St. Louis with Cory
DETAILS
When — July 9th - 12th
Where — St. Louis, Missouri
Mileage — Did not ride the bike
Compliments on my motorcycle - Did not ride - used Uber everywhere!
CATHEDRALS, baseball, and the blues
To the ladies and gentlemen of the internet, This is Mr. Cory Irwin coming at you live with his own St. Louis Post Dispatch.
By my very rough math with some rounding, It is coming up on 10 years since I had a reason for airplane travel. But there I was stuffing my 5 feet 11-inch self onto two planes headed toward my dad in St. Louis. I made it and he was very happy to see me. The next day, we visited the Gateway Arch, The Basilica of St. Louis the King, and a St. Louis Cardinals Baseball game at Busch Stadium. Frankly, I thought the Gateway arch would be taller. I could look up at it and not get sweaty hands and feet. Its shadow gives off a perfect arch of shade that families of all creeds come to enjoy one of the few things that are always free, the shade! We then popped into The Basilica of St. Louis the King. This historic church is right by the arch and the only building that got to stay when the land on which the arch stands was being cleared. The original cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis is now the very intimate feeling senior parish of the archdiocese. Its style is greek revival with many marble statues of French catholic saints on the inside. After a little sit-down, Dad and I rushed over to Busch stadium. It was a well-paced game with non-claustrophobic crowds, friendly seat neighbors, and excellent seats and the shade. Albert Pujols one of the infielders, added the icing on the cake by sledge hammering out his 684th home run. My dad even bought a score card, which he used to do when he would take Emma, Aubrey, and myself to games. I liked that a lot.
Act 2 of our trip started incredibly bumpy. The City of Saint Louis does not like to have things open on Monday. We learned that VERY quickly. After dusting ourselves off, Dad and I cobbled together a visit to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, The National Blues Museum, two independent book shops, and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the current seat of the Catholic Archbishops of Saint Louis went exactly how I wanted it to go. Taking in its Neo-Byzantine and Romanesque glory my dad was spellbound and I was just happy. The guide who was named Larry was perfect and also a riot with anecdotes. I was so impressed that I (who can be a nightmare to tour guides) only chose to ask 3 or 4 questions.
We then went to the first bookshop called Left Bank Books. It was clean, organized, and dense in inventory. After lunch, we went to the National Blues Museum, a small medium-sized museum that surveys the story of Blues music with an emphasis on musician activity in St. Louis. The labels were well written and color-themed, and nice interactive screens to compare and contrast musicians. Once my dad bought a souvenir, we went to the second bookshelf, simply titled the book house. Dad and I were privileged to meet the store mascots. Two beautiful black cats, named Gatsby and Zelda. But look well cared for and happy. Overall I am happy I did this. I am one of those weird people who get happy doing things with people that make them happy. People my age need to do these kinds of things with their parents more.
That’s all from me.
Check out the video below. Music by blues legend Howlin’ Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin’
