St Louis, December 2011

Made my first trip to St Louis, Missouri in December. I went there thinking I would have nothing to do in my off time, but boy was I wrong. My travel to St Louis was uneventful and thankfully had all my bags. I rented with Thrifty on this trip. I am always treated very well by Thrifty and this was no exception. I was given a fully loaded Kia Optima and it turned out to be a great rental. I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, in Fenton, which is on the southwest side of St Louis. Nice facility and the staff was great. We had a group of about 25 folks staying there and one evening the hotel manager even brought in home-made chili to show her appreciation for the military. The hotel location is within a few miles of good food and shopping at the Quary. My work had me at Jefferson Barracks, on the oldest military stations west of the Mississippi. There too is the second largest military cemetery, behind Arlington National.

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

One of the nights there was military appreciation night at the St Louis Blues hockey game. Thankfully I was able to get tickets and it was a great time. One tip for anyone that is staying outside of downtown St Louis and coming in for a hockey, football or baseball game, use the train system, MetroLink. There is not a lot of parking downtown and traffic can be a bear depending on what time you are traveling. The train is very affordable and convenient to many outlying lodging locations. The game was great and ended in a shootout with the Blues winning.

I was able to get downtown a couple of times in the afternoon and visited the St Louis Arch and some of the surrounding parks. I took the capsule up to the top of the arch, which was quite an experience. You may have problems if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights. The capsule you take to the top is very small and cramped, as you can tell from the picture below. But the view is amazing!!

Over the weekend I travel south on one of the more scenic backroads, Hwy 21. At the turnaround point in Sikeston, Missouri I ate at Lambert's. If you are hungry, you won't be when you finish here. We have a Lambert's in Foley, Alabama and always enjoy eating there, though you feel like you need a nap afterward. Below is some pictures from the drive that day. Here is a link with my route.

Now let's talk about food in St Louis. First, there is lots of good food in St Louis, and my favorite by far was Pappy's. Expect a long wait to get in, but it is well worth it. The ribs are absolutely incredible. If you are looking for a good breakfast, I suggest Courtesy Diner, not too far from Forest Park. It is a simple old style diner that just does a great breakfast. No frills, but great grub.

I spent the weekend exploring St Louis. I spent a great deal of time in Forest Park, where there is a wealth of things to do, that are FREE. The park has museums, theaters, sports facilities, zoo, trails, and much more. I went to the zoo, in the park, which was one of the better zoos I have been to in a very long time. Below are couple of pics.

Along with just strolling through the park, I stopped by the Art Museum located in the park. I was thoroughly impressed. There was a special exhibit of Monet's Waterlilies that was just incredible. In addition to the special Monet event, the selection of art was very impressive, rivally some of the best galleries in the world. Again, FREE. Take a look at some of the art in the museum.

Monet

Van Gogh

Picasso

Campendonk

Egyptian Mummy

Here are a few more pics of the Forest Park grounds, over 1300 acres to keep you entertained for hours.

One of the best places I visited was the Missouri Botanical Garden. As a photographer,  I try to take in gardens all over the world, but this one was by far the best I have been too. The place is huge!! The pictures below tell the story better than I can with words.

Also worth a visit is the, Laumeier Sculpture Park, another one of St Louis's many FREE attractions. 

Finally, no trip to St Louis would be complete without a visit to the original Anheuser-Busch Brewery, also FREE. There was some wonderful architecture mixed with high-tech machinery. 

All in all, I was very suprised with what St Louis has to offer. Sports, food, culture, and fun. Worth the trip!! For more info on St Louis, visit this link.

To see all my photos from this trip follow this link.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me!!!

Colorado Springs, September 2011

***Sorry this is so late being posted, but it has been a busy fall and winter and I have a lot of trips to catch up on ******

One of my favorite places in the world to visit is Colorado. I get over there several times a year and always amazes me how much there is to see and do there. On this trip, I stayed mainly in Colorado Springs, though I did make some time to get out and enjoy the surrounding area. On this trip I was traveling with my co-worker Rex.
Upon arriving we went and picked up the rental car.
I am a long time Hertz customer, but recently have switched to Enterprise. I love the rewards plan that Hertz offered, but lately the quality of the car I was receiving was lacking, so I made the move to Enterprise. Now, they don't have a rewards program, but you do get to decide what you drive. At the counter they gave me the choice of a Chevy Malibu or Dodge Charger, well that choice was easy. First, I am done with Government Motors, and second, the last few Dodge products I've rented have been pretty nice. Here is what I ended up with.
This car had remarkably good gas mileage for this type of car and it handled great.

Colorado Springs is home to a lot of beautiful and interesting sites, such as Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, the Air Force Academy, Manatou Cliff Dwellings and the US Olympic Training Facility.

Pike's Peak from the Siamese Twins of Garden of the Gods

Manatou Cave Dwellings

Chapel at US Air Force Academy

Garden of the Gods

I used to live in Albuquerque and loved the taste of a good chili cheeseburger, so we asked our waiter at the   IHOP on the south side of town (by the way, the best IHOP I have eaten at) and he said you need to make the trip to Pueblo and have a "slopper". What is a "slopper" you may ask? Well check out the history of the "slopper" at this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slopper. We headed to Pueblo for lunch and stopped at Gray's Coors Tavern to try a "slopper". All I can say was DAMN IT WAS GOOD!!! Linked is some more info on Gray's http://www.yelp.com/biz/grays-coors-tavern-pueblo.

Managed to get a little free time on this trip and took off to Canyon City and Royal Gorge. Royal Gorge is quite an experience and very awe inspiring. It is also a place for those with more guts that I can muster, to take a swing over the edge of a 1000'+ drop off. Here are few pics from that day.

Bridge over Royal Gorge

Headed Down Into the Gorge

Me on the Royal Gorge Bridge

Rex at the Top of the Gorge

Royal Gorge Bridge (It does swing)

After a few hours there we took back of to Colorado Springs. We decided to take the more scenic route back through Phantom Canyon. If you ever visit Royal Gorge from Colorado Springs, or anywhere north, make sure you take this drive back through Phantom Canyon. It is absolutely incredible. You will go from deep canyon passes to wide open rolling hills at 10,000 feet, drive through old mining towns and get beautiful views of Pikes Peak. Here is just a sample.

Here is a map of the route back to Colorado Springs

Another great trip to Colorado!! This state is by far one of my most favorite places to visit. In the near future, I will put together a post with information on some other great places to visit, off the beaten path in Colorado.

Click here to view more pics from my other trips to Colorado. Have fun and get outdoors!!!