Missouri 05/14/2014 - 05/17/2014
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MISSOURI
topgun92000
Pickle creek trail yesterday — with Theresa Jones at Hawn State Park.
Breakfast before the hike — with Theresa Jones and Mario Mo Jones at Benton Park Cafe.
Hot chocolate on a cold day — at Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolatier.
Official Missouri style bbq — with Theresa Jones at Bogart's Smokehouse.
Deep caves that go for miles on — at Meramec Caverns.
Truly better than any ice cream or gelato out there — with Theresa Jones at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
Biggest pyramids north of Mexico — with Theresa Jones at Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site.
best pizza in town — at Imo's Pizza.
I can see mah house — with Mario Mo Jones at Top Of The Gateway Arch.
Steam boat woot woot — at Gateway Arch Riverboats.
Late night snack — with Mario Mo Jones at White Castle.
I went to St. Louis to visit Theresa Jones. I flew with American Airlines, it's only a 3.5 hour flight with an hour stop at Phoenix AZ.
During the flight I played Doom and Destiny on my phone, I think it is the best rpg game ever! Before leaving I texted Theresa where I'll be and to let her husband Mario know my phone number and where to meet at midnight that night. I got nervous because my phone was dying, I of course forgot my charger for the phone and Theresa didn't respond. Mario was smart enough to contact me through facebook messenger, and just as about the phone was about to die right when I landed at the STL airport, luckily I responded that I am coming down. He found me pretty quick and started to catch up while we were waiting for my luggage to come out of the conveyer. Here is the itinerary I made on May 3rd 2014:
5/14/14 Wednesday
Leave LAX at 4:20pm
Arrive at st. louis 11:44pm
Thursday 5/15/14
Replica steam boat
Monks mound
Ted drews frozen custard
the gateway arch
Friday 5/16/14
fort de chartres in prairie du rocher
Whispering trail
Mardi gras
Saturday 5/17/14
Paddle through waterways
new cathedral
repertory theatre
Sunday 5/18/14
Leave st. louis 9:00 am
Arrive at LAX at 11:05 am
Wednesday:
I got my luggage and Mario told me that we were going to make a pit stop for food before heading home. I asked if we could go to the famous burger joint out there because we don't have those on the west coast, he said yes and so we headed to White Castle. The place serves sliders, I got the double cheeseburger sliders combo with fries. It was "meh" I wouldn't chase any cheetahs to have it.
After we went through the drive through, Mario was kind enough to drive around a bit to give me the tour of the city. I noticed a bunch of one way streets just like downtown Los Angeles, he said that most downtowns have that in order to control traffic. I learn something new everyday :) Then he continues to drive and I see a bridge and on the bottom I see what looks like to be black wavy concrete, I ask him what it is, he says that it is the Mississippi River. I didn't even notice it was water, a huge canal that was very still which I thought looked cool. He showed me the cardinal stadium and told me how people go all over the US to see their team, a lot of Cardinal pride. I also saw buildings that were made up of just bricks and not painted, those are very old buildings, Mario points out, they were built generations ago and people still live there.
We get to the house, Theresa wakes up, told me that she always loses her phone and is happy to see me. We hug, I haven't seen theresa and her since 2009 and missed her very much. We caught up as I ate my white castle cheeseburgers and giving some attention to her very hyper male pitbull mut puppy named Charlie.
It was late, We set up the couch and off to sleep I went.
Thursday:
I woke up, Theresa was at work, but Mario works graveyard, so he agreed to take me around. He introduced me to their very beautiful baby girl Trinity. She is 6 months and did everything that I could get to on the Itinerary except for the caverns. I had cereal with tea, then Mario and I headed to the Mississippi River. There we went on the Tom Sawyer River Boat. It was an original steam boat that was used back in the day. Although I was disappointed that it didn't run on steam anymore.
The captain saw us and asked us to come in to take some pictures, We took pictures of Trinity driving the boat.
ddds
The Mississippi River was surrounded by old factories that were still working, rigs towing tons of coal and other materials. A busy river that is used for transport. Beautiful bridges that went over the river. I didn't see people using it for recreation at all. I guess it was a weekday or maybe there is an area for that somewhere down the river.
After the tour, We went to see the famous St. Louis Arch. The arch was built to bring attraction, but also it was meant to symbolize the window to the west. It pays tribute to America as it made the frontier to the west. This arch you can see from all over the city and is also just outside the Mississippi river, it used the same parking lot as the river boats. The arch stands on grass at a park with a capitol building a few yards away.
We went inside the North end of the arch to go up to the top of it. The "elavators" were tiny pods that were made up of 5 seats. You can't stand up and it was the most strangest thing I have seen. The pods don't go straight up, they go up at a smooth half circular arch, reminded me of the carnival ride zipper.
We get out and get to the tip top of the Arch. The windows were tiny maybe 2 ft x 6 in. But there were many of the windows on both sides facing east and west side of St. Louis. You can clearly see the cardinals stadium, the park, and houses all around.
Then we went to eat at Imo's Pizza. Another famous place in East. The pizza is thin crust. This is where I decided to try Anchovies for the first time. I wasn't impressed. The cheese and toppings fell off as I bit down on the pizza, it was greasy, and the anchovies did not help. I'm glad I tried it though, now I know.
After lunch we went home, Mario needed some rest before work. After a few hours Theresa came home from work. We proceeded to pick up her two sons, Mario Xavier and Dominick from MMA practice. Mario Xavier the older brother 9 years old, I have met the last time I saw Theresa. Dominick his younger brother by a few years, was a first time meet. We went to the Monks Mound aka Cahokia Mounds. By the time we found it, it was a bit dark so we couldn't see much but we did find the biggest one and climbed all the way up. The city lights were beautiful.
Afterwards we made a pit stop at Ted Drews Frozen Custard. The most amazing treat I have tasted. I have had custard in Utah and I am convinced that this is the way to go if you want frozen yogurt or ice cream, even Gelato doesn't beat it. We went home and off to bed we went.
Friday:
I woke up and borrowed Mario's car while he was sleeping to go to Meramic Caverns. They were located an hour south of St. Lous. This place blew me away! The caverns were formed by water and they were huge and long. The tour lasted for an hour, they explained how the caves were formed, what the different textures in the caves were and how they came to be. I found out that my camera doesn't do well with low light pictures but I tried anyway. There was a "Wine table" A natural table that has 3 legs and can stand on its own, it's 7 feet tall, nothing really to do with wine. There is only one more in the world that is located that is only 4 feet tall in Italy. Close to the end of the tour they sit you down in a theatre and the guide does a manual light show on a wall that looks like a theatre with music playing in the background.
wine table
Caverns
After I came back Theresa came home and we headed out to eat some BBQ at Bogart's Smokehouse. I wasn't going to leave Missouri without trying the good ole Missouri meat. This place didn't disappoint. Everything was amazing, the ribs, beans, potato salad. Best ribs i've had so far.
Then we headed down to the archway again because I've read that as the sun shines on it as the sun goes down then the reflection would have a lot of colors. No such luck, I don't think it worked because were either standing at the wrong place or there was overcast. Either way it was still nice to sit on the grass and enjoy to be outside in St. Louis. It got cold though so Theresa suggested to get hot chocolate. We went to a Fondue restaurant called, Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolatier. It was nice to have hot chocolate with a few chocolates on a cold day. The chocolate was a bit dark for me but it was still good and inexpensive. We also decided to grab a hot chocolate to go to bring to Mario's work. He works at Barnes Jewish Medical Center. We went there to drop it off, there he also ordered cookies for everyone and treated us as well. The cookies were from Dough to Door, I had the chocolate chip and it was quite good.
Saturday:
I woke up, went with Theresa to see Mario xavier compete at a field day event at his school. He is very athletic and won first place on everything. He won ribbons and bread filled with beans. I also participated with the guests on an event and also won first place :)
The bread looked good, but didn't taste great.
Then with whole family was together this time, we ate breakfast at Benton Park Cafe. I don't usually eat breakfast at restaurants but this place wasn't bad at all. Afterwards, Mario went home to sleep. Theresa, Mario xavier, Domonick, Trinity, and I went to hike at Hawn State Park. On the itinerary it was called the Big Pines Trail so we put it into the navigation system. We drove, what was the most beautiful drive I have ever been on. The destination was 90 minutes south of St. Louis. At one point the roads were small but still paved and we were driving through nothing but trees and some cottages that looked awesome to have a vacation home in. The sun was shining and everything was very green. Deep inside the forest the navigation told us that we were there, we looked around and knew that this wasn't right. Props goes to verizon for having service all the way out in nowhere town, Theresa saved the day by going online checking out again and finding out that we were a good half hour away form our destination. My "T-Maybe" couldn't get service even on
some parts of the freeway :/ We finally made it to the correct destination, Dominick and I swung on swings and then we began to hike. There were swings that we used for a bit and we took the trail called Pickle Trail Road. Took some beautiful pictures near the creek which was very active that day. Everything there was so lively and we very much enjoyed the greenery and the nature.
We got a bit caught up because we lost a phone but luckily found it and we headed home. AT home a few of their frinds came over, and we played a game similar to phase-10 but with regular cards that were 3 decks and the jokers were wild. After about phase 3 I was tired and went to sleep.
Sunday:
Woke up, said bye to Theresa and Charly. Mario gave me a ride to the STL Airport where we said bye and went straight to Los Angeles. I didn't get to do everything that was on the Itinerary and friends also suggested more things to do. But because of the time constraints I couldn't do everything. I still need to do:
Zoo
Museum
Budweiser factory
fort de chartres in prairie du rocher
Paddle through the water ways of forrest park
new cathedral
repertory theatre
But that is for next time. I thank the Jones' family for taking me in for 4 days I'm very appreciative to have the chance to visit you and thank you for taking care of me. Your whole family is beautiful and happy which I don't see a whole lot of these days. Thanks again, and I can't wait to see you guys again!!!
To see more pix of Missouri click here
MISSOURI
topgun92000Pickle creek trail yesterday — with Theresa Jones at Hawn State Park.
Breakfast before the hike — with Theresa Jones and Mario Mo Jones at Benton Park Cafe.
Hot chocolate on a cold day — at Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolatier.
Official Missouri style bbq — with Theresa Jones at Bogart's Smokehouse.
Deep caves that go for miles on — at Meramec Caverns.
Truly better than any ice cream or gelato out there — with Theresa Jones at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
Biggest pyramids north of Mexico — with Theresa Jones at Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site.
best pizza in town — at Imo's Pizza.
I can see mah house — with Mario Mo Jones at Top Of The Gateway Arch.
Steam boat woot woot — at Gateway Arch Riverboats.
Late night snack — with Mario Mo Jones at White Castle.
I went to St. Louis to visit Theresa Jones. I flew with American Airlines, it's only a 3.5 hour flight with an hour stop at Phoenix AZ.
During the flight I played Doom and Destiny on my phone, I think it is the best rpg game ever! Before leaving I texted Theresa where I'll be and to let her husband Mario know my phone number and where to meet at midnight that night. I got nervous because my phone was dying, I of course forgot my charger for the phone and Theresa didn't respond. Mario was smart enough to contact me through facebook messenger, and just as about the phone was about to die right when I landed at the STL airport, luckily I responded that I am coming down. He found me pretty quick and started to catch up while we were waiting for my luggage to come out of the conveyer. Here is the itinerary I made on May 3rd 2014:
5/14/14 Wednesday
Leave LAX at 4:20pm
Arrive at st. louis 11:44pm
Thursday 5/15/14
Replica steam boat
Monks mound
Ted drews frozen custard
the gateway arch
Friday 5/16/14
fort de chartres in prairie du rocher
Whispering trail
Mardi gras
Saturday 5/17/14
Paddle through waterways
new cathedral
repertory theatre
Sunday 5/18/14
Leave st. louis 9:00 am
Arrive at LAX at 11:05 am
Wednesday:
I got my luggage and Mario told me that we were going to make a pit stop for food before heading home. I asked if we could go to the famous burger joint out there because we don't have those on the west coast, he said yes and so we headed to White Castle. The place serves sliders, I got the double cheeseburger sliders combo with fries. It was "meh" I wouldn't chase any cheetahs to have it.
After we went through the drive through, Mario was kind enough to drive around a bit to give me the tour of the city. I noticed a bunch of one way streets just like downtown Los Angeles, he said that most downtowns have that in order to control traffic. I learn something new everyday :) Then he continues to drive and I see a bridge and on the bottom I see what looks like to be black wavy concrete, I ask him what it is, he says that it is the Mississippi River. I didn't even notice it was water, a huge canal that was very still which I thought looked cool. He showed me the cardinal stadium and told me how people go all over the US to see their team, a lot of Cardinal pride. I also saw buildings that were made up of just bricks and not painted, those are very old buildings, Mario points out, they were built generations ago and people still live there.
We get to the house, Theresa wakes up, told me that she always loses her phone and is happy to see me. We hug, I haven't seen theresa and her since 2009 and missed her very much. We caught up as I ate my white castle cheeseburgers and giving some attention to her very hyper male pitbull mut puppy named Charlie.
Thursday:
I woke up, Theresa was at work, but Mario works graveyard, so he agreed to take me around. He introduced me to their very beautiful baby girl Trinity. She is 6 months and did everything that I could get to on the Itinerary except for the caverns. I had cereal with tea, then Mario and I headed to the Mississippi River. There we went on the Tom Sawyer River Boat. It was an original steam boat that was used back in the day. Although I was disappointed that it didn't run on steam anymore.
ddds
The Mississippi River was surrounded by old factories that were still working, rigs towing tons of coal and other materials. A busy river that is used for transport. Beautiful bridges that went over the river. I didn't see people using it for recreation at all. I guess it was a weekday or maybe there is an area for that somewhere down the river.
After the tour, We went to see the famous St. Louis Arch. The arch was built to bring attraction, but also it was meant to symbolize the window to the west. It pays tribute to America as it made the frontier to the west. This arch you can see from all over the city and is also just outside the Mississippi river, it used the same parking lot as the river boats. The arch stands on grass at a park with a capitol building a few yards away.
We went inside the North end of the arch to go up to the top of it. The "elavators" were tiny pods that were made up of 5 seats. You can't stand up and it was the most strangest thing I have seen. The pods don't go straight up, they go up at a smooth half circular arch, reminded me of the carnival ride zipper.
We get out and get to the tip top of the Arch. The windows were tiny maybe 2 ft x 6 in. But there were many of the windows on both sides facing east and west side of St. Louis. You can clearly see the cardinals stadium, the park, and houses all around.
After lunch we went home, Mario needed some rest before work. After a few hours Theresa came home from work. We proceeded to pick up her two sons, Mario Xavier and Dominick from MMA practice. Mario Xavier the older brother 9 years old, I have met the last time I saw Theresa. Dominick his younger brother by a few years, was a first time meet. We went to the Monks Mound aka Cahokia Mounds. By the time we found it, it was a bit dark so we couldn't see much but we did find the biggest one and climbed all the way up. The city lights were beautiful.
Afterwards we made a pit stop at Ted Drews Frozen Custard. The most amazing treat I have tasted. I have had custard in Utah and I am convinced that this is the way to go if you want frozen yogurt or ice cream, even Gelato doesn't beat it. We went home and off to bed we went.
Friday:
I woke up and borrowed Mario's car while he was sleeping to go to Meramic Caverns. They were located an hour south of St. Lous. This place blew me away! The caverns were formed by water and they were huge and long. The tour lasted for an hour, they explained how the caves were formed, what the different textures in the caves were and how they came to be. I found out that my camera doesn't do well with low light pictures but I tried anyway. There was a "Wine table" A natural table that has 3 legs and can stand on its own, it's 7 feet tall, nothing really to do with wine. There is only one more in the world that is located that is only 4 feet tall in Italy. Close to the end of the tour they sit you down in a theatre and the guide does a manual light show on a wall that looks like a theatre with music playing in the background.
wine table
Caverns
After I came back Theresa came home and we headed out to eat some BBQ at Bogart's Smokehouse. I wasn't going to leave Missouri without trying the good ole Missouri meat. This place didn't disappoint. Everything was amazing, the ribs, beans, potato salad. Best ribs i've had so far.
Then we headed down to the archway again because I've read that as the sun shines on it as the sun goes down then the reflection would have a lot of colors. No such luck, I don't think it worked because were either standing at the wrong place or there was overcast. Either way it was still nice to sit on the grass and enjoy to be outside in St. Louis. It got cold though so Theresa suggested to get hot chocolate. We went to a Fondue restaurant called, Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolatier. It was nice to have hot chocolate with a few chocolates on a cold day. The chocolate was a bit dark for me but it was still good and inexpensive. We also decided to grab a hot chocolate to go to bring to Mario's work. He works at Barnes Jewish Medical Center. We went there to drop it off, there he also ordered cookies for everyone and treated us as well. The cookies were from Dough to Door, I had the chocolate chip and it was quite good.
Saturday:
I woke up, went with Theresa to see Mario xavier compete at a field day event at his school. He is very athletic and won first place on everything. He won ribbons and bread filled with beans. I also participated with the guests on an event and also won first place :)
The bread looked good, but didn't taste great.
Then with whole family was together this time, we ate breakfast at Benton Park Cafe. I don't usually eat breakfast at restaurants but this place wasn't bad at all. Afterwards, Mario went home to sleep. Theresa, Mario xavier, Domonick, Trinity, and I went to hike at Hawn State Park. On the itinerary it was called the Big Pines Trail so we put it into the navigation system. We drove, what was the most beautiful drive I have ever been on. The destination was 90 minutes south of St. Louis. At one point the roads were small but still paved and we were driving through nothing but trees and some cottages that looked awesome to have a vacation home in. The sun was shining and everything was very green. Deep inside the forest the navigation told us that we were there, we looked around and knew that this wasn't right. Props goes to verizon for having service all the way out in nowhere town, Theresa saved the day by going online checking out again and finding out that we were a good half hour away form our destination. My "T-Maybe" couldn't get service even on
some parts of the freeway :/ We finally made it to the correct destination, Dominick and I swung on swings and then we began to hike. There were swings that we used for a bit and we took the trail called Pickle Trail Road. Took some beautiful pictures near the creek which was very active that day. Everything there was so lively and we very much enjoyed the greenery and the nature.
We got a bit caught up because we lost a phone but luckily found it and we headed home. AT home a few of their frinds came over, and we played a game similar to phase-10 but with regular cards that were 3 decks and the jokers were wild. After about phase 3 I was tired and went to sleep.
Sunday:
Woke up, said bye to Theresa and Charly. Mario gave me a ride to the STL Airport where we said bye and went straight to Los Angeles. I didn't get to do everything that was on the Itinerary and friends also suggested more things to do. But because of the time constraints I couldn't do everything. I still need to do:
Zoo
Museum
Budweiser factory
fort de chartres in prairie du rocher
Paddle through the water ways of forrest park
new cathedral
repertory theatre
But that is for next time. I thank the Jones' family for taking me in for 4 days I'm very appreciative to have the chance to visit you and thank you for taking care of me. Your whole family is beautiful and happy which I don't see a whole lot of these days. Thanks again, and I can't wait to see you guys again!!!
To see more pix of Missouri click here
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