St. Louis last minute

 My dear friend from college, Laurs, turned 40 in November and decided to give both of us a joint birthday gift of a plane ticket: she flew me out to her place in St. Louis for a long weekend. It was rather last minute. I was boarding the plane barely two weeks after the ticket was purchased! It was such a random fun unexpected change of pace, and I loved seeing Laurs on her turf. I got to meet her girlfriend and other friends, and enjoy the mild Missouri autumn weather with her. We did some shopping, ate good food, visited my old Missouri stomping grounds at the Historic Daniel Boone Home, watched one of our old favorite movies (Hitch), and even participated in a trivia night at a place called Syberg's. 

My trip was from Thursday, November 20th-Tuesday, November 25th. I flew to St. Louis on Thursday evening and arrived at 1:15am central time on Friday morning. We had four full days, plus the morning on the day I left, and we made the most of it. 21 years of friendship is an awesome feat, and even with all of the changes we have both gone through during that time, we can still stay up late talking just like we did back in our college dorm room. 

One of the big motivators for this visit was so I could meet the group of friends that Laurs has cultivated in the past year since her divorce. The person I was most excited to meet was Laurs' girlfriend, Alicia. They have been dating for 2 months, and I was looking forward to meeting her. It was wonderful to meet a person who sees my dear friend for who she is and cares deeply about her. Laurs has had a bumpy road to travel and I loved seeing her find a little safe haven from the storm in Alisha. 

Since my friend is no longer living the same lifestyle as me, I did things that I've never done during this trip! I watched a women's soccer game in a brewery and drove people home. I went to trivia night in a bar. I third wheeled at a lunch date with Laurs and Alisha, and again at a cozy dinner at Alisha's house. The introvert in me had to pull out all of the stops for the loud social situations with lots of new acquaintances, but I recovered somewhat at the smaller quieter gatherings. 

Visiting the Historic Daniel Boone Home was so fun! Jeff and I lived and worked there fresh out of college in 2008, when jobs were hard to come by. I enjoyed seeing how much the site has changed, and also how much had stayed the same. The nice worker in the gift shop let me take a look at the upstairs apartment, where Jeff and I lived. It was so crazy to see our tiny little nook apartment with my 39 year old eyes. We moved away from the Boone Home to WA in 2009, when I was pregnant with Jay. I enjoyed showing Laurs all around the historic buildings at the site. We realized that we forgot to go take a look at the actual Boone House as we were getting back into the car! The workers were locking up at that point, though, so we just admired it from the road as we left.

I love my friend/sister Laurs!

I enjoyed two delightfully leafy autumn runs during my stay, and reveled in the seasonal beauty.

First we went shopping at a mall, but that was terrible and we hated it, so we went to REI, which was way more our speed.

Me, Laurs, and Alisha, at Second Shift Brewery.

A gentle Sunday morning walk with my friend.

Can you tell that I live in the desert? THE LEAVES in Missouri made me so happy, even the brown ones!

Bach and Ballas Roads: music and basketball--something for everyone! I thought Ballas was pronounced like "basketballer" (balla), but Laurs informed me that it was actually pronounced like Dallas.

We walked half a mile from Laurs' apartment to Andy's for an apple pie concrete--it was pretty cold, but we persevered and enjoyed the frozen custard immensely.

Watching Hitch and laughing our heads off. Somehow we couldn't believe that our favorite movie from our college days is also 20 years old, haha.

Visiting the Boone Home:

Standing in my old apartment in the 200 year old Carriage House above the gift shop! It looks the same except they put an oven in--we didn't have an oven when we lived there. 

The entrance is slanted--that's one reason we called this apartment the Nook.

Posing with the carriage house/gift shop/apartment behind us.

Inside the Squire Boone Cabin.

The main room in Squire Boone's cabin.

Sitting at a tiny desk in the one room school house.

This covered bridge was added to the collection after I moved away.

Trying to be serious. It lasted about 2 seconds. That's the Boone Home in the distance to the right behind us.

The beautiful little Peace Chapel. Entrance by appointment only, so we enjoyed the outside and peeked in the windows.

I have fond memories of using this large village loop road as my personal running track before the site opened in the morning.

Trivia night at Syberg's with Laurs and her friends Kristen and Mary. I sampled the classic St. Louis style toasted ravioli.

Kirkwood, MO's hidden gem: Nathaniel Reid Bakery. Nathaniel got his pastry license in France and then came home to MO and opened a fantastic buttery flaky patisserie. Yum! I brought home two pain au chocolats for my family, and they agreed that it was extremely French.

Airport bathroom selfie! My second flight was delayed so I spent over five hours in Minneapolis on my way home.

I'm thankful for good friends.

I put my hopes for the state of our house in my absence on the fridge. My family did alright and the house wasn't filthy or overly cluttered when I returned.