Meet Me in St. Louis

The Jackson Browns have recently returned from St. Louis and what a fantastic trip we had! I highly recommend St. Louis for a family vacation. We did a lot and there is still lots more to go back and do. Highlights included going to the top of the Gateway Arch; visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens; experiencing the St. Louis Zoo; stopping at Turtle Park (a children's playground with enormous turtle sized sculptures to climb on and when you do it with an imminent lightning storm in the sky it makes those turtles extra exciting!); City Museum (an urban indoor jungle with caves, tunnels, slides, bridges and all sorts of things to climb and get lost in); and walking down Delmar Ave. and seeing the stars on the St. Louis "Walk of Fame" and eating at the original Blueberry Hill. The only thing we did not get to do was see the Cardinals play at Busch Stadium due to the All-Star break, which was unfortunate because the stadium was walking distance from our hotel! We also did not visit the Anheuser-Busch brewery, but it was timely to be in St. Louis during the historic sale.

And let me comment upon the hotel: the Hyatt Union Station, so-named as it resides within a former train station so the hallways are extremely long as they were originally railroad tracks. The lobby is breathtaking with its stained glass windows and architectural detail. There is the famous "Whispering Arch," where you can speak to someone else located on one side of the arch while you stand on the other side and mysteriously and miraculously carry on a conversation as your voice is transported through the walls of the arch. The boys loved the fact that the hotel is adjoined to a retail mall that had many of their favorite chain restaurants, an indoor bungee trampoline and 3D putt putt. A 9-year old boy's dream!

The Browns are off again and when we return I will fill you in on what I have been reading while I have been traveling. I will just conclude by saying that I am ready for Brideshead Revisited the film now (and it better come to Jackson), and I am reading a book now which in style and subject is Brideshead's complete opposite, Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Both brilliant yet so different.