Day 3 & 4.
Sept 12–13. St. Louis & Missouri Wine Country
St. Louis was such a surprise!! We didn’t give it nearly enough credit in our planning. We thought it was “just a place to sleep” on our way out west.
Then we started learning about their growing food/restaurant scene.
Then we got there and found out how affordable everything was.
Then we learned about their wine region, and the rest was history.
Our original dinner and drinks plan fell through (most places are closed Mondays), but we’re actually super glad it did! It let us discover Platypus. They were having a bartender contest the night we were there, competing to concoct the best cocktail using Campari. And — no exaggeration — one of those concoctions turned out to be the most delicious cocktail I have ever tasted. (Clarified coconut milk, anyone?!)
We paired those cocktails with the amazing fried vegan snacks they serve in their sister restaurant next door, and it made for a perfect night out in St Louis.
The next morning we walked to breakfast at Fiddlehead Fern Cafe since it reminded us of our New Zealand days. :) We powered up with fancy toasts and Flat Whites, then got back on the road.
Just outside St. Louis is a path called the Katy Trail, a 240-mile-long former railway turned trail, running alongside the Missouri river. Fun fact: it’s the longest recreational rail-trail in the country. Another fun fact: it runs through Missouri’s wine region, which happens to be the first/oldest in the country (yes, really!). So of course we had to explore all of the above.
We ended up having so much fun in their wine region that we had to adjust our travel plan, ha! We meant to make it halfway across Kansas to stay on track with the timeline we’d laid out… but by the time we left the vineyard, we only had time to make it as far as Kansas City. (Which isn’t even in Kansas. 💁♀️)
We called and booked a last minute hotel through our IHG credit card points. But then when we got there, they said they’d been trying to call us because they were overbooked and didn’t have a room for us after all. Womp, womp. Luckily there was another IHG option a few blocks away, so we grumpily shifted over.
Despite that snag, still worth it to spend a little extra time sipping Missouri wines, embracing pleasant surprises and unexpected joys.
- Drinks/food: Platypus
- Sleep: Airbnb
- Breakfast: Fiddlehead Fern Cafe
- Hike: Katy Trail
- Wine & Lunch: Defiance Ridge Vineyard
- Original sleep plan: Wilson Lake camping
- Revised sleep plan: Hotel Indigo KC
- Revised REVISED sleep plan: Crown Plaza KC
