day 58
st. louis, missouri

"Someone seems to have put a wasabe pea on the Arch.
Odd." -k.
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Barley Brewsters:
Bud Invented: 1876
Time to Brew: 30 days
Barrels Sold: 100 million/yr.

Claim to the Name: Adolphus Busch chose the name Budweiser because it had a slightly Germanic sound that would appeal to both American and German immigrants. And it was easy to pronounce.


Bud of the Day

The Busch Secret Recipe:
Step 1: Mashing Process
Mix barley malt and boiled rice in the mash tank. Bango! Fermentable sugars.
Step 2: Brew Kettle Process
The wort (wort?) is boiled and hops is added. Ah, hops. The spice of beer.
Step 3: Fermentation
Here comes the yeast!
Yeast + Wort = Beer. Yum!
Step 4: Beechwood Aging
Dump a pile of wood chips into the beer tank.
Step 5: Final Finishing
Chill and filter, so that people aren't gnawing on yeasty wood.
Step 6: Packaging Process
Pack it in about 43 different bottles so that people think they're buying different kinds of beer.


Weis of the Day

The Beer List:
Budweiser
Bud Light
Bud Ice
Bud Ice Light
Bud Dry
Michelob
Michelob Light
Michelob Golden Draft
Michelob Golden Draft Light
Michelob Amber Bock
Michelob Hefeweizen
Michelob Honey Lager
Michelob Black & Tan
Red Wolf
180 Energy Drink
Busch
Busch Light
Busch Ice
Doc Otis
Natural Light
Natural Ice
King Cobra
Hurricane
Tequiza
O'Doul's
O'Doul's Amber
Busch NA

These are the beers we tried while relaxing in the Hospitality Room after the tour.
These are the beers that Canadians think are crap.


Er of the Day



Hey, That's Pretty Cool!
Oct 23 - I can't say I was really looking forward to St. Louis. I can't even say why, really. It just seemed like another city that we should see, not that I necessarily wanted to see.

Vegas, Dallas, Memphis, San Francisco... There's stuff there. Those are milestones for us. Chicago was cool, and we love New York and D.C. But St. Louis? "Enh," thought I. Take it or leave it. After all, who cares about a dumb ol' arch?

Well, we do now! It's so cool!

We saw it when we were still a half hour away from the city, when the skyline poked its head over the trees. It was like any other skyline, except... EXCEPT THERE WAS AN ARCH IN IT!!! LOOKEE!!!


Isn't that AWESOME? We were still in Illinois when we saw it and it was all we could do not to speed all the way there!

We drove in nice and easy and under the speed limit, and parked near the Visitors Center in the handful of blocks that make up the downtown area. There's a nice fountain and stuff, but what you really want to see is THE ARCH!!!

We popped into the Visitors Center for a second to see if there was anything else as cool in St. Louis. That second turned into a half hour, thanks to this gentleman,


operator of the Visitors Center. He seemed to think that we were in town just to see the Visitors Center and none of the actual sites. He told us about the City Museum, and about the Cathedral with the most gold foil mosaics in the western hemisphere, and the red building that was the father of the modern sky scraper, and Blueberry Hill, and the Cardinals, and Forest Park which is 30% bigger than Central Park, and the gated communities, and the REAL Jefferson Memorial, and the botanical gardens, and the zoo, and that St. Louis was in National Geographic, and three of the oldest water towers in the United States. Dude, water towers aren't cool. You know what is cool though?

The Arch!

So we booked out of there and headed for the Arch. Man, it rocked. See that picture up and to the right there? The one that looks like a big tower but it's got grass at both ends? That's the Arch from directly underneath. We took about 10 photos of the full cycle and spliced them together! (I did a poor job, you can see the splice marks, but it's still pretty neat!)

Then we went up it! Wowsers! They toss you into a little teeny room that looks like Dark Helmet's escape pod from Spaceballs. There's a string of about 8 of them. They shut the doors, then haul from one end of the string right off the track so everybody dangles for a few hundred feet. Then at the top, they drag you back onto a track so you can step out of your pod. Neat, eh?


That's me in my pod! The picture on the right is a view from the top looking straight down. It's so weird because it looks like there's nothing supporting you (those are the supports on the bottom left and right of that picture).

It's 630 feet at the top of the arch. You can see the whole city from there out one side, and the Mississippi River out the other side. The only unfortunate thing... when you're standing at the top, you can't see the coolest thing in the city. Which is... The Arch! Wheeee!!! We love it!

The arch really is cool. Here it is again to prove it!


the cool ass arch...

ARCH!

ARCH!

ARCH!

ARCH!
more photos in the archive...

Current Location
(get out your push pins)

Saint Louis

Next Stop: The Ozarks

see the full map...

Today's Weather:
An Indoor Day

Daily Stats
Distance:233.1km
Gas:$15.00
Height of Arch:630 ft.
Tram to Top:$7.00
With Parks Pass:$5.00

National Parks Pass:
Cost of Pass:$50.00
Parks Visited:4
Savings Today:$4.00
Savings To Date:$34.00

Sleeping Quarters
Meramec State Park

Site 112. A crashing thunderstorm for about 2 hours. We came within a few inches of having a floating tent. Aim left her sandals by the jeep when they stuck in the mud.

Cost: $7.00

Lunch: 
St. Louis Bread Company
St. Louis
K's Order:Turkey and Bacon Sandwich with Gouda
French Onion Soup
A's Order:Turkey Artichoke Focaccia
Cream of Chicken Soup
Cost:$12.00
Snack: 
Ted Drewes
Route 66
K's Order:Pumpkin Pie Custard
A's Order:Marshmallow Custard
Cost:$5.00


Drewes Carry-out:
Did you know that South of St. Louis they call ice cream "frozen custard"? We found out at the World Famous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand on Route 66, unsure of what to expect. Dude, it's just a Blizzard. But they were here first! (Ted Drewes is one of the oldest tourist snack stops on Route 66. Everybody loves frozen custard!)

Note: They're out of United We Stand bumper stickers, but if you want a Ted Drewes sticker, they're loaded with those.

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© 2001. Kevin Beimers and Aimee Lingman. We got spirit. Yes we do.