Meet Me in St. Louis, Part 2!

Last June I traveled to St. Louis with Tom and a bunch of his friends. We had such a fun time and did lots of touristy stuff -- seeing the Arch and the Mississippi River, microbrewery tour, wine tastings, etc. I loved the city so I was really excited to have been invited back for the wedding of Tom's friends Bernie and Jenny!

We took off of work on Friday and had a super early wake up call for our flight (helloo 4:15 am)! It seemed we were pretty much the only lucky people who left the east coast without a hitch. After a quick stopover in Detroit, we arrived in St. Louis around 9 am and grabbed the shuttle to the hotel.

The famous (?) Detroit Airport tunnel

Hi Tom!

Hard to see, but cute little bird hopping around the airport!

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Clayton, which is also where the wedding reception was being held. Luckily, our room was ready early so we went upstairs, dropped off our things, and got ready to spend the day out in St. Louis! We were pretty hungry, so our first stop was a return to Half and Half for brunch. To celebrate the mini vacation, I started with a bloody mary topped with a fried pickle!

For brunch, I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich topped with avocado slaw and a side of home fries. Tom ordered the breakfast burger and was in heaven.

After brunch, we made a quick stop at the hotel to get an umbrella (which we never needed!) and then grabbed a cab to the St. Louis Zoo! We were supposed to visit the zoo last time, but it ended up down pouring and we didn't make it there. I absolutely love zoos and this one is free, so it was a must do! 

To be honest, I expected the zoo to be kind of crappy since it was free. I was totally shocked with how beautiful, big, and clean the zoo was. There were tons of animals to see and a couple of specialty houses to explore. I loved every second!! I didn't take many photos because Tom had his nice camera with him. Perhaps I'll get to steal some of those...

YES!!

We spent just over 3 hours at the zoo and I could have easily spent another 3 hours there!

After the zoo we went back to the hotel to get changed and meet up with some people for dinner. Of course we HAD to get BBQ, so we headed over to the Shaved Duck based on its good reviews and later closing time (many of the BBQ places closed at 8 pm or earlier). 

I loved the Shaved Duck -- it really reminded me of a place I'd see (and go to often) in Boston. They had a great beer list and something on the menu for everyone. I ordered a local Perennial Saison to start and then a dark boozy Belgian during dinner.

We started with some corn bread for the table, which I liked. I tend not to like cornbread because I find it dry no matter how much butter is slathered on. For my entree, I ordered the pulled brisket sandwich with mac n' cheese. The brisket didn't look pulled to me, but the sandwich was fantastic. The table had a few homemade BBQ sauces on it so I of course added some of each. I love mixing sauces.

Since we had some first time visitors with us, we went over to the Arch after dinner to snap a few photos. It was cool to see it at night, but I am glad I was able to visit and take the trip to the top back in June.

We finished the night off by meeting the wedding party out at a bar near the hotel. We were exhausted after the early wake up call and day in the sun, so I was soo happy to crash in the comfy hotel bed when we got back.

On Saturday we woke up in time for the breakfast buffet. Tom and I have a history of missing these, so I was pretty proud of us. I suck at buffets and usually eat everything possible, so I tried to keep breakfast a bit light and had a spinach and cheese omelette, fruit, and half of a biscuit with gravy. I was supposed to run on Saturday, but my foot was basically killing me all weekend (sad). I still wanted to get a workout in so I headed to the hotel fitness center for some strength training.

After about an hour, I met Tom by the hotel pool and spent a few glorious minutes with my feet in the water (I forgot to pack my bathing suit), before it was time to get ready for the wedding ceremony!

The ceremony took place at The Jewel Box, a large, gorgeous green house in the middle of Forest Park.

The Jewel Box was filled with beautiful flowers and plants, and was really the perfect venue for a ceremony. The ceremony itself was short and sweet -- it was finished in about 20 minutes!

The reception didn't start until 6, so we all took shuttles back to the hotel after the ceremony was over. Tom went out to get food with some people, but I decided to spend a few hours relaxing before getting ready for the party!

I totally neglected my phone at the reception (a good thing!) so I have very few photos to share. It was such a fun party and I had a great time getting to know Tom's friends. 

When the reception was over we all congregated in the hotel lobby to figure out what to do next. The hotel bar had shut down early, so some people bought the rest of the beer from them and passed it out. At some point someone brought in around 200 White Castle burgers and I ate one, plus some fries. I've never eaten a White Castle burger before....and I'm pretty sure I won't be eating any more in the future!

We all ended up in one of the big hotel rooms and hung out late into the night. Tom and I eventually crashed around 2:30 after the bride and groom called it a night.

It was a struggle to wake up the next morning, but we made it in time for the breakfast buffet again! There was no attempt at being healthy and I tried to cure my hangover with eggs, sausage and home fries. Our flight back to Boston wasn't until 6:30 pm, so after we checked out of the hotel we decided to cram in some last minute touristy things. Last time we visited we went to a couple of smaller breweries, so this time we decided to visit the colossal Anheuser-Busch factory and take a free tour. I really enjoyed the tour, and surprisingly enjoyed the Bud Light we got to taste! I remembered to be a good blogger and took lots of photos:

Clydesdale selfie...this looks fake but it's not!

Free full size shock top at the end!

After the tour we grabbed a cab back to the hotel area to grab some food at 5 Star Burgers before heading to the airport. I think we were both still nursing the remnants of hangovers because we ate a lot of fried food and cheese, including...

Fried pickles!

We caught the free shuttle back to the airport around 5. The first flight was seamless but the second was delayed because of an engine leak. I for one was happy to switch planes once they told us that!

We got home around 1:30 am and I was so happy to see my bed! Another successful long weekend in St. Louis in the books! :)