A detour to through Casey, IL on the way to the "Gateway to the West"
The road to St. Louis from Indianapolis is paved with giant stuff! Before you even get to the magnificent architectural triumph of the St. Louis Arch, you'll have the pleasure of passing through Casey, Illinois.
It’s a town full of giant-ass stuff, not giant ass-stuff.
Most stuff is boasted to be the “world’s largest” stuff including; The world’s largest wind chime, The world’s largest chair (Holy smokes, If I know anything about chairs it’s that they are expensive. This one must have cost a fortune.) We also snapped pics of the world’s largest: barber pole, bird cage, mail box, spinning top and my personal favorite the World’s Largest Mouse Trap!
I got to pretend like I was a dead mouse!
Hilarious to no end. If I ever go to jail, rehab or an extended psych-ward stay, I will use the photo of me in the trap to announce my incarceration. It’s like, people will be sad I’ve been “TRAPPED” but they won’t be able to stop smiling because the photo is really adorable.
In the heart of 'merica
Most of the attractions are vaguely if not overtly religious. I’m not a hateful person but I’m also not a religious person. Anytime I see a mention of “G-O-D” I get a little uncomfortable. Not because of his omnipotent presence that might be watching my every move but because religious people can be intense. I don’t want any trouble. I don’t want to argue with strangers about a man that lives in the sky. Unfortunately, they want to fight and statistically they are more likely to be armed, just as God wanted. I have no weapons.
All I have is a yellow belt in Taekwondo from when I was nine. My roundhouse kick is shit and I’m too uncomfortable making the “Hi-Ya” noise because it seems like it might be culturally insensitive, even though Master Brad said it was cool.
Speaking of things I won't be breaking with my bare fists anytime soon, St. Louis is called “The Gateway to the West.” It's good the city went with that instead of what I would have suggested, “Hope You Like Bricks.” Of course, I do really like bricks because I live in Cleveland. We have free bricks lying around everywhere! Sometimes you see a great brick and just can’t help but take it home to add to your collection of interesting bricks.
The Arch is friggin’- A-huge!
It's also much shinier than I had anticipated. We stayed in a VERY fancy Hyatt hotel downtown that allowed dogs for a friggin’-A-huge fee. It was worth it. We had a good look around. Dog liked it too.
COVID19 Vaccinated Freedom Ride
It was scary to stay in a hotel that required we take elevators to the room. Once, I accidentally got on the lift without a mask. Pure terror. However, the nice couple we shared the elevator car with were very understanding. The gentleman responded with, “We’re vaccinated, I’m just wearing the mask so people don’t get freaked out.” We all breathed a shallow sigh of relief and shared some jokes about what vaccine we had and how we dealt with the side effects. The ride to the lobby was the kind of low stakes pleasantries I had been missing for over a year.
A foolish attempt
I tried to recreate of the magic on my next elevator trip. It ended with a another rider declaring, “If the vaccine is a cure then why would we need two of them? A cure is supposed to fix it! I believe in Jesus and Jesus will make it right. You gotta get right with the lord!” Despite having been a teacher for the past 5-ish years, I decided not to educate this fella on how vaccines work. Again, religious people are sometimes armed and this elevator was not moving fast enough.
Pizza Party Foul
Back in the room we tried an Imo’s pizza, a St. Louis culinary tradition. I had hoped it would be the kind of thin crust pizza a person could shame eat without feeling too bad. I gotta tell ya, this “pizza” is not worth a shame-eat. The thin crust was OK but the cheese was whack melted? Instead of facing this entire pizza, as intended, we ended up with leftovers and found ourselves happy to have ordered a salad.
On the other hand, I’m willing to consider my Connecti-cutie husband's totally biased opinion on pizza (New Haven or nuthin’) has rubbed off on me.
If you’re in St Louis, skip the pie and get yourself a St. Paul sandwich instead!
I have never had a sandwich more delicious than the deceptively named St. Paul sandwich. A perfect union of foods, the sandwich is an egg foo yung patty, between two slices of white bread, slathered with mayo and kissed with pickle slices because it’s special. If I lived in St. Louis, I would be at the Bo Fung Chinese Kitchen every-single-day. It’s cheap, filling and easy to eat while waiting for the bus.
A city divided
We met some really nice folks on this stop but it’s easy to see the city is divided between rich and poor, black and white. Driving around, neighborhoods change quickly from renovated to run down.
Not without my dog-ter
We bookmarked a few dog parks to visit with our dog, Brewski. All but one we found in the area were “private” or “membership only.” Most of these parks only allow small dogs or forbid certain breeds. You know the score, absolute dog shit. I can just imagine how the Richie-Riches act now.
“Mommy, Muffin and I saw a strange man at the dog park. He was dressed like a poor person! I think he got his outfit at JC Penny or something. It was horrid. Aaaannnd, his dog was *looks around and whispers* black.”
We did eventually find an actual public dog park, St. Johns Community Dog Park. They keep the park operating through donations, hint-hint. Our baby-bear had a great time running around and I take back what I said about religious people being gun toting, argumentative, lunatics.
The ravioli sound delicious! Next time we'll try them. Meanwhile, I'll figure out how to comment back.
Imo's is definitely an acquired taste. It may be the provolone cheese. Had I known you'd be at Imo's, I'd have suggested trying the toasted ravioli. Good times there. This is a poor substitute for seeing and chatting with you guys, but desperate times/desperate measures.