St. Louis, Missouri - March 16-22, 2017

We stayed at Dr. Edmund Babler State Park in Wildwood, Missouri. There were other campers at the park on the weekend, but during the week, we were the only people on our street.

Had a fun time reconnecting with our friends Jeff and Janice! 

Delicious corned beef dinner at Tony's in downtown St. Charles to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

March 18 - Parked at Forest Park to see the Missouri History Museum and St. Louis Zoo.

 Missouri History Museum

 Thomas Jefferson Memorial

 1904 World's Fair Exhibit

One of the Route 66 memorabilia rooms

Spirit of St. Louis

 Penguin House at St. Louis Zoo

Hippo swimming at St. Louis Zoo

March 19, 2017 - Chain of Rocks Bridge on Route 66 - we started on the Illinois side and walked across the one mile bridge to Missouri and back

 The Mighty Mississippi River 

 The dangerous curve in the bridge

Some iconic signs from Route 66

 Popular place in Alton, Illinois - Fast Eddie's is a beer-focused bar, founded in 1921 by Anheuser Busch, with a vintage vibe, casual food, 400 seats & live music!

 Inside Fast Eddie's - you have to watch the "now serving" sign (in center of photo) 

to know when to pick up your order at the counter.

Cheeseburgers and fries. All four of us ate for under $20!

Headed to Cardinals Nation Village - enjoyed seeing the new stadium. And loved this 
viewing area across the street (notice the bleacher seating in blue) where you 
can see the game from the restaurant bleacher seats. Awesome!

Gateway Arch - such an impressive site. Although the ride to the top was closed while we were there, we were able to watch a movie showing the construction of the arch which was really interesting. We'll do the arch ride next time we head to St. Louis!

March 20 - We rode the Katy Trail from Wildwood to Defiance (21 miles round trip). The Katy Trail is a rail trail that runs 240 miles in the right-of-way of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.  

This part of the trail was fun on the way down...not so much fun when we had to climb back up. That is Wendy 3/4 of the way down the hill.

Dave coming down the same hill from the Daniel Boone Bridge.

The length of the trail we rode on was mainly crushed stone

 The Missouri River bluffs were very impressive

 There were signs along the trail marking where the Lewis & Clark Expedition camped as they moved up the Missouri River.

A trail marker in the town of Defiance (our turn around point)

 Headed to the University Loop section of St. Louis to see the 
Chuck Berry statue (he passed away on March 18th).

Blueberry Hill is a restaurant and music club located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in University City, a suburb of St. Louis. Until October 2014, Chuck Berry performed there the third Wednesday of each month for 209 consecutive months.

 Chuck Berry's star outside Blueberry Hill

 We ordered toasted ravioli, an appetizer created and popularized in St. Louis. Yum!!!

Owner, Joe Edwards, personally collects memorabilia and fills the nearly one hundred glowing display cases throughout the restaurant. Displays include the Flintstones, Howdy Doody, Kiss, the Beatles, South Park, Pez dispensers, Star Wars...

Joe Edwards must've had his photo taken with every entertainer known to man! 

The walls were papered with the photos!