A Late Summer Staycation Bids

Summer Farewell, But Welcomes Fall

               By Pat Lindsey

A well-planned St. Louis staycation in late August seems like a great way to say goodbye to summer and welcome fall. The many jewels of Forest Park and other popular attractions around the area are less crowded then because some of the children have already returned to school. And when my bachelor brother came for a visit during my son’s scheduled vacation, we just happened to have a week of perfect weather.

My brother is the type of person who flies by the seat of his pants. He never plans anything and, consequently, he often doesn’t accomplish nearly much as he hoped to each time he returns to his place of birth. This time, before he arrived from Sioux Falls, SD, I asked him what his priorities were for this trip and he listed: The Muny, the Lantern Festival at the MO Botanical Garden, the zoo, and, first and foremost, a Cardinals game. Once that was settled, I planned a jammed-packed itinerary for the week. But the best laid plans seldom pan out without a hitch or two.

Our first destination was opening night for Oklahoma at The Muny and it turned out to be a gorgeous night and a fabulous production. The week was off to a good start.

Using my AAA card two weeks in advance, I was able to buy right terrace field boxes for $11 each for the Tuesday night game against the Pirates. We left home early to have dinner at Ballpark Village before the game and were lucky to find an open parking space at a meter on a street near the stadium.

After feeding the meter, I reached into my purse for the envelope of tickets only to find that it wasn’t there. I panicked. Then I remembered that I had the envelope in my hand as we were walking out the door, but I stopped to give my dog some more food. The tickets had to be sitting on the kitchen counter. So, my brother and son went on to Ballpark Village and my husband and I drove back to Florissant to get the tickets. After navigating rush hour traffic, we paid to park on a lot and got to the game just in time.

Dinner ended up being a beer and nachos for us, but the Cardinals won that game over the Pirates and Day II of our excellent adventure ended with fireworks. (The next day, a friend told me that all I would have had to do is go to the box office and they could have pulled up my ticket purchase with my credit card and issued me paper tickets. Lesson learned.)

The highlight of Day III was going to be that night, so we had a leisurely morning and then went to the Missouri History Museum to see the 1875 exhibit. My brother hadn’t been to the museum since he was on a grade school fieldtrip and he marveled at all the improvements. We wandered through every exhibit until the security guard told us it was closing time. By then it was 5 o’clock and we had at least an hour to fill before we could enter the Lantern Festival at the MO Botanical Garden. Knowing how much my brother (a retired A-B sales rep) enjoys neighborhood bars, we drove over to Biggie’s on Watson Rd. for some drinks and appetizers.

When we arrived at the garden at 6:30 p.m., we looked at some of the lantern displays in the daylight and then we sat on the lawn of the amphitheater and enjoyed the Chinese acrobats until the lanterns were lit. There were acres of beautifully illuminated Chinese figures, animals, birds, flowers, pandas, elephants, and amphibians to see. When we got tired, we stopped at the Spink Pavilion for a glass of wine for me , Urban Chestnut beer for him, and some recovery time. It had been another glorious night with unusually perfect August weather.

Day IV was a Thursday and my son and I wanted some backyard pool time. While we chilled out, my brother went cruising to his old familiar haunts and visited some friends. When you’re entertaining houseguests, everyone needs some time to kick back a bit and have their own space.

Day V was St. Louis Zoo day. If you have

any hopes of getting free street parking near the zoo, you’d better go early. We did not, because my brother couldn’t find his car keys and went to Johnny Londoff to have new ones made. (Another glitch in my itinerary!) After circling the zoo a couple of times, we paid $15 to park in the art museum garage, which is a short walk to The Living World at the zoo.

It’s difficult to believe that our great zoo is still free. Once inside, the only things we paid for were the zoo train, the sea lion show, and lunch. To see everything takes a full day and we only had about six hours. There was a line to see the new polar bear and a longer line to get on the train, but I’m sure the wait time was a lot shorter than it was the previous week before most kids went back to school.

And even though the sea lion show was

only 20 minutes, we had to be there a half hour early to get a good seat. By the time the show ended, we had run out of time and energy, so the tigers, lions, and elephants will have to wait for another day at the zoo. Besides, an excellent dinner at Guido’s was waiting for us on The Hill.

The weekend of our staycation was left unplanned except for a surprise birthday party for one of my friends on Saturday night. We had no idea when my brother and his big dog planned to leave, so we played it by ear. Come to find out, he wanted to go to one more Cardinal game and that was on Monday night. Again, my AAA card allowed us to purchase bleacher seats for $10, the weather was perfect, and the Cardinals won another game.

As my brother packed his car in preparation for his trek to South Dakota and my son returned to work, I looked back on our St. Louis staycation with great satisfaction. We had visited every place on my itinerary and everyone had a good time. Now, I can reluctantly bid farewell to summer and look forward to fall.

Let’s see…I can’t wait for the Best of Missouri Market at the Botanical Garden the first weekend in October, or the Florissant Old Town Fall Festival Oct. 11 the weekend after that, or the local winery trips, or Twilight Tuesday concerts at the Missouri History Museum, or a drive up the Great River Road for Fall colors and to pick apples at Eckert’s, or more Cardinal games and a World Series…I just might have to plan an autumn staycation!

Twilight Tuesday Concerts

Here is the remaining schedule for the

Twilight Tuesday concerts at the Missouri

History Museum:

The Jackson 5 Tribute Tuesday, Sept. 15

at 6 pm

Jeremiah Allen and Friends Tuesday, Sept. 22

at 6 pm

Motown Revue Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.

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