Friday in St. Louis

I'm back! Remember me?

I promised you tales from St. Louis, so here goes.

(Click on this link for a slideshow with all the pictures , but here are some of my favorite shots to go along with the stories)



Thursday night we (Mom, Dad, Grammy, Aunt Milly, and others) arrived late and chatting at the lobby bar with the "kids" aka my cousins and friends just a few years younger than me (still clinging on to just enough of their youth that they were far more energetic than their older cousin at that hour). I didn't last long. I went to bed around midnight (which felt like 1am since we were now in the central time zone).



Friday morning we met in the lobby around 9:30am to head over for a Tour of the Gateway Arch. While we waited, Riley and Lilly got to know one another! They were having so much fun playing with their toys :)

Then he headed across the street to see the arch and take the tour. It really is beautiful. Here are a couple of my favorite shots.

Then we took a "tram" up the North West side to see the view from high above the city. I was in the tram with Pat, Lisa, Aunt Milly & Mike.

The View from the Top: 630 feet above the city.

This is the St. Louis side.

In the middle is the St. Louis Courthouse where the Dred Scott case was tried.

To the right of the courthouse was our hotel- The Hyatt.

To the left of our hotel & the courthouse- the Cardinal's new stadium.

a self-portrait of Dad and I at the top...

Unfortunately our tour started late so we didn't have much time at the top. We went from the Arch back to the hotel to catch the bus to the rehearsal at the Larimore Plantation House.

This is me with my fellow groomsmen (and Mike, the most hardworking usher) on the steps of the house after we'd done our rehearsing and were trying to beat the heat.

Patrick, Jen, Josh, Kevin & Mike


From there, we headed to the Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour. Here are some of my favorite pictures from ther beautiful old brewery:

Mom & Dad

One of the original buildings. We saw the beer actually being processed here.

After the tour, we did a quick run back to the hotel to pick up those who hadn't come on the tour, did a quick change out of our sweaty clothes (did I mention it was in the 80's?! beautiful but a little hot), then we headed to Rigazzi's Restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.

Dinner was delicious and I must say the Pinot Grigio tasted lovely after all the running around we did :) I have pictures of all the tables on the slideshow, but here are the highlights.

Riley LOVING playing around with her Daddy :)

Grammy & Me {she thought the picture had already been taken when she leaned in for a kiss}

Mom & Jeff

After dinner we went to Laclede's Landing for drinks. Its an area similar to Faneuil Hall in Boston. Lots of cool little pubs and bars. Lots of people around. Definitely seemed like the place to be. We were all feeling pretty happy at this point. Can you tell?

Patrick & Me.

Lisa & Pat.

Jeff & Dan.

This was at the second bar we went to. Of course I don't know the names of any of these places, way to pay attention to my surroundings ;) but it was a great little bar. Reminded me of a college bar. Small, mostly empty actually, but there was a guy playing a keyboard and singing. He played Buffett and "Sweet Caroline" and lots of other fun ones. Take a peek at the slide show, there are some funny, drunk singing and dancing pictures!

So that completes Friday- though I guess technically by the time the last picture was taken it was well into Saturday already! Oopps!

Wedding day photos to follow.