As I write this, my mama is coming in hot, on a tear from Houston to Montreal (insanity -- we'll get to that*) with a weekend stopover visit in StL.
She's got my youngest sister, Grace, in tow and I've got a PACKED weekend planned to show them my new life in the Midwest. I spent some serious time at the drawing board, so I thought I'd share my method for showing my family the best of St. Louis City. The weekend itinerary:
Friday
It's Food Truck Friday at Tower Grove Park, a congregation of the city's best food trucks along the interior Southwest Drive. One of the major reasons we picked this neighborhood was its proximity to the park, which is just five blocks north of our house. When the girls get in, the plan is to immediately set out on foot to Gustine Market, which is essentially a bodega (if those existed in the Midwest) with a surprisingly good wine selection. There we'll grab a bottle of rosé and some disposable glassware to take to the park and pair with our truck food.
After Food Truck Friday, we'll keep walking straight across the park to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which has a beautiful collection of lit sculpture on display through the end of August. It'll be a kick for my mom, too, who hasn't been since she took me there as a toddler with her parents.
Saturday
Saturday, weather permitting, we'll have breakfast and mimosas at Humphrey House and then head to Forest Park for some water-front sitting and sipping at the Boathouse (you'll notice a theme here) followed by a stroll through St. Louis Zoo (which is amazing. And FREE.)
We'll follow up our outdoorsy day with dinner and drinks at Planter's House, a must for my bourbon-loving Mom (and a favorite of the staff over at Esquire), and then a night at the City Museum. The City Museum is a giant climbable, crawl-able, interactive art installation that stays open extra late Friday and Saturday nights and has an incredible rooftop view of the city. No amount of adjectives can possibly explain it, so I urge you to just GO. And wear sneakers and comfortable clothes. I tried to be cute in a dress and heels once on a date night, and it at first hindered my exploration and later offended other people's sensibilities.
Sunday
We've got a date with The Big Guy at St. John's Tower Grove, my newly adopted and suitably crunchy place of worship, followed by brunch at Rooster on South Grand, where I will assuredly be getting the Bloody Samurai. We'll see the in-laws and maybe catch a nap or a movie, and then they're off again to Canada.* Did I miss anything? Let me know!
*This road trip arose to transport furniture to Grace's new apartment in Montreal, where she's in school. When I pointed out that it might be more cost effective -- and certainly more time effective -- to buy furniture in Canada rather than haul it cross-country, my mom answered thusly: "Rest assured I'm going to do whatever it is I'm going to do." I am without retort.
