Arch, Bud, BBQ and the Draft...Where Are We?

As we head toward the Great Lakes, if you guessed this blog is about St. Louis and Kansas City, you were right on point. These two stops in America's Heartland treated us well. We especially enjoyed our visit to St. Louis!

Where our first stop was the smallest National Park in America, Gateway Arch. When we drove home from Oklahoma in 2019 after purchasing the RV we stopped in St. Louis. At the time it was like a ghost town. Everything was closed due to Covid.

This time around we were able to enjoy all the amenities to the National Park, which by the way we didn't even know was a National Park. There was an awesome museum and theater which were nice additions to the 630 foot climb to the top of the Arch. It was a mini-roller coaster/elevator ride up to the top. The movie showed how the Arch was constructed and the museum gave us an in-depth history tour of the City.

The last 7 pics above were taken from atop the Historical Landmark and the last one is a snapshot of our RV from atop the Arch. What a goof... that Kathy saw it from there.

The Arch is on the riverfront with an adjoining park on the north and south sides. The old courthouse, which is also part of the national park, was under construction. Sure wish we could have gone inside for a visit because the outside was magnificent.

Anheuser Busch originated in St Louis so we thought it apropos to visit the King of Beer Brewery. As you might imagine it was huge. We took a tour that included free beer, the Clydesdales (they keep 8 of them there), the brewery, bottling factory and more. They gave us two bottles of Bud Light that were brewed that day as a souvenir. We still have them in the frig.

Brad's cousin Mickey recommended LaRusso's restaurant in The Hill neighborhood which is St. Louis' version of Little Italy. The crosswalks and fire hydrants (look left in the last pic below) were painted the same color as the Italian flag. Cute huh? Mickey was right on point with his restaurant recommendation. Dinner was truly...Magnifico!

Another neighborhood worth mentioning is the Delmar Loop. It's an eclectic neighborhood with restaurants, bars, shops and the St. Louis Walk of Fame which was the coolest part of the Loop. The stars included actors, sports figures, politicians, authors, musicians and more, all from homegrown St. Louis. Here are some of our favorites.

For one reason or another Chuck Berry got top billing. And on a side note, Fitz's root beer was the best! We heard a lot about it while there from the locals. Boy-oh-boy did it stand-up to it's reputation. We bought two 4-packs for home (The RV).

Two other St Louie places worth mentioning were the Ulysses S. Grant Historical Site and the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis. The latter might have been the most beautiful church we have ever been in. The majority of the art in the church was mosaic. It was spectacular. There was a museum in the basement describing the mosaic creation process...right there in the church!

Ulysses S. Grant was not only the general who led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War but he was also the 18th President of the United States. The landmark not only included the home that he and his wife Julia shared but also featured a movie, exhibits, photos, and documents that told the story of his entire remarkable life.

Our next middle America stop took us on a four hour, one hundred and sixty mile drive to Kansas City. Our family members thought Brad manipulated our schedule to be in KC for the NFL Draft. Ha-ha...that wasn't the case. Brad just got lucky. Sometimes we get into a town or city and just miss an event and sometimes we catch one. This time we caught one. We went the second day of the Draft which featured the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

It was a HUGE event with close to 100,000 people there that day, mostly Kansas City Chiefs fans. Yes, there was a lot of red but Brad still proudly wore his Eagles jersey. They had NFL sponsored events throughout the acres and acres of space. Kathy even enjoyed it!

While in town we did a few drive-throughs that included City Market, South Moreland Country Club Plaza, The Chiefs GEHA Field at Arrowhead, Kaufman Stadium Home of the Royals and The Truman Farm.

On day two we went to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. He was a remarkable man and President who came from a humble farm upbringing in Independence, MO. Which was the town we were staying in. We also took a tour of his home after his Presidency also in Independence. His home was kept in it's original lived-in space. He was a very frugal man. He repaired his linoleum kitchen floor many times instead of replacing it and let his shrubs get overgrown so he and his wife had some additional privacy. It was an intriguing visit and wonderful insight was provided by the Park Ranger.

We went out of our way to checkout the BBQ in Kansas City and we dabbled in BBQ in St Louis. Special thanks to Tony Vannicola for recommending two KC bbq hot-spots for us. Q39 became Kathy's second favorite bbq spot in all of our travels. Jack Stack BBQ is a KC local favorite with numerous locations throughout the city. Coincidently, the same day we were going to dine at Jack Stacks another friend of ours recommended it as well. The Goroff's and Tony were both right on point on this spot. We had Prime Rib and Lamb bbq there for the first time in our lives which was a fun and different way to enjoy some Bbq.

When we visited Brad's cousin Mickey, he knew we were heading to Kansas City. He said: "Have a steak for me". At the time we didn't know about the KC Strip steak reputation so Brad reached out to Tony V. once again and he made three Steakhouse recommendations. We went to Jess and Jim's Steakhouse about 25 minutes outside of the city from our campsite. They were named "One the 10 best steakhouses in the world". We both had a KC Strip and we're not disappointed. It was tasty, cooked perfectly, seared to perfection, and, it didn't cost an arm and a leg like some steakhouses overcharge. Well done! Plus, the Idaho potato was almost the size of Idaho and the salad beforehand was also tasty and plentiful.

When we went to the NFL Draft, the event was held around the WWI Museum and Memorial. So we went back to the museum when there weren't 100,000 Chief fans surrounding it. It was an intriguing stop that ended by us going up the elevator into the towering WWI Memorial. A standing tribute to all the servicemen and women that served.

Our next stops will take us further into the Heartland. We'll make our first visit ever to Nebraska (Omaha and Lincoln to be exact) and the Capitol of Iowa on our way to the Great Lakes. Sounds boring but it certainly was not! When we get to Duluth, MN. we'll be at our first Great Lake, Lake Superior.

Thanks for reading down this far and thanks for following our journey. Peace & Love,

Kathy and Brad