This past weekend I got to spend time with the best of friends from college.
When we graduated from college we made a pact that we would
stay connected and have mini reunions with lots of food.
This is becoming quite a favorite tradition of mine.
This weekend's destination: St. Louis.
Why?
Because Lynnie lives there.
And all of us wanted to see her place.
As well as where she works.
The weekend started on Thursday evening for Linzy and I.
I picked her up and then we headed to KC to stay at Melissa's place.
We had decided to split the driving into two days rather into one.
Road trips are fun, but a sore neck is not.
Then on Friday afternoon, we added Sarah and Kassie to the
car and embarked on a 4.5 hour drive to the Gateway City.
I loved our conversations and responding to billboards along the way.
When we arrived in St. Louis, Lynnie had prepared a black bean
and sweet potato burrito supper for us which was super delicious!
Mealtime conversations are wonderful. Time and distance were no longer in the
way, and we just picked up where we left off.
I think that's the stuff of real friendships :)
We headed out for St. Louis custard at Ted Drewes and I got a
TerraMizzou custard which was chocolate and pistachios.
Sadly, with each bite I took, I felt like I was betrayed my beloved Jayhawks.
But, at least it tasted good.
Later that night, some girls crammed into Lynnie's car and went to the
airport to pick of Tina, the last of the Magnificent Seven, as I will now call us.
My eyes were heavy with sleep, but I waited until she came
through the door to give her a hug. The weekend could now officially begin
now that we were all together.
Saturday morning we headed to the Arch to do touristy things and
then headed over to Lynnie's Plowsharing store for a proper tour.
We stopped by Fitz's on the way to enjoy some homebrewed pop
and some good burgers and wraps.
A thunderstorm was also brewing so we quickly got on the Metro and bus
to head back to Lynnie's house. Fortunately for us, we were able to escape the
rain just before the heavens opened up. While lounging around, making fruit salsa,
and watching NASCAR, the tornado sirens went off and we bumbled downstairs
into a creepy basement/cellar. We were a little freaked out as the sky changed
colors and the hail began to pelt against the windows, but sharing embarrassing
stories always seems to lighten the mood.
We ate some spaghetti for dinner, changed into some "kid-friendly clothes" and
headed off to the City Museum where we got to be kids for a couple of hours.
This place has a lot of random items stashed all around, including ginormous
underware! I can't imagine washing those! And then the rest of the museum is
composed of random elements from the city welded together to create an adult
playground where you crawl through tunnels and caves, slide down slides, and
just forget about your worries. But for me, a slightly claustophobic, germophobic
person wondered how in world I could climb through all of this junk and not freak out.
Needless to say, the Magnificent Seven split up into two groups:
more adventurous ones and more cautious ones. I was grouped with Kassie
(the mother to be, again), and Tina (with a bum knee). I had no physical excuses.
Just that small spaces and weird smells and crazy people are not a good mix for me.
But at least I got to pose with a giant whale.
Sunday came too soon and we had to say our goodbyes after our lovely brunch.
We packed the car and headed on I-70 back to Kansas City only
to find ourselves coming to a complete stop. Little did we know that we
had missed an accident that had clogged up the interstate for miles and miles.
The news said it would take 4 hours to clean up. No thanks.
So we took a frontage road and eventually made it back onto the highway.
I felt sorry for all those people waiting in their cars, wishing they could
drive through the ditch to the frontage road. And some crazies did.
We dropped Kassie and Sarah off in KC, and Linzy and I stayed with Melissa
again since we did not want to add another 3 hours of driving to our day.
A game of Fishbowl completed the evening. And we were off to bed.
Can't wait to see everyone again in October when Tina gets hitched!