The Little Woman and I spent the majority of this trip inside a hotel at a conference, and I know you. You don't care. Rather than bore you with details (except to say a publisher wants to look at my latest manuscript- Yay!), I'll give you the nickel tour.

Last year I blew through here on the bike and thought the arch to be rather silly. A big arch, so what? But watching the video of how those clever man built it and riding the elevator to the top and looking out from it, wow. The elevator runs both vertically and horizontally. Pretty cool.
St. Louis boasts a nice baseball field and team, a nice football stadium and some people that I guess are a team (sorry) and what seemed to be a vibrant downtown. The courthouse held the Dred Scott Decision, a court case involving black man who sued for his freedom and lost. Historians say that's what launched America into the Civil War.
St. Louis is also famous for ribs, so we ate downtown and enjoyed some awesome, fall off the bone ribs. Their chile tastes great too. If you're a Westerner however, you'll be surprised. The chile is on a bed of spaghetti. My oh my those people can cook!
We stayed at the Hyatt at the Arch Hotel, which had reasonable rates and wonderful amenities. Now for the Rants and Raves:
The Rants: Call me cheap, but I can get free Wifi at a Motel 6. At a campground. At MacDonald's. So why does the Hyatt charge $39.99 for 3 days? And for bottled water? Surely they could replace the two waters once a day. It just exudes cheapness to me.
The Raves: Friendly people. And well mannered. Being a crutcher it drove me crazy, women holding doors for me, however. That's the burden I must bear.