Welcome to Missouri!

My two-week tour of Missouri started with a weekend in St. Louis. And there was no better place to start than the City Museum. I can not describe this palace of joy adequately through text, but I will try. Imagine a more intense, adult-approved, "McDonalds-esque" play place that serves alcohol. The inside is filled with a tree top canopy, anthill-like tunnel system, and a 3 story slide. Moving outside is a maze of wonderment, a dodge-ball sized ball-pit, two fighter jets that you can climb in and over, a supersized jungle gym system, a firetruck...all of which are connected by tunnels and slides. Moving up the museum there is an excellent thrift shop inside with everything from suspenders, overalls, blazers, and vintage jeans and t-shirts. The best was the rooftop. A school bus that hangs off the top of the roof, a pool that has stepping-stones to walk across (you must dodge the fountains while balancing yourself). There was also a ferris wheel a giant slide that was wide enough for at least 5 people to use at once. The single greatest part of the entire museum was the giant Mantis atop the roof! Needless to say I enjoyed myself; so much so that I ripped a whole in the crotch of my jeans...

Washington Street is a strip of bars that we frequented after the museum and also on Sunday to watch the Rams win their first September game since 2006...and much to my liking they beat the Redskins. Speaking of St. Louis sporting events...I attended a Cardinals game and sat in the Jack Buck "Party Room" where the food and drinks were free.

The next stop in Missouri was Columbia. Home to several colleges most notably Missou. After work it was time to see what went on in Columbia. We enjoyed pizza at Shakespeare's and then visited about 12 bars throughout the day. The drink specials were pretty good and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Definitely seems like a fun place to go to school...nothing quite like the "Rail" though.

My final stop on the trip was Springfield, MO. And the most notable thing about Springfield (this time around) was the trip to Jimm's Steakhouse. The service was superb and the food was even better. A 14 oz ribeye and a baked potato. And I know this is practically blasphemy but the bread was better than Outback's...