American Cities: St. Louis

It’s funny – we visit Minnesota more than any other state and yet, I’ve written so little about it. Probably because it’s home and so much of our time there is spent with family and friends. This was no exception. The focus of our eight days there was a family reunion at Pinehurst Resort, complete with time spent at White Earth Reservation (I finally got my tribal ID!) and all the wild rice we could eat. There was pontooning and bingo and sitting around hearing old stories.

We went to a musical at the Guthrie (Into the Woods) and ate incredible meals at Owamni and Indigenous Food Labs. And I experienced my first bachelorette party (international living means I’ve missed out on a number of weddings and their connected festivities). Three hours of intensive kayaking reminded me I’d be needing to do more strength training in the future.

But we had an incredible time and there’s always something really calming about being in nature (for me – Chandler not so much!).

Which meant the next part of our trip was 100% for Chandler – the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa, five hours away. We’d tried to make this stop the previous summer, but Covid prevented us. We arrived around lunchtime and after a bit of a wander, sat down for some (overpriced) veggies burgers.

I’ve only seen the film once (as an adult), but it was played again and again during Chandler’s childhood. It was lovely how family-friendly the stop was. Numerous groups had kids, and families were throwing baseballs around or attempting to hit home runs. Minus the heat, it was calm and relaxing.

We learned some fun facts, such as: The ground that was used for the baseball field was owned by two separate farmers. There was a drought the year they filmed and in order to get the corn to grow, they had to make it inedible. The grass wasn’t laid for the field soon enough, which meant it died when people walked on it – they had to spray paint it green (which got on everyone’s shoes).

From Dyersville, Iowa it was another 5 hours to St. Louis, so the majority of our day was spent in the car – but I’m pretty sure Chandler would say that it was worth it.

The next day, we made our way to Gateway Arch National Park. We chose it as our first stop because I wanted to photograph the arch in the morning light and, because like the majority of our summer road trip, the weather promised extreme heat later in the day.

We had opted not to visit the museum or ride the tram to the top. Instead, I took a stroll through the park, enjoying the different vantage points of the arch throughout. The park’s website even has a page dedicated to the best spots to photograph the monument.

But you know me, one vantage point is not enough. Which is why we also drove to Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis, Illinois to view the arch from across the Mississippi. It provided a fun shot (below), but would have been a better location at sunset.

We didn’t have a lot planned for the rest of the day other than eventually finding our way to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

Nathan, a good friend of ours from Peace Corps, grew up in St. Louis. He recently moved back overseas and wouldn’t be able to meet us there – so instead, we made a game of what might have been.

Over the next few hours, we visited over a dozen sites in St. Louis – I don’t think we’ve ever had quite a whirlwind tour like it. At each stop, we use a paper cutout of his head and took selfies together – it was definitely funnier than it had any right to be. Alas, all of the selfies are on my husband’s phone, so you’ll just have to imagine the shenanigans.

Some of the places we visited:
-Busch Stadium
-Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
-Fox Theater (below)
-Central Public Library
-World Chess Hall of Fame (below)
-St. Louis Wheel

We decided to explore the World Chess Hall of Fame a bit more than the other stops (I was finally inspired to watch The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix – I just finished today!). The exhibit Sound Moves: Where Music Meets Chess was incredible. An exploration of how chess and music have enhanced, complemented, and challenged one another.

Included were The Cosmos Chess Set by Bristol-based street artist, Cheba; Chuck Berry’s collection of albums from Chess Records; images of Ray Charles & David Bowie playing chess; and Katie Perry’s 2016 Superbowl performance. The museum is also home to the world’s largest chess piece.

We also photographed a number of mundane St. Louis moments: Straub’s Grocery Store, a St. Louis firetruck, Imo’s Pizza, and more. In the end we were proud of our success – paper cut-out Nathan had been to some St. Louis sites that real-life Nathan has not!

Our next stop was the Saint Louis Art Museum. We had just over an hour to try and see some of their big ticket items, but I immediately got sidetracked. They had an incredibly interesting temporary exhibit titled Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art 1940s-1970s. It just closed yesterday, but their new exhibit The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century looks equally compelling.

Many of the artists featured in the exhibit attended or taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They drew inspiration from the forms, colors, and techniques of Indigenous historical works of art, while also studying and responding to 20th century art movements.

Photographed below are:
–Crow Parfleche by Redstar Price (née Connie Red Star) [Apsáalooke (Crow)]
–Untitled (from the Thunderbird Egg Series) by Earl Biss (Spotted Horse) [Apsáalooke (Crow)]
–New Mexico #21 by Fritz Scholder [Luiseño]
–Geometric #4 (triptych) by Harvey Herman [Oceti Sakowin (Sioux)]

All that was left was our tour of Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Neither of us drink Budweiser, however, I appreciate their recent attempts to become a more inclusive brand and figured there was more to learn about the company. Also, Nathan told us if we did only one thing in St. Louis, it should be this brew tour.

We opted for the Day Fresh Tour – if Chandler had it to do over, I think he’d go for the Brewmaster Tour (I’m still convinced we didn’t need the baseball caps and beer mugs). On the Day Fresh Tour we learned about the history of the company (founded in 1857), visited the Clydesdale stables, discussed the various ingredients and their sources (barley malt, long & medium grain rice, hops, filtered water, and yeast), drank some beer, visited the mash tanks & bottling room, and were surprised to hear about some of the companies eco-friendly steps.

Plus, we ended the visit with pretzel bites and vegan bratwursts. I’ll admit it, Anheuser-Busch, I left feeling impressed (even if I still prefer drinking my sour craft beers).

Sometimes, you don’t need a long time in a city to enjoy yourself. We had a great time in St. Louis. And our summer road trip was finally nearing the end – only one city to go until we were back home in Dallas.