June 12 - United States: St Louis, Missouri

First and foremost: I stand corrected regarding the roads and infrastructure here in St. Louis.  My Aunt Ann astutely pointed out that - for the record - I-70 is the oldest highway in America.  And boy does it look like it!  But they are doing a great deal of work on it, and that apparently means that they're not preserving it for historical significance. (Thank goodness!)

Run Through Florissant

Jon and I woke up and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa over coffee and danishes.  Then we went for our runs through the neighborhood.  Jon ran ahead, and I went on my own through some streets with massive trees arched over the road.  Very nice run, although terribly humid.  So much for the dry heat of the west!

Anheuser Busch Brewery

Then we headed downtown to hit the Budweiser Brewery.  This is, of course, a major piece of St Louis culture as the Busch family has lived in St Louis for generations.  So we found our way to the brewery and walked into a massive reception hall/museum/gift shop.  The tours are all free, and start once every fifteen minutes or so.  Our tour had about 30 people, and was led by two college-aged girls named Lori and Allison.  The tour would walk seven downhill blocks and would end with a trolley ride back to the tasting room.  

Our first stop: the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales.

The Anheuser Busch Clydesdales

These horses are absolutely huge and beautiful.  And they're treated with kid gloves.  Their homes and transportation vehicles are cleaner than the most obsessive clean freak's house.  It seems that Anheuser-Busch probably spends millions of dollars on their upkeep, which I imagine can't contribute much to the profit of the company.  But if they were ever to get rid of them, they would face some serious public opposition.  When they travel, they ride in an air-conditioned truck.  Every 200 miles, they get an hour-long grazing break, and they never drive more than 500 miles per day.

We should all treat ourselves so well.

They are available for private and corporate events - absolutely free.  If you book over six months in advance, Anheuser-Busch will bring out a team of horses with an old red delivery truck.  Very cool stuff.

At The Brewery

The rest of the tour took us through the brewery and the different areas of production.  Jon, of course, was totally interested in the process and the different elements of the beer-making, and was full of questions for our tour guides.  He snapped pictures whenever and wherever he could.

The Anheuser-Busch Brewery

The Anheuser-Busch complex is a huge area with beautiful buildings and manicured gardens.  It reminded me of a college campus, actually.  There were a lot of historical parts of the complex as well, including the old one-room schoolhouse where the first set of Busch children once went to school.  The Busch family themselves used to live on the grounds until the 70s-ish.  So they're still very active in the running of the company.

Tasting Time!

At the end of the tour, we went back to the main building and into the tasting room.  There, Jon tried two different beers and I had one, and we hung out sipping them while the afternoon passed away.  All in all, it was a great day and a very interesting tour.  After we'd finished our beers, Jon stopped by the gift shop for a t-shirt and some Bud Light darts (he plays darts with our friend Fred in NYC).

Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma, who is well aware of our non-scheduled life, asked if we could bring ourselves to be home by 6:00 tonight.  I teased her that she might lock the doors if we didn't show up in time.  This is notable because Grandma and Grandpa never lock their doors except at night.  Anyway, we showed up at 4:00 so there was plenty of time. 

I'd had a headache because I hadn't drunk enough water after this morning's run.  Jon, the Water Nazi, didn't let this go unpunished without a severe talking-to before I lay down for a nap.  I woke up at 5:30, feeling much better and ready to hang out.

Dinner was a delicious pork roast that no one but a Grandma can perfect like this.  We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with the two of them and watching the ball game.  At 8:00, the Lakers game was on, so we settled in and watched the Lakers win the NBA championship.