St. Louis, Missouri

I had two very touristy goals in St. Louis – Annheuser and the Arch.  The first thing I saw in St. Louis was a car flipped upside down in the middle of the road on the opposite side of the interstate. Then 15 miles later, another car flipped upside down on my side of the interstate. I was a little uneasy about driving.

I did the tour first. One of the byproducts of this trip and spending so much time alone in the car and driving through so much amazing country is that I have been having trouble being around people. In a tour of 70 people I was very uncomfortable and just kept wishing that I was back in the desert. I wanted to be back watching that sunset and anticipating where I would see city lights from once the sun went all the way down. Regardless, the tour was very interesting. I think Budweiser is a terribly shitty beer but they make some other brands I appreciate. The process is cool as well. I posted a picture of the massive tanks the beer sits in for 3 weeks or so. Of course I saw the Clydesdales, but since I don’t care about horses all that much it wasn’t too big of a deal. Big horse. Not wild. Wild horses are where it is at. But when I was seeing the horses some of those Dalmatians came running around just running free and having a good time. Dogs and horses at a brewery. Heavenly. We toured the brewery and the packaging plant and ended the tour with a tasting. I tried a brand new Shock Top which is supposed to be on the shelves on Monday. Shock Top Raspberry Wheat. It was delicious. It reminded me of the Depot Street Red Line that was sold a couple years ago. Red Line was one of my favorite beers. I am not sure how good this will be when it is packaged and not just served from a tap 300 feet from where it is brewed, but it was really good there.

Afterwards, I drove to the arch and took the tour. The size of the room in the trolley I had to take to the top was ridiculous. I shared it with two people on the way up and three people on the way down. There is a fun fact you should know about. The top of the arch actually sways 9 inches either way. I heard the tour guide say this two seconds before a huge wind hit the arch and scared the hell out of me. The view was nice. I like seeing the Mississippi. Reminds me of Memphis. When I came down I from the Arch, I walked to the St. Louis downtown for a bit. It has a pretty good layout to it which I noticed from the arch.

I tried to drive out of St Louis tonight but the it was storming so hard that I couldn’t see. Given the wrecks I saw earlier, I figured it would be better to pull over. Another Holiday Inn Express. The thunder is so strong the van is shaking. Not sure how I am gonna sleep tonight.

I am tired. Too tired.

I’m thinking about the dolphins I saw dancing around and jumping waves in the Pacific. Black colored dolphins. They looked like they were having so much fun.