Out and About: Downtown St. Louis

This “out and about” thing I’ve been doing the last several weeks is kind of like when you go to someone’s house after they get back from vacation and they say, “Wanna see my photos of how much fun I had while you were working and I was on vacation?”  The answer is always NO.  But since you’re here, you get to see them, anyhow.

On our way up to ND, we went through St. Louis.  We stayed at a La Quinta, as usual, but it was nasty.  Smelled like dog pee.  And was just dirty. Right after we stayed there, that whole Ferguson rioting started and guess what?  That motel wasn’t too far from Ferguson!  So on the way back, we decided to splurge and stay downtown at the Hilton.  They allow dogs with a large nonrefundable fee.  Valet parking is really overpriced and a Kettle One Martini (dirty dry and up) is $12.50.  Ouch!  But the room was free since we used the last bit of Terry’s hotel points from back when he spent his entire life on the road.  Or in the air.  Totally worth it.

We stayed at this hotel last year, too.  I love all the places to walk in St. Louis and there are so many green spaces. 

Hilton Hotel
Here’s our very cool downtown hotel.
Maggie on Chaise
And here’s Maggie enjoying a little break on her chaise that she claimed as soon as we walked into our room.

There’s some construction going on around the arch. 

Construction

ARch
Just in case we don’t see the arch, there are directions on the sidewalks.
Arch
Really, you can see it just about from everywhere.

How about those cobblestone streets?

cobblestone streets
Glad we were walking, not driving!

This place was right around the corner. 

Jungle
Looks like scary fun. But we had Maggie with us so we couldn’t go to the jungle.
Maggie
Maggie did not want to go into a dark jungle. She preferred the parks.

There’s a lot of bridges over the Missouri River.  And I seem to feel the need to take many pictures of all of them.  Weird since I have a slight fear of heights. Thought I’d share a few bridge photos with you.

bridge
Here’s a pretty view.

bridge

bridge
This one is my favorite. Dirty and gritty and old looking.
arch
And here’s the arch. With construction. It was a cloudy COLD evening. .
St. Louis
I love the symmetry of the buildings and park.
Downtown St. Louis
Anyone know who this running guy is? Or why the water is dyed blue?
St. Louis
Happy Birthday St. Louis!
Downtown St. Louis
One last photo of downtown.

Great evening.  Would love to stay longer, do some more exploring and check out the night life someday.

A Visit to DC

I love to go to DC in April.  The cherry blossoms are blooming along with the tulips and other spring flowers that I can’t have in Florida.

Cherry Blossomstulipstulipswhite tulips

tulipsflowers

Jes, Andrew, and Mattie the Cattie recently moved to DC so Terry, Maggie and I went up for the weekend to help them get settled.  Our niece Jodi lives there, too, so we had a fun family gathering.

Mattie the cattie
This is Mattie the Cattie’s first glimpse of Maggie. Not a happy look!
Maggie and Mattie
Mutual disdain
Maggie and Me
Maggie and I at the Farmer’s Market in Dupont Circle.
Maggie in Dupont Circle
Maggie loves the city!
The whole family
All the gang in DC!

Maggie and Mattie never did make friends but they were able to stay in the same room together.  We had a great time and plan on visiting often! 

 

 

Travel Dog Blog, St. Louis

On our drive back from North Dakota we made an overnight stop in St. Louis.  I had never been there before and wanted to see the Gateway Arch. Since we had Maggie with us we couldn’t go into the arch but we did get to enjoy the green space, the view of the Mississippi River, the old capitol building and even walked down to the Cardinals stadium.  There was a game going on and a lot of people out and about. Maggie loved it!Travel Dog Blog, St Louis

Travel Dog Blog, St LouisTravel Dog Blog, St LouisTravel Dog Blog, St LouisTravel Dog Blog, St Louis

There are two Hiltons downtown, we stayed at the Hilton on 400 Olive.  Previously a bank, one of the vaults was a business center and the other had snack food for sale.  Very cool!   Everyone working there was super friendly and actually remembered our names the entire time.  Maggie thought she was a celebrity!  We also enjoyed dinner at the hotel while Maggie did some snoozing in the room.  We paid a nonrefundable deposit of $50 for Maggie.  The valet parking was also $27 so it was a bit pricey. But this was a special treat for us and well worth the extra money.

Travel Dog Blog, St LouisTravel Dog Blog, St Louis

Travel Dog Blog, St Louis
Maggie approved!