St. Louis

Dear Friends,

What a day yesterday was! It did not go as planned. However, it all turned out very well and was overall a very good day.

So, we began our trip yesterday morning. I say we because my daughter, Roxanne, is with me for the first few days. I promised you last week that I would reveal the first step of the journey and so here we are at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. The first league of this trip was supposed to include taking the Missouri River Runner train from Jefferson City, Missouri to St. Louis, Missouri. However, it did not work out that way.

In the morning we had a friend drop us off in downtown Jefferson City two hours prior to taking the train so we could have a leisurely breakfast at High Rise Bakery. This bakery in downtown Jefferson City is amazing. Full of red brick and character. I enjoyed their breakfast BLT with a fried egg and aioli sauce and a delicious London Fog with a lemon twist. Roxanne had their breakfast frittata and a London Fog as well. It was just as we arrived at High Rise that my travel agent called me and told me the train was running 44 minutes late and would not arrive in Jeff City until 12:09. No big deal, I said, we could hang out a little while longer.

At about 11:10 Roxanne and I began the short walk down to the train station. It was a beautiful day and so we took our time. We were almost there when Roxanne got a text on her phone from AMTRAK saying the train was delayed another hour and 10 minutes and would not arrive until 13:22. So, we decided to go to our favorite restaurant downtown, across from High Rise Bakery, a place called, The Grand, to have a cup of coffee. As we sat there, another delay came in and then another. It was becoming obvious we were not going to arrive in St. Louis until evening and I was concerned about walking the 10 minutes from the train station to the hotel in downtown St. Louis. It is not a safe place after 17:00 when most of the offices close in the area. I said a little prayer to the Father, asking what we should do, to please lead us. Then Roxanne and I looked at each other, “What are we going to do?” Roxanne instantly suggested we drive there and so we decided to get an Uber back to Roxanne’s place and then we would take the family Tahoe to the hotel in St. Louis; which was about a two-hour drive away. She suggested we could maybe leave the Tahoe at the hotel until she could pick it up in a few days. We called the hotel to make sure we could do this and they said yes if we left it in valet parking where it would be safe. The cost would be $45.00 a day. We decided then that this change of plans was actually a better option than taking the train because then Roxanne would not have to deal with delays on the Missouri River Runner when she came back. So, I called my travel agent to tell her about the change in plans and she was also able to get our tickets refunded right away. As you can see everything worked out well in the end.

I did ask my travel agent what had caused the delay and she told me that there were two freight trains that had priority. It seems the train tracks are owned by Union Pacific and so AMTRAK always has to give way to the Union Pacific freight trains. Something to remember in the future when planning train travel.
We arrived at the hotel by 16:00, about the time that Roxanne received another text from AMTRAK. The train was yet again delayed and did not arrive in Jefferson City until 17:04! I think we made the right choice to drive instead!

The St. Louis Union Station Hotel is a gorgeous traditional station hotel with heavy ornate sculpting and stained glass overlooking what used to be the train station and Market Street. Entering the hotel, we had to take a tiny elevator from street level up to the lobby area, an elevator that Roxanne said reminded her of the “Tower of Terror” at Hollywood Studios in Disney World. After getting off, we walked through a very grand room with an arched ceiling, trimmed with painted woodwork that reminded me of a wedding cake. Under this arched ceiling were several round tables and a long bar with the type of lamps reminiscent of the table lamps on trains in the early 1900s.  It was very nostalgic, alluding to the opulence of the 1920s.

I realized then we were in the Grand Hall, which I had read about on the hotel’s website. It was here you could order classic cocktails and have a meal. At the top of each hour from 16:00 until 23:00 there was a five-minute light show that played out on the arched ceiling. I was looking forward to that. I had in my day’s itinerary to come here for a pre-dinner drink at 17:00. Had we taken the train, with all the delays, we would not have made it.

The Grand Hall is not the only place in the hotel to have a drink or a meal. They also have the Market Place which sells coffee and snacks and an old-fashioned soda fountain shop. We would probably not have time to enjoy these places since we would be leaving early the next morning. For now, we headed to the reception desk on one end of the Grand Hall and then to our room where we changed for a nice evening in the Grand Hall and then out to dinner. I had made reservations at 18:00 at Landry’s Seafood House, next door to the hotel.

As we entered the Grand Hall, just before the top of the hour, we talked about how easy it was to imagine what the 1920s may have been like. Flappers socializing, perhaps with a Bees Knees cocktail in hand, the men with well-cut suits, cigars, holding an Old- Fashioned. True to the atmosphere, the cocktail menu included Bees Knees and an Old-Fashioned.

Roxanne ordered, the Bees Knees, but I chose something different from my usual go-to cocktail, which is an Old-Fashioned. Instead, I asked for a “Granhattan”. The name of this drink is of course a play on the cocktail name “Manhattan”, and that is what it really was, a “Manhattan”. Both Roxanne’s and mine were delicious.

At 17:00 the light show began. It is worth seeing if you are staying at the hotel. Roxanne said it reminded her of some the light shows we saw in Disney World over Christmas. I had to agree. We watched as the lights made it seems we were looking out of the top of a glass dome with flocks of birds flying overhead and then Japanese paper lanterns floated above. This turned into triangles of what looked like confetti, and all of this to music.

At about 17:50 we headed to Landry’s. To reach the restaurant we walked through the Union Station’s small theme park. This included a stand for funnel cakes, miniature golf, a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and a Koi Pond. I wanted to take Roxanne here because this was a place that her dad, my husband, Ron, had taken me for my birthday the year before he passed away. It had been such a wonderful night I wanted to go back there. I wanted to go there also because I remembered the food was very good!

We both had the Oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer and for our meal the Pan-seared Redfish with seasoned rice and fresh green beans. For dessert, Roxanne had New York Cheesecake with strawberries and I had the Bananas Foster. It was all delicious and I highly recommend this meal here.

When we arrived back at the hotel we made chamomile tea, using my travel kettle, and headed to bed early. Now it is the next morning on our way to our next destination which I will reveal to you next week. I will say it was an early morning this morning! Wake-up call at 4:15! But we are on our way now. Looking forward to sharing more with you in the next letter. Bon Voyage!

Yours in Christ Light- Jody