Happy Monday! I hope everyone's weekend was fabulous! Aleric and I got back last night from a weekend trip to St. Louis. Our 2-year anniversary was yesterday and the Cubs were playing the Cardinals Saturday night, so we figured there wasn't really a better way to celebrate than watching a ball game! (Last year, we drove to Pittsburgh to watch the Cubs play the Pirates!) I've mentioned before that I am a sucker for craft beer, so St. Louis was a fun area to explore.
We met up with a couple of our close friends, Brenda and Andrew (they were on the blog in March!). We shared a room at City Place in downtown St. Louis, which had an awesome 29th-floor balcony view of the entire city. We were right smack in downtown, so we had a great view of the Arch, Busch Stadium, and the bridges, which was perfect for my obsession with photographing just about everything I see. On Friday night, we went to Schlafly's. We love Schlafly's beer, so it was neat to visit. I got their black bean burger, which was pretty delicious. And, I couldn't pass up their pita bread with beer cheese dip. Seriously, who doesn't love beer cheese?
On Saturday, we walked to Morgan Street, which was just a few minutes from our hotel. I included a homey-feeling photo below from the inside. Aleric absolutely loved it because it was decorated with bear photos and paintings. He has been trying to convince me for some time now to let him get a pet bear, so I think this was his happy place. I loved the moody lighting and wood everywhere. We actually spent a decent amount of time there and shared a couple of pitchers. Next, we walked to 4 Hands Brewery, which I really loved. Their nachos were honestly to die for! We shared some yummy stouts and relaxed there for a couple of hours. I really liked the vibe of the place and that you kind of served yourself, instead of having a waiter or waitress come to the table. It was super relaxed. After lunch there, we went back to the hotel for a swim and an incredible roof-top view of the city. I'm terrified of heights, but I could hardly pay attention to that because it was just so cool to look at all of the bridges, water, and surrounding buildings. Looking over at all of that was truly calming. The game started at 7:15 and the sun was just about down, but that didn't stop us from suffering in 90-degree heat. It. Was. So. Stinking. Hot. We had pretty awesome seats, though, which were in the bleachers, and we were nice and close to the souvenir booth so we could grab our usual home-team-themed baseball for our Cubs display at home. Thankfully, the Cubs won 6-3, so it definitely made nearly dying from heat exhaustion worth it. Aleric and I wandered around the city a bit more, and I snapped some photos of the lit-up buildings to add to our collection at home. Aleric is a civil/structural engineer and has a love of buildings, metal, and skylines at night, so I'm always sure to have my camera on-hand so I can print out the images and hang them on our walls.
On Sunday, Brenda and Andrew headed home at checkout, and Aleric and I ventured off to a local brewery before driving home. We stopped at Square One, which was on the other side of town. It was pretty packed and the wait was long, but we were able to enjoy some beer while we waited. We tried a stout and a Hawaiian-flavored wheat beer. Delicious. We were finally seated outdoors (in the shade, thank goodness) and we snacked on some salmon bruschetta and salmon eggs. Between that and Aleric's Square One Breakfast Beer, we were basically in Heaven. They even had a special for growlers, so we took home 2! They're currently sitting in the fridge and I can't wait to have a little tonight when Aleric gets home from work. After leaving Square One, we drove for an hour or so and stopped at a microbrewery in Springfield, Illinois, called Obed and Isaac's. It was another place with good food and good beer, and I was happy. Their menu was in the style of an old newspaper, which shared the history of their business. We shared a coffee stout (which we almost always have to get when we stop at a brewery), a cup of beer cheese soup, and a beer-and-cheese flatbread. Did I mention that I love beer cheese? If you're driving through that area at all, I recommend checking this place out. There is just something exciting about driving down a long stretch of highway and stopping at a little microbrewery to see what they have to offer. I would love an entire road trip of that. (Spoiler: We will actually be doing this in August!)
We finally got home after 8:00 and played video games. It was a busy, but relaxing, weekend, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. We hadn't traveled in a little while, so this was much-needed! I can't wait for our next adventure and to share my photos with y'all!