the ocean

Ian and I spent the past couple of days in St. Louis for a friend's 40th birthday party. I grew up a few hours away from St. Louis, so I have some fond childhood memories there, a surprising number of which involve giraffes. Ian had never been there, though, so I was determined that he was going to have an experience, and on that score we wildly succeeded.

We started out with the art museum, which was very nice. (They could actually stand to work on their confidence, as the volunteer who greeted us at the door shamefacedly told us they were "between exhibits," which definitely understates the value of their permanent collection.) They have a few solid Thomas Hart Bentons and what is frankly an intimidating array of Max Beckmanns, along with your standard procession of period representatives from antiquity through the present. (They were a little light on contemporary because one wing was closed to install an new exhibit and I personally could do without some of the early Americana, but that's just me.) There's also a sculpture garden, but it was small and packed with children, so we made rather short work of it.

Speaking of which, the City Museum was a tragic mistake for us, as it was packed with wall to wall children, which prevented us from enjoying the array of wild chutes and ladders and climbing and crawling spaces. Also the fact that we were not dressed for it, unlike the many adults we spotted there in full on spandex and knee pads. It was, to be clear, incredibly cool, but I let my alleged dignity prevent me from properly enjoying it. I'd definitely go back, though, perhaps with my niece and nephew as an excuse.

We also saw the arch, of course, though cramming into the tiny capsule to go to the top was not on our list. It's a nice arch, though I do not meet a wide range.

The actual birthday celebration involved a nice dinner, a party bus to several wineries, and an astonishing array of charcuterie. All of which was good! There was an incident involving heavy vomiting at a dive bar, but I was not the culprit, so I chose to feel morally superior about the whole thing. 

And now we are back in Chicago. Quick trip, but I do think we basically nailed it.