Day 6: St. Louis

4/21/2010

On the road again, this time we feel more accustomed to the driving. At least they are not long stretches during this part of the trip. From Kansas City to St. Louis is about 5 hours. We only stopped at a gas station for lunch to warm up our pasta leftovers. That was plenty to tide us over.

I found out at the Comfort Inn Kansas City that we could go 2 reservations with a Choice hotel and get another one free. I figured why not, so I reserved another Comfort Inn for St. Louis, this time in the Airport area. Again great service and clean and well managed. We enjoyed the pool and gym (we realized it makes us feel much better especially after long hours in a seated position in the car). Then decided on Thai food and a search for evening events...

Danny was in charge of finding us a place and did a great job. We went to Basil Spice Thai. Good ratings on google. Great ratings from us. I've been noticing that I'm overeating, especially if it's really good food. Plus I don't want to waste, so if there's a little bit left, and it's too little to take home for leftovers, I try to finish. I'll try not to do this next meal.

We drove toward the Arch, hoping to find a rooftop bar somewhere to take in the view of the Mississippi river and the night sky. Couldn't find one closeby (the revolving rooftop restaurant at the Millenium Hotel closed just after dinner, and the only other one i knew of was in another part of town). The concierge at the Millenium Hotel recomended walking 15 minutes to Laclede's Landing for a good time. I was thankful for the chance to walk off the yellow curry and noodles. We ended up at Sundecker's and took a shot with a fellow and his dad who were enjoying a few drinks while their wives and some lady friends were out on the town. I had a Boulevard and we went out on the patio to see if we could get a view of the Arch. We were satisfied with at least a view of the bridge and the Admiral casino boat.

After a quick video blog, we decided to find out what other trouble we could get ourselves into. We figured we'd try the Admiral, but the bartenders both insisted that only the toilet water of Chicago ends up there... that's paraphrasing... so we went to Lumiere. A small but bougie casino, but we decided we'd try our hand at some video poker, just so we could say we did it. The hotel Concierge at the Comfort Inn told us he'd lost about $400 there at 3 card poker, so we promised not to lose more than $20. Good thing, cuz when we were just about to hit that mark, we won about $70! Cash out! Cash out now! Danny was saying. But of course we had to take a photo first. Thank you St. Louis. The Gateway Arch brings us prosperity as we cross the Mississippi.