my nephew - the snail and my St. Louis tales

Before I post about my St. Louis trip, as I am sure you are all on pins and needles to hear about, I must first display this collage of Henry in his Halloween costume.

I am sorry, readers, for being an obsessive aunt. I can not help it. I love him. And he was a snail, for crying out loud. I mean, how adorable.

Now on to less interesting, less cute matters: my trip. I went for a marketing conference. It was great. I could tell you all that I learned, about the great networking that took place, and the skills that were polished, but what kind of good reading material would that be? I shall tell you other things that happened along the way.

Day 1: I flew to St. Louis with a colleague who was attending an I-tech conference at the same hotel the same week. Perfect. However, her conference started on saturday and mine did not start until Sunday night. No problem. I am easy to please and even easier to entertain. Plus, I will be alone in a new city: there will be plenty to explore. So off I went by my lonesome to buy a metro ticket so my exploration can begin. I jumped on my train with my ticket, map, and purse in tow, feeling quiet 'city-ish". I waited to find the safest looking stop before I exited the train. Following my trusty map, I made my way to the history museum. Not really one for history, but I was really getting into the museum. then I went for a walk in the park, ate lunch at this darling place, and watched small children play on the playground. (in a non-stalkerish way, of course) then I made my way back to the metro stop...there was more for me to explore. Next stop: the arch. Afterall,what would a trip to St. Louis be without seeing the arch? It was beautiful and the trees were GORGEOUS, but unfortunatley I was there too late to ride the tram up to the top, much to my dissapointment. Oh well. I still took cool pictures from below. Then it was off to the conference to learn. Just call me "Mrs. Independent"
Day 2: Conferencing and stuff. I did eat a mighty-fine bagel that morning, but other than that, nothing of note. I will add here that our hotel was at Union Station. It was fun.

Day 3: Conference stuff during the day, eating food at night. More than just food, though...FREE food. There was a company there that we do business with, so the representative came and took us out to eat at this very nice restaurant: Mike Shannon's. The owner, Mike Shannon, is a retired St. Louis Card. baseball player. Anyway, the company does this every year. I can only imagine the amount of money they spend. there were bottles of wine on the menu that cost more than I make each month (ok, not literally, but there was one for over $300. I drink Yellow Tail for $7.99) I ate my grilled salmon with honey glaze like I had never eaten before. It was devine. As I made my way to the restroom (after the main course, but before dessert) I spotted him: Mike Shannon. Now I would not have spotted him in a crowd normally, but I saw a picture of him moments before so I knew it was him. I am not shy. Never have been. correct, mom? So I marched up to him to let him know that my meal was delicous, the restaurant was fabulous and that my father would love this place (baseball pictures on the wall, but not cheesy...classy) At that point he hugged me. I knew I was in. He and his wife gave us a personal tour of the place, including his private wine collection in the basement...beautiful. I then felt it neccesary to tell him that my Dada was drafted to play for St. Louis before the war...and that he struck out Joe Dimagio. At this point, he takes my hand and leads me into a small room with rare pics of Mr. Joe himself, all autographed. Then he took my picture. I loved it.

Day 4: Nada.

Day 5: Home again.

The end!