One Week Late for Mardi Gras

---

Exactly one week following my quick trip to Kansas City I decided to make a trip to the other end of Missouri and visit St. Louis again. I haven't counted but I think this was probably my fifth or sixth trip to St. Louis and somehow I have managed to take most of these trips during the winter months. In this case I could have done much better in timing my visit as I missed all the Mardi Gras parties by one week. Either way, it was good to see Josh again, and this time around Kate came along too.

The evening we arrived in St. Louis we headed over to a bar to meet Josh's dad. The issue was we were running about 2 hours behind schedule which caused Josh's dad to be in good form when we finally arrived. At the bar we were subjected to some crappy U2 tribute band, complete with a Bono look-alike (sunglasses and all).

The next morning we made a trip over to the Anheuser Busch brewery. Now, coming from Milwaukee I have always been skeptical that the AB brewery would have anything on the Miller Brewery back home, but I must concede that the AB brewery is actually much nicer and a much better tour. You get the same kind of typical brewery experience when you are there, expensive gift shop, an outline of the brewing process, a few beers at the end... But here you actually get to see Clydesdales and Dalmatians. So I guess that makes this better.

Following our trip to the AB brewery we headed over to the Schlafly Tap Room to keep the beer flowing. After spending a few hours there we headed over to Sumit's place to make dinner. Immediately following dinner I passed out on Sumit's floor and slept through the night. I think it couldn't have been later than about 8:30 pm.

Our last day in St. Louis we all got brunch together before heading back to the airport for our flight back to Milwaukee. Since I have taken this trip Josh has actually left St. Louis. He now lives in Seattle, so I don't know the next time I am planning to make it down to STL. My old fiend Mark from Minneapolis still lives there though so I am guessing this won't be the last time I visit the Gateway to the West.

---