Day 2 St. Louis Here We Come

After a delightful breakfast of "authentic Colombian arepas" and oatmeal, we set off on the next leg of the trip with a five hour drive to the Gateway of the West, i.e St. Louis, MO.

Our comfy room. Shared bath around the corner.

Shortly after passing over Big Muddy we pulled off into the Art Hill Place neighborhood and our first AirBnB experience.

Our first AirBnB lodging

Ginny and Emily

This whole neighborhood is filled with a wonderful variety of small, well kept homes and apartment buildings built in and around the '30's.  Our room is just a three block walk across the expressway to the St. Louis Zoo and the amazing Forest Park. The park was dedicated in 1876 and hosted the World's Fair in 1904 (Meet Me In St. Louie, Louie, Meet Me At the Fair). Our veteran hostess is Emily Melick, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, who decided to turn her home into an AirBnB because of her positive experiences as a guest.  The savings over a motel incredible ($94 vs $290!) Thanks to Kate Reynolds (Mgr at Shag in RO), Ginny's hairdresser for suggesting we try AirBnB!

Tommy's 70th

After unpacking it was off to share a birthday dinner with Ginny's brother Tom (the reason for our trip) and his good buddy Ernie Miceli.  Never a dull moment with those two; imagine a quiet evening with the "Odd Couple" nattering back and forth at one another! LOL It was a hoot.  Tom is a recently diagnosed diabetic on medication so his "cake" was a sugar free sweet potato pie baked by a friend and some no sugar added vanilla ice cream and lite whipped topping for desert supplied by us.  

King of the Roost, Tom Chapman 70

Ernie Miceli, Tom Chapman & Ginny

Road weary and overfed, we fled to the comfort of the AirBnB and turned in early.  All in all a rousing success but a very busy day.