Gateway to the West
July 8
Disclaimer: I forgot to ask for wifi in the morning, so I’m just posting this now two days after the fact.

At this point, I really have no idea what day it is anymore. I keep thinking it’s Sunday but I’m pretty sure Sunday is tomorrow. And I really don’t know what day of the month it is (although I just checked and it’s the 8th, so I’m really just putting the date up there as a reminder). I got to my Airbnb kind of late, so I’m just jotting down some thoughts and I’ll post tomorrow when I have Wi-Fi!
I went to mass this morning at the Basilica. It was a weekday mass, pretty short, so I was in and out of there with plenty of time for brunch. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was sooo echoey, which made the time I tried unsuccessfully to hold in a cough (thanks Matt), pretty noticeable. Other than that, I did behave myself. I never go to weekday masses, or even feel the urge to go, but being in the basilica on Friday was so amazing I felt like I really needed to hear a mass in there. And I’m very glad I went, indeed. I actually do like going to mass. I can’t say that I always have, or that I always will, but at this point in my life, when I do go, I go because I want to and because I get something out of it. I’m not sure what that something is all the time- I think some of it might be familiarity, but I think most of it is the meditation. Not that I’m doing my own meditation during mass, but it is an hour where I can be 100% disconnected from the rest of my life, and feel zero guilt about it. It’s something I wish I could do more often, but it is nice knowing I have that time in space by stepping into a church anywhere.
So after a pleasant morning service, Emily and I headed to the Mud House (you know, Mud House! Wow, I can’t believe you don’t know what that is, I totally knew what it was before going there) to meet up with Alek and Bogey. In case I haven’t mentioned yet, Bogey is a sweet young boy, half black lab half pitbull (@Mrs West). Friday night Emily and I drove her car to Alek’s house where my car was parked. After we pulled into the driveway, I hear a thud on my car door. I turned and was nose-to-glass-to-nose with Bogey. He had put his front paws on the passenger window and peeked into the car to see who it was. If that doesn’t melt your heart, I don’t know what will. I don’t have a picture of him and that’s probably my biggest regret of the trip.



After a tearful goodbye, I parted ways from Emily and Alek. The rest of the day I spent being a total tourist. I walked up and down Cherokee Street, went to the Arch, got some souvenirs (Mom if you see the charge on my card don’t spoil it for Olivia and Thaddeus!!), and asked a lot of randos to take my picture for me. I’m actually getting pretty good at it. You can spot right away those who are most vulnerable, aka, those who are a little separated from their group. Then you just have to walk up, flash a winning smile* and ask in the nicest way possible. “Hi there! Could you please take my picture? Thank you so much! It’s for my mother.” Thanks to Mrs. Dugan’s suggestions, I went to Pappy’s for dinner before heading out to Grandview for the night. (Btw, I’m staying in a “vintage pop-up tent trailer”. It has fairy lights and sheep. A dream come true). Oh, and Ted Drewes, which apparently is the best ice cream in the country. I have to be honest here. It was very tasty, and I am never one to not enjoy ice cream, but I will be a gung-ho Sunshine’s fan for life. Nothing gets better than that, not even the best ice cream in the country.


I was so into the history museum yesterday, but today my heart was stolen by another St Louis classic: the City Museum. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it, but I will give it my best shot. It’s kind of like a jungle gym: you have structures to climb on, tunnels to go into and at one point trains to ride. There are slides, other structures to fall through, and a whole heck of a lot of people. And it’s eleven stories high, complete with roof access. If you don’t like heights, do not go on the roof, or the 10 story slide. Surprisingly, I survived without any slide burn. Sadly, I did not get to spend nearly as much time there as I wanted. And even though I was probably 15 years older than most of the kids, and 15 years younger than most of the adults, I had a ball. I definitely want to go back at some point while I am still young and fairly mobile to adventure, when I can get away with climbing without getting weird looks. And definitely before I have kids. I would not want to bring my own child there because I would definitely lose them. Well actually, that might not be a bad idea…I’ll bookmark the idea.







Well, another day, another dollar.92 spent on gas per gallon (pretty great, right??). I’ll be on here again soon I’m sure. Have a pleasant day, everyone.



xoxo
Catherine
*Do not look at pictures of me smiling for reference. Those are not winning smiles, those are forced smiles. BIG difference when asking someone for a photo op in real life
