An early direct flight from Sacramento to St. Louis called for the signature cran apple mimosa from Southwest. I had plenty of drink coupons for the flight as an "A Lister" who travels a lot with this airline.
The local welcome snack for Diamond and Gold HHonors members at the Hampton Inn was this hand crafted potato chip bag. There was a choice of regular or spicy.
We got caught up in one of those midwestern thunder storms when we rolled into St. Charles which is next to St. Louis so we checked out the Ameristar Casino. I did really well on both blackjack and slots!
Once the rain stopped, we toured historic St. Charles. It was like going back in time.
Historic St. Charles had an amazing ice cream and chocolate shop called Kilwins. They are based out of Michigan. The toasted coconut ice cream was so delicious!
We went to Hendrick's BBQ in historic St. Charles for dinner. This was the most tender smoked turkey that I ever had. It was served with three homestyle sides also.
I started off the 4th of July with a tour of the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis.
What is more American than Budweiser!
We saw the famous Clydesdale horses too on the walking tour of the brewery.
The stables where the horses live was really neat! These were built in the 1800s!
Lloyd is at home in his corral.
Budweiser was actually transported in horse drawn carts back in the old days!
This is the famous clock tour at the brewery.
Budweiser and Bud Light are beechwood aged. The beer is stored in these large metal canisters with beechwood chips that help with the carbonation.
The St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, and their players signed one of the metal cylinders of beer.
I am doing my first of many tastings that day. This is Bud Light.
We were given a full explanation of how beer was made from start to finish.
I got to sample the orange Bud Light as well when we got to where the beer is bottled.
This is the bottling line for Budweiser and Bud Light.
After the tour was over, we were able to exchange our ticket for a full pint of beer. I choose a Shock Top beer.
We also got a day old bottle of beer. On this day, they were giving out Bud Light Orange.
We had lunch at the Biergarten at the brewery. This was a great burger. The potato salad was amazing!
When I was leaving the brewery, I saw this banner. Laura Brannigan's "Gloria" is the anthem for the St. Louis Blues.
We stopped at a St. Louis icon called Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard after the brewery.
The frozen custard "concrete" us customized to order with various mix in toppings. The prices were so cheap too! It is amazing how things are so much cheaper once one leaves California.
We stayed in downtown St. Louis at the historic Union Station Hotel on the 4th of July.
Union Station was the busiest train station in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is now a Hilton Curio property.
The lobby of the hotel incorporated the original waiting area for the train station.
They had a cool laser light show on the roof of the lobby too. It was a nice mix of modern with old.
The lobby had a large bar and lounge area too where people could take in the cool light show.
The hotel had a train theme going throughout the hotel including on the hotel keys and vouchers for free drinks.
I had access to the Executive Lounge as a HHonors Diamond guest. There was evening appetizer service as well as breakfast.
The hotel pool was in a courtyard underneath the original steel structures of the train platforms. There was a koi pond too.
The koi pond had a fire and water show every hour that started out with the sound of a train pulling into the station.
We had dinner at Landry's Seafood House which was on site at the Union Station complex.
We checked out Fair St. Louis after dinner which is a big celebration around 4th of July. The famous courthouse where a slave Dred Scott sued for his freedom is in the background.
They had free concerts during the three days of Fair St. Louis. We heard Brett Young perform on the night of the 4th.
This is a view of the Gateway Arch at twilight from underneath it.
The fireworks over the Mississippi by the Gateway Arch was so cool! They had patriotic country songs playing during the fireworks also.
I toured the Gateway Arch the next day.
The tram to the top of the arch takes about four minutes.
The tram cars fit five passengers.
It almost seemed like we were being pulled up like an elevator at some points rather than going up in a curve.
This is a picture of me at the top of the arch which is 630 feet above the ground.
This is a good picture of downtown St. Louis with Busch Stadium in the background.
Here is a nice picture of the arch from the top.
We had lunch at the 360 Rooftop Kitchen and Bar at the Hilton at the Ballpark after touring the Gateway Arch.
This cool rooftop restaurant and bar provides the best views of St. Louis. The Gateway Arch is right behind me.
The open kitchen concept dishes out some really tasty meals including a shrimp roll. I can not complain about the cute waitresses also. :)
The outdoor patio area provides even more stunning views of the city including Busch Stadium.
We toured the Basilica St. Louis after lunch.
This awesome cathedral was built in the early 1900s, and it features one of the largest collection of mosaics in the world.
One must try a gooey butter cake at Park Avenue Roasters in St. Louis. I got the red velvet one.
We toured Forest Park the next day which is home to many museums, parks, and the zoo. This is the World's Fair Pavilion which was built with proceeds from the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.
The zoo in Forest Park was free just like the other attractions. I think this is the closest that I have ever been to penguins.
We were pretty close to most of the animals that day including this elephant.
The glass enclosure for the hippos were cool too.
I had to get another Ted Drewe's frozen custard before I left St. Louis.
They had a Sahafly Beer and Pasta House at the airport. Since there was no lounge access, my Priority Pass Select membership got me free dinner and drinks there.
I have wanted to see
the Gateway Arch for a long time, and I finally made it out to St.
Louis in 2019 to do so. During the 4th of July week, my company
gave us both the Thursday and Friday off so I took off Wednesday to
make it a nice long weekend in the Midwest. There was a direct
flight from Sacramento to St. Louis on Southwest. Since I still
was an "A Lister," I booked through them, and I was off to St. Louis on
a morning flight. After about three hours in the air, we landed
at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Since Joy did not
have that much vacation left, I went with a buddy of mine. After
my buddy got in, we got the rental car, and we were off to go check in
at the hotel before venturing out to see St. Charles. St. Charles
is just across the Missouri River, and they had a nice historic area
with brick buildings and roads. They were undergoing some massive
flooding on both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the area.
We could see the flooding of the Missouri River near historic St.
Charles. Since there was a thundershower that rolled in just as
we got into town, we went to the Ameristar Casino to stay dry.
Missouri has legalized gambling. These were actual non-Indian run
casinos. I ended up doing well on both blackjack and slots.
I hit the bonus on my slot game twice too! Once the weather got
better, we took off for historic St. Charles. There was a great
ice cream and chocolate shop that is based in Michigan there. I
got their signature toasted coconut flavor ice cream. We had some
great barbecue for dinner before calling it a night.
The next day, we toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis. It was also the 4th of July so I was all decked out in my new Polo USA shirt. The tour at the brewery was cool. We started off by seeing the Clydesdale horses and stables before seeing the brewing process for Budweiser and Bud Light. They age their beer for up to thirty days in large steel cylinders with beechwood chips which help with the carbonation and fermentation. Since the St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup that year, the team signed a banner for them also that was on display on one of the metal cylinders. The Blues knocked my Dallas Stars out of the 2nd round of the playoffs, but I was so happy they beat San Jose to advance to the finals. We got to taste beer a few times on the tour. I tried Bud Light at first. Afterwards, I got a Bud Light Orange when we went to the place where the beer was all bottled. The Brewery was massive!
We got a bottle of day old beer to take home, and we also got a full pint of our choice of several Anheuser Busch beers at the end of the tour. This was definitely something that one must experience in St. Louis. After the tour, we found a Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand nearby so we went to try another St. Louis treat. The frozen custard with custom mix ins was so delicious!
We checked into our historic downtown hotel, the Union Station Hotel afterwards. This was a Hilton Curio property. After valeting the rental car, we got to see the beautiful lobby of this hotel which was the waiting lounge from back in the days when this was the busiest train station in the United States. The hotel was a nice mixture of old and new. They even had a laser light show on the ceiling of the lobby. I got my room upgrade as usual as a Diamond guest. Furthermore, I got access to the Executive Lounge for evening appetizers and breakfast too. We went for a dip in the swimming pool before appetizers in the lounge. For dinner, we went to Landry's Seafood House which was on site next to the large koi pond where they had a cool fire and water show every hour.
Our hotel was about one mile from the Gateway Arch. We took an Uber over there from the hotel for the fireworks, but when we got there, we would found that there was a large fair called Fair St. Louis. This free event was three days long, and they had free concerts in addition to the fireworks. As we approached the Gateway Arch, I was in awe of the massive curved structure. There was also the old Courthouse where a slave Dred Scott sued for his freedom. That evening, Brett Young performed in concert before the fireworks. After the concert, they had patriotic country songs including Toby Keith's "Courtesy Of The Red, White, & Blue" playing. The Midwesterners are very patriotic and hard working Americans. This was Trump country! I loved it! The people were so nice and friendly too.
The next day, we had tram tickets booked already to go up the Gateway Arch. Since we paid to valet park at the hotel, we just left the car there and took an Uber once again to the Arch. I was surprised that it was not too terribly crowded for a holiday weekend. Our reservations were for 11:50 AM. The ride to the top took about four minutes, and it was interesting how the tram made it's way up there. I think we went up vertical at certain points like on an elevator. However, the tram probably had to turn and follow the curve of the arch too for part of the ride. Once we were at the top, we were able to look out the little windows to both the Illinois and Missouri sides. It was pretty narrow up there, and we were about 630 feet above the ground.
After touring the Arch, we had lunch at the 360 Rooftop Kitchen and Bar at the Hilton at the Ballpark in downtown. The views from there were amazing! The restaurant is located on top of the Hilton. There was a large outdoor patio area too with unobstructed views of the city. Our cute and friendly waitress served us a delicious lunch. Actually, they had some really cute eye candy up there if you know what I mean. LOL.
Our next stop was the Basilica St. Louis. This huge church has one of the world's largest collection of mosaics. The artwork all over the church and especially on the dome was amazing. They were all done with mosaics. Most of the mosaics were of the Greek style which uses glass. There were two areas with Italian mosaics which feature marble. The glass variety is more colorful however. On the way to the Basilica, we saw a cool retro Standard Oil gas station which is used by BP now. We also found a Park Avenue Roasters coffee shop. They are known for their Gooey Butter Cakes. I got the red velvet one along with an iced Americano.
Our last day in St. Louis was spent exploring Forest Park. This part of St. Louis has lots of parks, museums, and the zoo. The museums and zoo are free too. We started out by seeing the World's Fair Pavilion which was built with funds from the proceeds that came out of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. We also went to the zoo and saw what some call the best zoo in the US. We felt the terrible humidity of St. Louis on that final day. After walking around in the humidity and getting all soaked with sweat, we went to Ted Drewe's for more frozen custard before we had to head back to the airport. I was able to take advantage of my Priority Pass Select membership and get dinner and drinks free for us at the Pasta House restaurant featuring Sahafly Beer.
The next day, we toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis. It was also the 4th of July so I was all decked out in my new Polo USA shirt. The tour at the brewery was cool. We started off by seeing the Clydesdale horses and stables before seeing the brewing process for Budweiser and Bud Light. They age their beer for up to thirty days in large steel cylinders with beechwood chips which help with the carbonation and fermentation. Since the St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup that year, the team signed a banner for them also that was on display on one of the metal cylinders. The Blues knocked my Dallas Stars out of the 2nd round of the playoffs, but I was so happy they beat San Jose to advance to the finals. We got to taste beer a few times on the tour. I tried Bud Light at first. Afterwards, I got a Bud Light Orange when we went to the place where the beer was all bottled. The Brewery was massive!
We got a bottle of day old beer to take home, and we also got a full pint of our choice of several Anheuser Busch beers at the end of the tour. This was definitely something that one must experience in St. Louis. After the tour, we found a Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand nearby so we went to try another St. Louis treat. The frozen custard with custom mix ins was so delicious!
We checked into our historic downtown hotel, the Union Station Hotel afterwards. This was a Hilton Curio property. After valeting the rental car, we got to see the beautiful lobby of this hotel which was the waiting lounge from back in the days when this was the busiest train station in the United States. The hotel was a nice mixture of old and new. They even had a laser light show on the ceiling of the lobby. I got my room upgrade as usual as a Diamond guest. Furthermore, I got access to the Executive Lounge for evening appetizers and breakfast too. We went for a dip in the swimming pool before appetizers in the lounge. For dinner, we went to Landry's Seafood House which was on site next to the large koi pond where they had a cool fire and water show every hour.
Our hotel was about one mile from the Gateway Arch. We took an Uber over there from the hotel for the fireworks, but when we got there, we would found that there was a large fair called Fair St. Louis. This free event was three days long, and they had free concerts in addition to the fireworks. As we approached the Gateway Arch, I was in awe of the massive curved structure. There was also the old Courthouse where a slave Dred Scott sued for his freedom. That evening, Brett Young performed in concert before the fireworks. After the concert, they had patriotic country songs including Toby Keith's "Courtesy Of The Red, White, & Blue" playing. The Midwesterners are very patriotic and hard working Americans. This was Trump country! I loved it! The people were so nice and friendly too.
The next day, we had tram tickets booked already to go up the Gateway Arch. Since we paid to valet park at the hotel, we just left the car there and took an Uber once again to the Arch. I was surprised that it was not too terribly crowded for a holiday weekend. Our reservations were for 11:50 AM. The ride to the top took about four minutes, and it was interesting how the tram made it's way up there. I think we went up vertical at certain points like on an elevator. However, the tram probably had to turn and follow the curve of the arch too for part of the ride. Once we were at the top, we were able to look out the little windows to both the Illinois and Missouri sides. It was pretty narrow up there, and we were about 630 feet above the ground.
After touring the Arch, we had lunch at the 360 Rooftop Kitchen and Bar at the Hilton at the Ballpark in downtown. The views from there were amazing! The restaurant is located on top of the Hilton. There was a large outdoor patio area too with unobstructed views of the city. Our cute and friendly waitress served us a delicious lunch. Actually, they had some really cute eye candy up there if you know what I mean. LOL.
Our next stop was the Basilica St. Louis. This huge church has one of the world's largest collection of mosaics. The artwork all over the church and especially on the dome was amazing. They were all done with mosaics. Most of the mosaics were of the Greek style which uses glass. There were two areas with Italian mosaics which feature marble. The glass variety is more colorful however. On the way to the Basilica, we saw a cool retro Standard Oil gas station which is used by BP now. We also found a Park Avenue Roasters coffee shop. They are known for their Gooey Butter Cakes. I got the red velvet one along with an iced Americano.
Our last day in St. Louis was spent exploring Forest Park. This part of St. Louis has lots of parks, museums, and the zoo. The museums and zoo are free too. We started out by seeing the World's Fair Pavilion which was built with funds from the proceeds that came out of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. We also went to the zoo and saw what some call the best zoo in the US. We felt the terrible humidity of St. Louis on that final day. After walking around in the humidity and getting all soaked with sweat, we went to Ted Drewe's for more frozen custard before we had to head back to the airport. I was able to take advantage of my Priority Pass Select membership and get dinner and drinks free for us at the Pasta House restaurant featuring Sahafly Beer.