the Western Frontier

The St. Louis experience, this time not driving through at 4 am but rather staying a couple nights on the frontier land of Lewis and Clark. Our time here has not been my first time in the midwest but it has been a while since I've been around so I was taken back once again at the caliber of good time that the midwest subscribes to. John and Jamie have an awesome pad, filled with color and cultural relics making their relatively small-ish apt feel quite cozy. We went out to dinner at a bar with a countdown til St. Patty Day on the wall...15 days and counting. Apparently St. Louis makes a big to do for one of the most celebrated cultural holidays ever. We kept it simple for the most part that evening, an introduction to Peggle on their Xbox and some at home (much cheaper) beer drinking albeit not as fancy. The next day, Caleb slept pretty much all day but I was no better, except I got some house keeping things in order and a shower done before he rolled out of his nest of blankets on the floor. Caleb was not feeling well so I took my restlessness down to the museum district of St. Louis and walked around. If I said it was a bit windy I'd be struck down where I sit for such a perverse lie. It was the windiest day I had experienced next to when I stood on the Washington coast getting pelted with sideways rain. As it turns out, tornadoes had half a mind to rip through Ohio and Indiana not too long after we left for Milwaukee. Anyways, I walked around the St. Louis Art museum for a bit before Jamie got home from work, then headed back and had a pizza and cinnamon sticks waiting!! Yet another awesome day :) The night went on to look much like the night before except we got to meet Jamie's parents, hilarious and very unpredictable, before settling in for the night on the couch passing the controller and drinks, enjoying our explicitly recreational evening. The next day John was no longer employed and Jamie was free! So we spent some quality time at the Arch, a monument dedicated to the starting point for Lewis and Clark's westward expedition, just another piece of American history. We also scoped out the graffiti wall of originally constructed to bring peace and keep expressive youngsters out of correctional facilities. Actually I have no idea really but there is something to be said for a city the provides an outlet for instead of hinders creative expression and turns it into art. As the day wound down we took off towards another city known for mass producing cheap beer, Milwaukee! And oh the adventure continues.....