drops until I could see no more. Then I read from my new Truman book before finally surrendering to the eventful day. The morning started out dreary. Droplets still covered the window and the air was thicker with humidity. I'd ventured to shower first and discovered the storm did something goofy with the electricity. Surrounded by the early morning peace and quiet I decided to relish the simplicity of the task.  I showered in the claw foot tub by early morning light and contemplated what the day would bring. I didn't have to wait long to find out.

Benny had a cantaloupe and watermelon fruit cocktail waiting for us in the dining room. I helped myself to coffee from the bar and sat down in front of the pink flowered fine china. I asked John how is day of research went and he asked us how are day in the museum went. He's a very congenial Brit and will be remembered by us for a while.  He was always interested in what us Americans thought about something.  At one point we even discussed what we eat for breakfast.  He didn't know what biscuits and gravy were so Benny's going to hook him up later this week.

After our appetizer of fruit, Benny brought out his homemade Belgian waffles with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.  We all anxiously dove into our breakfast and in no time at all bid John goodbye as he headed off for another walk to the Truman Library for a day of research.  I wrote in the quest book and Brent paid our tab.  Then we patted the Scottish Terrier on the head and said goodbye to our hosts in Independence.

We cruised out of town about 15 miles to the Harley Davidson factory.  The factory produces Sportsters, VRods, and Dyna models for the company.  We arrived just into time for the 10am tour.  After a short introductory video, we were given a pin, safety glasses, and a portable headphone and its receiver.  After we all dressed up like geeks, we headed into the manufacturing area.  We got to "walk the line" (a two foot wide zone for pedestrians) single file like ducks and see different areas of the plant.  First we saw the dicutter machines, frame benders, and welders.  Then we got to see where the paint the tanks and fenders.  And then saw the finished painted products, the assembly line, and the testing areas.  It was really cool to see.  Unfortunately they don't allow cameras on the tour so I only have pictures from inside of the visitor center and outside of the building.  It was really cool to see how Bruiser was built.  We got to keep our "I Walk the Line" pin.

After getting our motorcycle fix we traveled back towards the older downtown area and made it to the World War I Museum.  We stopped into the Over the Top Cafe for lunch.  I ate a Reuben von Streubon corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich with German potato salad.  It was delicious.  I can't really say that I'd ever had corned beef before.  Another new experience that was a success.  I may have to try that again someday.  The first thing we did in the museum was check out the poppy field.  There is a field of real silk poppies below a glass bridge.  There are 9,000 silk poppies in the field.  Each poppy symbolizes 1,000 deaths for a total of 9 million deaths in World War One.

The exhibits go in chronological order in a counter clockwise layout around a theater that shows a short introductory video explaining why the world was on a collision course for war in the early 1900s.  The first set of exhibits dealt with the war from 1914-1917, before the Americans got involved.  In addition to the usual artifacts and documents one would expect to see in a museum like this, the layout and replicas helped drive home certain points about the deplorable conditions under which the men on the front lines fought and the civilians back home lived.  The exhibits zigged and zagged back forth, similar to the way the trenches were built. Along the outside wall of the museum was a replica trench.  One section showed the British trenches, the other the French.  You could stick your head through some square peep holes and get a peek into the trench as if you were there.  It was great!  Although the first time I stuck my head through one out of curiosity, the motion sensor kicked on and a soldier's voice began describing the conditions in the trench.  It scared the crap out of me and I bonked my head on the top of the window!

The museum had canons, machine guns, and a tank on exhibit as well as hundreds of pictures showing the devastation done by the intense bombing campaigns.  I really liked the air power and sea power exhibits.  In addition to the artifacts on display in cases, there was a video of air and sea footage playing on the floor of the museum.  Hard to explain but very cool to see!

With the end of the 1914-1917 part of the exhibit came a massive three story screen showing what America was up to during those years and why we got involved in the war.  It was a real cool combination of an IMAX size screen and replica soldiers on battlefield at the bottom of the screen.  The lighting and sound was really cool - kind of another thing that's hard to explain but very cool to see.

 

After seeing that video, we filed through the 1917-1919 exhibits which included information about America's participation.  Exhibits included war propaganda, uniforms, and artillery.  Call it exceptionalism but I was expecting more on America's contribution.  After all, Germany would be lording over all over Europe had it not been for the American Expeditionary Forces arriving and opening up a big old can of American whoop ass.

Once we finished with the exhibits, we headed up to the ground level and caught I ride on the elevator to go to the top of the Liberty Memorial.  It was worth the price of admission for the entire museum to see that view!!  We could see Kansas City from all sides and it was a great time of day to do so!  The little cars were zooming around the various highways and city streets like micro machines on a child's play mat.

We checked out the two smaller galleries near the memorial tower, hit the gift shop, and the hit the road. It was already 4 in the afternoon and we still had a long haul to St. Louis.  We stopped somewhere for dinner.  Another first for me - went to Bob Evans for dinner, I think it was in Columbia.  Good stuff.  I'm  kind of surprised Bob Evans restaurants haven't made it further west.

We didn't make it to St. Louis.  We took the advice of a lady at the WWI Museum and stayed in St. Charles just outside of St. Louis.  The Holiday Inn Express didn't have the same flair as a bed and breakfast but the bed was comfy and served its purpose well.