21
October 2003
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Before I went to Austin last weekend, I spent a few days in St. Louis for a workshop. Now granted, I didn’t see much of the city, but even still I have to say that I don’t think too much of the Lou, Nelly or no Nelly. I’d heard it was a cool town, almost like a mini-Chicago. Not really. Or maybe I’m just not familiar enough with Chicago to say. And we did actually do quite a bit of outside-the-workshop stuff. The hotel was right on the river, across the highway from the Arch, so at least the view was nice.
The first night I was there we took
a riverboat cruise on the “Becky Thatcher.” Thankfully
it was dark because I can’t imagine a daytime cruise on the
factory-lined Mississippi River is all that enjoyable. Instead
you could see shadows of the old buildings (many of them still
working factories), their smoke stacks rising up into the dark
sky. My boss said, “I can’t imagine life on the river.”
He didn’t mean it to The Arch, however, is very cool and someone commented that St. Louis must not have been anything without it. I can see why it’s a draw.
I didn’t realize that it was metal and hollow; you can actually ride up to the top and peer out at the city and river below. For some reason I thought it was stone, or marble or something, like the Washington Monument. And I also didn’t realize it was only built about 40 years ago. It’s definitely a feat of engineering and in its shiny grandness it has the mark of the mid-20th Century.
The park surrounding the Arch is beautiful. The sidewalks are tree-lined and the grass is a bright Midwestern green. If I’d had all afternoon, and had it been about 10 degrees warmer, I would’ve liked to lay down underneath the Arch in the large expanse of grass beneath it and just stare up.
One night I tagged along with another workshop attendee to the riverboat casino, The Casino Queen. This boat is actually located in Illinois so we had to take a cab over a bridge and into East St. Louis. He'd told me earlier that the riverboat casino on the Missouri side of the river was pretty old and kind of sketchy, so we opted for the bigger, newer, flashier "loosest slots in town" Casino Queen. If he described the other one as "sketchy" I don't even want to imagine what it was like because I was uncomfortable being alone in this one. Previously I'd only ever gambled in Vegas, and I guess I was naive to think that all casinos are like the ones on the strip. I've even spent a lot of time in the Sahara so it's not like my expectations were that high, but still. A casino in the middle of the Mississippi in the Midwest, not the same thing and certainly not the same crowds. Regardless I had no problem planting myself at the nickel slots and scary and smelly as it was, it was worth the trip across the river, as I won $70. Not bad for a nickel bet, you know? The second afternoon we had the choice of one of three optional excursions – the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, the botanical gardens or the zoo. Evidently St. Louis has one of the best zoos in the country, and that’s the option that appealed to me the most. (No, not the Brewery smart alecks.) Plus since it was a fairly cool fall day, most of the animals were out for the watching. (There is nothing worse than going to a zoo only to catch a glimpse of something hanging out by its indoor room.)
I like bears. But not like that one guy who named them Freckles and Mr. Boo Bear and wanted to be their friends and hugged them and sang, “I love you” and then got eaten. I don’t love them like that guy.
And I certainly don’t love them like this bear loves himself.
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