Welcome to the Gateway City

Dear Internet,

Chris and I spent my first week in St Louis (or STL) looking around, getting comfortable, and getting moved in. We did some touristy things, like visiting the art museum in Forest Park (a really nice area that has several museums, a zoo, and lots of space for jogging/biking/ice skating in the winter), and of course the famous Arch.

Fun fact: the Arch is the tallest monument in the US
and is exactly as tall as it is wide (630 feet).

The Arch, the famous old Court House, and a
statue of Jefferson.

With our friend James we also visited City Museum, which doesn't sound nearly as cool as it actually is. The building is an old shoe factory converted into essentially a giant jungle gym for adults.

Approaching the building. You see the roof and
are... intrigued.

It's full of recycled materials that you can climb on, slide down, shimmy through or squeeze under.

Chris and James in one part of the museum that seems
to have an Arctic theme

Squeezing through small spaces

Stairs are for chumps.

I can tell you how cool it is but really, you have to see it to believe it, and pictures don't count. It is easily one of the coolest places I've ever been, although the elephant necklace I've been wearing for 2.5 years broke while we were there :(

So excited to be flying this stripped-down plane!

The outside portion of the museum

For those of you wondering about the "Museum" part of the name, there are a few (rather neglected) exhibits about the city's architecture, ecosystem, and history upstairs. Where it's nice and quiet.

Chris and I also did some slightly less touristy things during that first week, like finding a favorite coffee place (called Mokabe's) about a mile from my apartment, a rad vegan bakery only 3 blocks away, a yummy Thai restaurant, and testing out a few farmer's markets. Now that I look at this list, I guess all of our research had to do with food... oh well.

As far as farmer's markets, there is a really huge, really famous one in the Soulard neighborhood not far from where I live, so of course that's great and sells everything from potted bamboo to pomegranates, but there's also another really nice one in Tower Grove park a couple blocks from my apartment on Saturday mornings. They have, of course, plenty of fruits and veggies for sale, but also vendors selling things like gelato, cheese, coffee, and cupcakes. I love walking around and doing my shopping at places like those (especially because they are super cheap), so it's good to know what's up.

Chris and I also went camping for a night in the Ozarks. As far as good camping goes, we were not terribly successful, but it was a fun trip.

Putting up a tent: success. Other things: not so much.

For example, good campers would probably: bring enough food (we brought lunch. Why we didn't think to bring more food is a mystery); bring enough warm things (also failed); know how to start a fire (it's not easy, okay?!?); and remain uninjured (nope. This evil tree-spike-thing went through my sneaker and foot while I collected firewood for the ill-fated fire that never was).

Evil tree-spike-thing that went into my foot

But, none of them were very serious oversights or emergencies. We made it through and still had a pretty good time hiking around and hanging out. And the area was really beautiful:

On our way out, we drove Skyline Drive in (this is for you, Dad) Mark Twain National Park. He was from this part of Missouri so everything is all Twain-ed up in his honor.

Skyline Drive // Mark Twain National Park

A few days later, James, Chris, a few of James' friends, my roommate Kate, and I went to Meramec Caverns, about an hour outside of STL. We spent some time hiking and exploring a few free caves (I felt weird being unattended by a guide, like what do I do if this cave falls on my head? I dunno). Hiking is not so great in the rain, but caving is perfect!

My roommate Kate, James, and James' friends
Jeremiah & Erin in Sheep Cave

Chris left from Meramec, heading on to Tulsa to stay with his aunt and uncle for about a week before he continues westward (hopefully ending up in Seattle in a few weeks; his plans are very loose). It's strange saying goodbye to someone I've spent so much time over the last two weeks with, especially when he's leaving me in a new place - but we both have (as cheesy as it sounds) paths to follow, adventures to plan, lessons to learn in our own ways. Hopefully our paths will cross again before too long!

So that was week one of STL, the Gateway City. Over the course of the week I gradually acquired some furniture and organized my room, so here you go Dad, some pictures of my new place:

My room. The lighting came out kind of yellow and
it looks sort of bleak, but I promise it's pretty cozy.
An HD TV and DVD player wouldn't be out of place,
though, if you wanted to send them.

Our living room, soon to be the home of a potential new
roommate, Saul (in addition to roomies Joe, Jenn, and Kate).

Our huge dining room/common space, and the doorway into
the kitchen. Again, it looks pretty bleak but is really very nice.
It's just because the walls are a weird color and we don't have
any artwork up yet.

So the apartment is really nice, we have a lot of space for what we're paying. STL was actually named the #4 "most affordable place to live well" by Forbes magazine. Also, I just found out today that the building was built in 1908, so it's 103 years old (this is a cool thing, to me at least. Despite all the plumbing/electric/rodent problems we've already had...). My roomies are really nice and clean and I like the neighborhood, so it's a good situation.

Overall, STL has surprised me by being a very cool city with more to offer than I expected. I can't wait to explore some more over the next year!

Guess what you guys? Fall is coming.

xoxo Liz