We had an early start today because I wanted as much time as possible in the city. We were out of bed and on the road before 7am. We stopped halfway, in Poplar Bluff, for soda and gas, then drove over to Delmar Loop. And I gotta say... St. Louis (at least the way we drove in), was really much nicer than I was expecting! There lots of gorgeous old buildings, and the Washington University campus. Our first stop was an early lunch at Fitz's in The Loop. I got the St. Louis BBQ Burger, Hubby got the River City Burger.
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| It tasted a lot better than it looks in this photo, I promise! |
Both of us got some Root Beer, of course! OMG, Fitz's was so much tastier than Lambert's yesterday! The flavor was jacked up to 150% and I ate so much I had to practically be rolled down the stairs. We walked around The Loop area, a small district of shops and restaurants, to let our food settle a bit.
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| I wanted to save the bottle, but it got too dented to keep |
Our next stop was in a part of town that just seemed like a very old part of St. Louis (looking at Google Maps, the area is called "Old North St Louis," so I guess I was right), to visit Crown Candy Kitchen, St. Louis' oldest Soda Fountain.
Crown Candy Kitchen was opened in 1913 by Harry Karandzieff and his best friend Pete Jugaloff. They brought their confectionary skills from Greece, along with a dream of providing a friendly family environment to enjoy their delicious creations. During the early 50’s Harry’s son George took the business over and built the business into what it is today. Now George’s three sons - Andy, Tommy and Mike - run the business, with a little help from the 4th generation.
{Lazy from the future here... As I was working on editing the Crown Candy video that I linked below, I realized something... Crown Candy Kitchen is the location where Man v Food and Adam Richman failed the Five Malt Challenge, way back in the first season of the show in 2009! I was looking at Crown Candy Kitchen's website, and they mention the challenge, and it tickled a little memory from almost 20 years ago... Another thing to note, is that on CCKs menu, they have something called a Heart-Stopping BLT, which was created for Adam after his failed attempt at the challenge. It's a BLT that has 14 pieces of bacon! Yes, please!}
There was a huge line out the door to eat-in, but since we just wanted candy, we were able to go right in. There was this huge shelf and table full of leftover Easter candy that immediately caught my eye. The top shelf was full of molded chocolate bunnies (some of them were huge), but there also tons of smaller bite-size candy. You can watch a local Fox 2 St. Louis news story about their Easter candy business (and even see the huge shelf and table I referenced! This story was reported about 3 weeks before we were there).
We ended up getting some Vanilla Creme eggs, Maple Creme Eggs, Peanut Butter Eggs, Solid White Chocolate Eggs, Solid Milk Chocolate Eggs, and a dozen butter caramels (six dark and six milk). We tried all of these when we got home, and let me tell you, I so, so, so wish that we'd tried them while we were still in St. Louis, because I would have run back in for more of those Peanut Butter Eggs and solid eggs - they were amazing. You can watch that video at YouTube, or below.
Finally, though, it was time to go to the Gateway Arch! One of the main reasons we're in St. Louis, and one of the main reasons we decided on this geographical area for the eclipse, really... Hubby thought the idea of going up in the arch was a great idea, and of course, I've always wanted to do it (even before reading The Rift).
We parked on the other side of Laclede's Landing and walked over. It was another cold and blustery day, but not as bad as it's been. I didn't take a ton of photos, because my plan was to get inside and buy tickets for the tram first, and then shoot my way out.
But as we made our way closer to the arch, there was a huge sign announcing that tickets were SOLD OUT FOR THE DAY!!!
Sold out?!?! As in, Lazy & Hubby can't go to the top of the Arch and look down on the Mississippi River and enjoy the claustrophobic elevator/tram cars? Dammit!!! I was spicy about it, but not angry... I was Pissappointed™ (pissed off and disappointed). So we went inside and walked around the museum for a bit, then headed back out, taking photos all the way back to the car. It kind of put a damper on the afternoon, and since we still kind of felt like ass from being sick, we just decided to head home.
First, though, was a detour to a place called Wally's. Self-described as the Home of the Great American Road Trip, they seemed to be a very close knock-off of Buc-ee's. They state that they have great service, tasty food, clean restrooms, and unexpected necessities. Similar to Buc-ee's, they tout the cleanliness of their restrooms, large numbers of gas pumps, ample branded souvenirs, and lots of food options.
They currently only have two locations, and we went to the one in Fenton, Missouri. Now, y'all know that I'm a Buc-ee's gal through and through, but I'll say this... If you've never been to a Buc-ee's, Wally's is amazing. It's big and bright and airy, and was practically deserted when we were there, so no crazy crowds to deal with. Bathrooms, yes, were nice and clean. There's a decent amount of branded items, though they did seem to skew more toward an alcohol-forward lifestyle ("It's Beer O'Clock" type stuff, which isn't for me). Lots of tee shirts, hats, plushies, that kind of thing. I didn't get any (I was still grumpy because of the Arch, and it kind of ruined my day... I do wish I'd gotten some quirky souvenirs).
There's a bakery, a canteen (with fresh foods), a coffee and tea station; there's a wall of jerky and a BBQ island (similar to Buc-ee's). But they do have a few things that are different than Buc-ee's... They have a cafe, for speciality coffee drinks, hand-dipped ice cream, you can order some things online, and my favorite, a Popcorn Bar! They were giving out free samples of the Flavor of the Day, and so there were a handful of young kids around smacking on some popcorn; I asked one of them for their recommendation, and he said to not get the flavor of the day, because it was disgusting, lol. I decided that White Cheddar was the way to go, and they absolutely stuffed the bag full of popcorn! I also picked up some store-brand Pepper Jack chips, and some Teriyaki beef jerky to try when we got home. We made a video tasting all of those goodies (and more that I'll reference later), and you can watch that video on YouTube, or below.
Back on the open road, my sinus congestion was just getting worse and worse so I decided to throw in the towel and stop at Walmart for some real, full of pseudoephedrine Sudafed... yeah, the good stuff. I used the voice control feature to set the Garmin up (you know, "Hey Garmin, find place... Walmart") and I was so stuffed up it sounded like Hey Garbid, fide pace... Wamard and both Hubby and I lost our shit in a fit of giggles... I sounded so bad! It found what turned out to be a Walmart Neighborhood Market and I was so foggy, I never even thought to look for a regular Walmart. There turned out to be a huge line at the pharmacy, and bless that staff, they were just trying to get everyone served before they had to close at 7pm.
I popped two Sudafed when I got in the car, and I think it took a good 2-3 hours to fully kick in (I felt better once we got back to the house). Tonight was another night of chips and Little Debbies for dinner, as neither one of us felt 100%, and food would be wasted on us, with our malfunctioning senses of taste... I hope this clears up soon, though! The best part of vacation is all the food!
Hopefully tomorrow we can finally go over to Petit Jean State Park and Mount Magazine to do some of the trails I've been looking forward to.
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