Grant's Farm

Today's tourist adventure is to one of my favorite places to go as a kid, Grant's Farm, the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family. Almost a century ago, August A. Busch Jr.'s father purchased a piece of Missouri farmland once plowed and planted by our 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant, in the 1850s. Mr. Busch's love of animals and the desire to share that love with people of all ages inspired him to open his home, Grant's Farm, to the public in 1954. Today the Farm is home to more than 1,000 animals representing more than 100 different species from six continents. Admission to the Farm is free though there is a small charge for parking.

Upon arrival, our first stop was at the Clydesdale Stables, where we're told up to 15 foals are born each year. Grant's Farm is one of the breeding operations for the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales, and we were privileged to see a 6 week old foal up close on our visit. I guess even baby horses get tired cause after a bit, he laid down on the cool grass. To give you an idea of just how big the fully grown Clydesdales are, this plaque on the wall kind of puts it into perspective, doesn't it? And Russ enjoyed petting one of the other Clydesdales in spite of the warning sign that they may bite!

After visiting the Clydesdales, we boarded a tram which took us through Deer Park, home to a variety of exotic and some not so exotic animal species from around the world, including bison, Black Buck Antelope, Red Deer, zebra, and much more. The wildlife are free to roam throughout this natural setting.

On the tour we also passed the four-room, two-story cabin built by Ulysses S. Grant in 1855, which was completed in 3 days with the help of friends. The cabin remains today as the only structure hand built by an American president. Also, the fence across from the cabin was constructed from 2,563 rifle barrels as a Civil War memorial. I took several pictures of the house and fence while on the tram, but this one I took after we left the Farm from the other side of the fence gives you a better look at both.

After the tram ride, we were let off near the baby goats which you can hand feed for a small fee. As a kid, I remember doing this and even remember one of them gently headbutting my mom in the backside once! Guess he felt he wasn't getting enough food! We walked around for awhile and saw kangaroos, tortoises, camels, eagles, parrots, llamas, and many other animals close up....some a little too close!! We even caught one little kangaroo napping and catching some rays.

Having seen nearly all the animals, it was time to head to the Bauernhof for some lunch. Built in 1913, the Bauernhof was the first building constructed on the Busch family estate. Bauernhof is German for "farmstead." The Bauernhof surrounds a beautiful courtyard and is typical of a 19th century Bavarian farm complete with stables, a carriage house, and offices and quarters for those who lived and worked there. Today, the Busch family's carriage collection and stables are housed here. We stopped at the Braut Haus for a couple bratwursts with sauerkraut and German potato salad and ate out in the courtyard enjoying the old world surroundings. After eating, we meandered through the little shops and lo and behold guess what we found?! An Anheuser-Busch Hospitality Room!! We had no idea this was here! Just like at the brewery, guests over 21 are welcome to sample Anheuser-Busch products! Russ actually tried a wheat beer and said it a little too thick for his tastes, but the beer I had from the Netherlands wasn't too bad.

As we were leaving the Farm, we drove over to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site across the street. We have a National Park Passport booklet and wanted to get it "stamped" with this location. While there we watched a brief documentary on this site known as White Haven. It was originally the summer home of President Grant's inlaws but eventually became their permanent residence, and is one of the oldest homes in the St. Louis area. For a period of time after his marriage to Julia Dent, Ulysses Grant farmed the land at White Haven and worked side-by-side with the slaves in the fields. However in 1859, he was forced to abandon farming due to the Civil War. After the war, his responsibilities as general and then president kept him in Washington, D.C., but he still managed to oversee the care of White Haven. Grant retained ownership of the property until a few months before his death in 1885, but was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Tuesday, Sept. 11, the 6th anniversary for a day of remembrance and patriotism....we hung our flag from the RV, then headed out for a tour of the world headquarters of Anheuser-Busch Brewery, one of the oldest breweries in the U.S. Anheuser-Busch traces its origins back to the Bavarian brewery which was established in 1852. Eberhard Anheuser acquired the Bavarian brewery in 1860 and renamed it E. Anheuser & Co. In 1864, his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, joined the company that would later become Anheuser-Busch.

During the tour we visited a couple of the buildings which are designated historic landmarks dating back to the 1800s. In the Brew House there are huge stainless steel vats full of beer stacked 4 high being beechwood aged. The beechwood aging process is actually a traditional European brewing process Budweiser uses to ensure the quality and consistency of all their beers. The beechwood chips are actually layered in the bottom of the tank 1-1/2 feet thick before the tank is filled with beer. The approximate time it takes to brew a Budweiser beer is 30 days. Our tour guide said that to drink all the beer in one vat you would have to drink one 12 ounce beer per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 137 years!! Anyone willing to give that a try?!?!

Other fascinating facts are that at this particular location 1,300 bottles are filled per minute, 2,000 12-ounce cans are filled per minute, and the equivalent of 16,000,000 12-ounce cans of beer are processed each day!

We also toured the Clydesdale stables. These magnificent horses stand approximately 6 feet and weigh roughly 2,000 lbs. when fully matured. Only those born with the blaze of white on their face, black mane and tail, and white feathers around their legs and feet are selected to pull the famous 8-hitch Budweiser carriage. There are 12 that are kept at the brewery on a rotating basis with about 40-50 kept at nearby Grant's Farm.

The Bevo Fox graces Anheuser-Busch’s Bevo Plant built in 1918, which was originally constructed to bottle, package, store and ship “Bevo.” Bevo was a non-alcoholic malt beverage (or near beer) brewed in the U.S. especially during prohibition. Advertising for this beverage was a popular storybook character, Renard the Fox, depicted with a chicken leg in one hand and a mug of "Bevo" in the other.

Of course, the tour would not be complete without visiting the Hospitality Room! A trolley picked us all up at the Bevo Plant and drove us there (7 blocks of walking was evidently enough!) Each visitor over the age of 21 gets two FREE samples of whichever brew they'd like to taste, and we're not talking tiny samples....we're talking full glasses! Russ and I chose to have only one each since we still had a full day ahead of us.

From there we traveled to part of my old stomping grounds in South St. Louis. We drove past where my house had been and was no more. Not sure what happened to it, but the lot has evidently been taken over by the neighbors and is now part of their yard. We drove a little further down on Gravois Avenue, and there still stands the Bevo Mill, long a St. Louis tradition. Prior to World War I, August A. Busch, Sr. and his architects studied Flemish architectural styles with the intention of building an authentic windmill in St. Louis. In 1915 he chose a spot exactly halfway between the brewery and Grant's Farm, his home. From the beginning, the Bevo Mill became a favorite family restaurant, boasting of several unique architectural details. The exterior is finished with stones personally gathered by Mr. Busch from Grant's Farm. Open to the public, authentic German dishes are still prepared at the Bevo Mill today.

Since we were down in this neck of the woods, we decided to drive by the church where we were married over 24 years ago, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, truly a memorable day! Now it was time to head up to the north area of town to Memorial Park Cemetery to visit the graves of Russ' dad, his grandparents, a couple cousins, and his Uncle Ken, Aunt Dori's husband. And to honor his dad we decided the only appropriate thing to do was to have lunch at Lombardo's again! We were fortunate enough to find both Angelo and Carmen working, and had another nice visit while enjoying "our usuals"...calzone, toasted ravioli, and another pizza (along with a couple more beers of course!)












That's all for now...until tomorrow with a report on Grant's Farm!

Gateway Arch & River Blenders

We decided to spend a few days of our trip here in St. Louis playing tourist. Do you know which monument is not only taller than the Statue of Liberty but also taller than the Washington Monument? It's the Gateway Arch in St. Louis standing 630 feet tall located on the Mississippi River and part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The Old Courthouse and the Museum of Westward Expansion located underneath the Arch, along with the surrounding park are all part of the National Park Service, and this is where we started our day on Monday.

Construction of the Arch began in 1963, and was completed in October 1965 for a total cost of less than $15 million. The north tram was opened to the public in July 1967, and the south tram was completed in 1968. The Arch has foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, and is built to withstand earthquakes and high winds. It sways up to 1 inch in a 20 mph wind, and is built to sway up to 18 inches. Besides being 630 feet tall, that is also the distance from leg to leg at ground level. We watched a documentary showing the construction process, and it was truly an amazing feat. And to think, these men were working at these heights with no safety harnesses! Russ said they couldn't have paid him enough to do that! Even without safety harnesses, no one died in its construction.

The Arch stands on the site of the original fur-trading town that Lewis and Clark saw in 1803 and is a memorial to St. Louis' role in the westward expansion of the United States during the years of 1803-1890. There are two passenger trams, one located in each leg of the Arch, which carry visitors to the observation room at the top. Each tram has eight capsules, which hold five persons each. Passengers board the trams in the base of the leg for a 4-minute ride to the top. Electric motors keep the capsules level as they ascend and descend. The day of our visit only one leg of the tram was working as they still had not repaired the cables that broke a couple months ago. You may have read about it in the newspapers, and at the time all I could think was that I couldn't imagine being stuck in one of those capsules for several hours because I remembered how small they were!

The viewing area at the top can hold up to 160 people. There are 16 windows on each side of the viewing area, and each window is 7 x 27 inches. From these windows the view stretches for miles east and west over St. Louis and Illinois. On a clear day the view at the top can extend up to thirty miles in either direction.

Beneath the Gateway Arch lies the unique Museum of Westward Expansion, which is dedicated to the events touched off by Thomas Jefferson and the Louisana Purchase. The Museum preserves some of the rarest artifacts from the days of Lewis and Clark to help visitors understand what it was like to go west during the 19th century. On the walls are beautiful floor to ceiling photos showing different areas of the country with the words of those that made the journey expressed alongside.











That night Patty and I visited another local Sweet Adelines chorus called the River Blenders, a large chorus of over 100 women, who placed 2nd at this year's Regional contest, and scored high enough to receive wildcard status to compete in the 2008 International Competition in Hawaii next November!! They are directed by the fabulous Master Director, Diane Huber. Diane has been a Sweet Adeline for over 30 years, a chorus and quartet coach, a Queen of Harmony (quartet champion) with Ambiance, and Immediate Past President of Sweet Adelines International. She is extremely bubbly, vivacious, fun, and I would say humble as she never mentioned any of these things other than being a SA for over 30 years. I've heard and read about her for years, and it was such a pleasure to meet her in person.

This was the first night of a 4 week membership drive referred to as "Free Voice Lessons", which as Diane explained, are designed to be helpful with any type of singing. The first hour of rehearsal, while the chorus worked on choreography, Diane spent with the guests in another room explaining a bit about the organization, her experience, and about proper alignment and breathing. At one point, she came around to each of us and had us place our hands on her back at the ribcage while she breathed in and out to demonstrate proper breathing technique. Though I would have loved to watch the choreo rehearsal, I stayed with Patty for moral support and because it's always fascinating to hear the way different directors and coaches explain things.

After the lesson was done, we joined the chorus to watch them perform Proud Mary, And So It Goes (a beautiful Billy Joel ballad), and We Are Family. What fun!! Then the guests were free to leave, but Patty and I stayed. They worked on parts of a couple more songs then broke into section rehearsals, and here's where Patty and I got to join in! Patty hadn't been voice placed yet, so Diane said she could stay with me in the Lead section. The song they were working on was Crying Myself to Sleep, a song I already knew! (And yes, my Houston Horizon friends, I still remembered it!) The arrangement was almost the same with slightly different interp, but I barely had to look at the music except to see their breath marks. When the rest of the chorus rejoined us, Patty and I got to stay on the risers while they ran through the song in four parts. Then it was time for us to sit again while they ran some more songs with choreo.

There's one other large Sweet Adeline chorus here in St. Louis called St. Louis Harmony, which took 1st place at this year's Regional contest. They will also compete at next year's International Competition in Hawaii, but unfortunately I was not able to visit their rehearsal on this trip. So that will have to wait till next year's visit. They'll really be in full competition mode by then as will the River Blenders! I'll be sure to visit both, and I'm sure pay a visit to City Voices again, too! They will have just competed at the International Educational Symposium in San Antonio and hopefully be celebrating a win!

Time with Friends & Family

Wednesday afternoon took us to Russ' brother's farm in Wentzville, MO, about an hour from us, and we took the dogs so they could get out for awhile. Ron and Jackie have about 120 acres and for many years Ron ran a baseball camp with his own "field of dreams" right on the farm. For those of you who don't know, Ron Hunt is Russ' half brother and played major league baseball for a number of years. Jackie had a separate industrial kitchen built since her kitchen in the house was too small to cook for all those boys when they attended the camps! We put the dogs in one of their outdoor kennels, and Ron gave us a tour of the spread. Russ had been there many times as a kid, but the couple times I had been, I only saw the house. Ron drove us out to the pasture to show us his prized bull, Walter. The rest of his cattle are down the road for the summer but will be brought back here soon. We headed back to the house for a brief visit, then left to go to dinner but first stopped by their daughter, Tracy's, house to say hi. She has a beautiful place, and though she was busy doing some work from home, we talked her into going to dinner with us. We ate at the 54th Street Bar & Grill, and afterwards went back to the farm and spent a few more hours sitting outside chatting. It was late when we left but what a wonderful visit.

Thursday Russ went to play golf, and I met up with Gloria and her bowling team for lunch. Now what makes this so special is that as it turns out one of Gloria's bowling partners is someone I haven't seen in 34 years! The high school I attended was a small, all-girls school, and every freshman was assigned a sophomore "big sister". Gloria "met" Pam at the grocery store where they both worked, discovered they went to the same high school, became friends, and got on the same bowling team. When I got to town, Gloria was telling them about her friend from high school being in town, and when she told Pam my maiden name, she exclaimed "That's my little sister!" Talk about a small world! When I walked in, I would have known her anywhere...she looked exactly the same. OK, maybe a wee bit older. :-) It was great to catch up with her.

That night I finally visited my second Sweet Adelines chorus since we started this journey. Steve's wife, Patty, likes to sing (though she has done it for years) and has been looking for something to do for herself since they moved back here a year ago, so I asked her if she'd like to join me (that's her in the pink top standing in front of me). The chorus we visited was City Voices Chorus, a mid-size chorus of around 45 members, who came in 1st place in their division at Regional competition this year, 3rd place overall, and got Most Improved Chorus honors! We had actually heard them perform Take Me Out To The Ballgame when we were at the Cards game a couple weeks ago. There were only about 35 on the risers the night we attended, and as usual everyone made us feel most welcome. Their director, Jerilee Inghram, has been a Sweet Adeline for many years, is a Master Director, and was most gracious. Patty and I were able to jump right in on the risers with guest books and sing along. The first song they worked was one I already knew and one of my favorites, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. Next they ran through We Are Family (yes, the Sister Sledge song!), Good Old Acapella (which I didn't know), and Once Upon a Time (a beautiful ballad). Then it was time for Patty and me to sit while Jerilee's daughter (who is a singer and dancer) taught the chorus a routine and ran front row auditions. I sure wanted to jump up there and do it with them! Once that was done, we rejoined them on the risers for some more singing. What a fun night! And what a wonderful chorus! If you'd like to find out more about them, check out their website at www.cityvoiceschorus.org/index.htm .

It rained most of the day Friday, so we stayed inside and vegged. But we had plans for dinner to meet up with Randy and Michelle at Rich and Charlie's Restaurant near here. A few months after Russ had hired me at Stouffer's, he hired this darling girl named Michelle, and she and I hit it off immediately. Though she only worked at the hotel for a year, we remained close friends, and she was even in our wedding plus I sang in her wedding a month later. What a great time the three of us had reminiscing about people we worked with and sharing the stories of those times with Randy. We chatted about many things and nearly closed the restaurant down.

Saturday night was Girls Night Out! Seven us (including big sis Pam!) went to That One Place, which is about 15 minutes from the campground, for dinner, drinks, and dancing. Plus they had the Cardinals baseball game on TV! Unfortunately, the Cards lost, but we still had a great time. We were all commenting that it's been a long time since we've stayed up this late...it was well after midnight when we left!

Well, until next time from the Folly!

Lone Elk Park

Not far from our campground is one of St. Louis’ coolest places, Lone Elk Park, a wildlife management area run by the county park system. Evidently it's been here a long time, but neither Russ or I remember hearing about it growing up here. There are hiking trails, picnic areas in scenic spots, and you can even get a glimpse of the animals that live in the park. In a setting at the edge of the Ozark foothills, the park offers rolling hills, a quiet lake, and oak forests. The big draw, however, is its drive-through animal range where bison, deer, elk and other animals roam in this 526-acre park. The only way to really view this area is in a motor vehicle which allows visitors a truly “up close” encounter with the animals in their natural habitat and that's exactly what we did on Tuesday morning.

It was about 10am and initially we thought we might not see many animals since the best times are early morning or about dinner time, but as we rounded a curve in the road there were about a dozen geese standing in the middle of the road! We drove right past them (slowly of course), and they didn't budge. Obviously they're very used to cars. They're probably just wondering what kind of animals those are! We made the loop back past them continuing on our way through the park, and shortly we came across some bison grazing up on the hill. Did you know that bison are the largest terrestrial mammal in North America? They live to be about 20 years old and are born without their trademark "hump" or horns. They can reach up to 6½ ft. tall, 10 ft long, and weigh 900 to 2,000 lbs. Bison are among the most dangerous animals encountered by visitors to the various U.S. National Parks. Although they are not carnivorous, they will attack humans if provoked. They appear slow because of their lethargic movements, but they can easily outrun humans. Since the bison are considered to be more aggressive than the elk and deer in the rest of the park, they are confined to a separate section by cattle guards and fences. No hiking trails or picnic areas were placed in the bison section in order to minimize human contact.

Our next encounter was with a herd of elk in Elk's Hollow. Elk are the second largest species of deer in the world, and during the summer, they eat almost constantly. This herd we saw were all grazing and resting right along the roadside, and again the animals did not budge as we and another car slowly drove past. Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each winter. Elk live 20 years or more in captivity but average 10 to 13 years in the wild. After taking a few photos, we continued on our drive and lying right there on the side of the road was this huge male elk with a full rack! What a majestic animal and how incredible to witness so close! The best was truly saved for last.

Our tour complete, it was time to head out for a visit with Russ' Aunt Dori. She has lived at Autumn View Gardens, a retirement community here in St. Louis, for about 6 years and has her own little apartment there. Since we arrived around lunch time, she asked if we'd like to join her in the dining room. They were serving polish sausage, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, and it sounded fine to us. We had a great visit with her, and she's just another one of those amazing 85 year old women!

Game Day!

When we first started making plans to leave on this journey, there were two things that were fairly firm in our itinerary. We had reservations for Walt Disney World starting Sept. 21 and the Missouri/Illinois football game in St. Louis on Sept. 1. Although we have waivered back and forth on our WDW trip, seeing the Missouri Tigers was a date that was always firm. There is nothing like college football especially games on a college campus. Over the years we have seen Syracuse at Boston College, BYU at New Mexico, Notre Dame at Southern Cal, Miami at Clemson, Missouri at College Station, some no name team at LSU, and even flew back to Columbia, MO, four years ago to see Nebraska take on the Tigers. We actually discussed following the Missouri football team around this fall and also going to different campuses to take in the football scene. Since this is our first year out, we decided not to be so ambitious but wouldn't be surprised if next year we report from South Bend, Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, or one of the many other football hotbeds!

Although the University of Missouri has struggled on the gridiron since the mid-80s, we have always followed them closely. Russ remembers the days during the 60s when his father and friends would drive from St. Louis to catch the Tigers. Each year Russ got to go to one game and has many fond memories of those day trips. In fact he says he never considered going to another school as fall Saturdays in Columbia with the air crisp and the leaves turning colors are hard to beat. Missouri has a proud football tradition and during the decade of the 60s no college team won more football games than our beloved Tigers. In the "old days" schools did not schedule the patsies that they do today, and there was always a Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Alabama, UCLA, and the likes on their schedule. Adding the annual battles against Oklahoma and Nebraska insured that Missouri played one of the toughest schedules in the country year after year. Throughout the 70s the Tigers continued the tradition of playing national powers and produced wins over #2 Nebraska, #2 Ohio State, #2 Alabama, #2 Nebraska (again), #3 Nebraska, #4 USC, #5 Notre Dame, #7 Arizona State, #7 Colorado, and #8 Notre Dame, during a 6 year period. For our Baton Rouge friends who believe that college football begins and ends with the SEC, Missouri is 17-8-1 against SEC teams. Included in that is a victory over LSU in their only meeting.

Don Faurot served as football coach from 1935 through 1956. His prime contribution to football was his innovation of the Split-T formation at Mizzou in 1941. In the post-World War II era countless universities adopted the Faurot formation — and more than 60 years later, it is still in vogue today at all levels of football. Several of football’s most notable formations — the Wishbone, Wingbone, Veer or I-attack and others — utilize Faurot’s option play as their basic concept. Missouri is also credited with starting a tradition in 1911 that almost all colleges and universities celebrate today. Yes, Columbia, MO, was the site of the first homecoming game!

Enough about the history....IT'S GAME DAY!!

We committed to taking the RV downtown to tailgate before the 2:30 kickoff. Like all big cities the streets downtown are narrow and congested, so we left the KOA Campground at 6am in order to be there when the gates opened at 7. We had looked at our route the previous week when we had been downtown to ensure that there would be no issues in driving a 40 ft. bus there. Everything was going fine until we got to our turn on First Street and found that it had been blocked off and was being used as a tailgate venue. John, who was with us, said just to go down to Wharf Street and we could go around. After traveling about 10 ft., the RV came to a screeching halt as Russ noticed the clearance of the bridge at the bottom of the street was 12 ft. 3 in. Normally this would not be a problem, but with the RV being 12 ft. 10 in. high, it would have definitely put a damper on the day if we would have continued! With nowhere to go, Russ chose the only option available and made a U-turn right in the middle of Washington Street! Too bad we don't have a picture of that!! After some more maneuvering, we finally made it to our tailgate lot and set up for the day's festivities.

We had arranged for 12 tickets together for the game and anticipated another 10 or 12 people joining us for the tailgate. Since we had arrived early, we had more than enough time to organize the food and drink for our party. I cooked breakfast for the four of us, and we spent the next couple hours drinking coffee and getting ready for the big game. Russ had an open beer in his hand at 8:30 so I guess that officially marked the beginning of our party! Most of our group arrived around 10:00, and by 11 the lot was full with equal number of Missouri and Illinois fans singing their school fight songs. Along with all the usual standbys, Russ grilled some chicken wings, beer brats, and Italian sausage. Many beers were had by all and even a few shots of Wild Turkey were consumed by the guys for old times sake!

At about 1:30 it was time to head up to the Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams, and get ready for kickoff. Russ said he would use game time to sober up as we still needed to drive home that evening! Our RV friend, Scott, stayed behind with the dogs and said that he enjoyed the quiet time away from the other chaos as it was his first college tailgate party.

The Tigers won beating Illinois 40-34 in a game that should not have been that close. Illinois staged a second half rally from 24 points down, and it wasn't until the Tigers intercepted a pass in the endzone with less than a minute to go that victory was secured. One of the great basketball rivalries is the annual Braggin' Rights Game in St. Louis each December between Missouri and Illinois. The tickets are as hard to come by as any in sports with one half of the arena in black and gold and the other orange and blue. The Missouri/Illinois football game is scheduled to be in St. Louis for the next five years, and on Sat. over 62,000 fans again split the Dome down the center adorning their team colors. College football....ya gotta love it!!

After the game, we returned to the parking lot to munch and have a few more cocktails while waiting for traffic to clear. The baseball Cardinals game a few blocks down the street was starting just as the football game ended so downtown was full of happy Mizzou fans, disappointed Illini fans, and excited Cardinals fans in the midst of another pennant race. We watched about half of the Cardinals game on the outdoor TV joined by many Illini fans who were also interested in seeing how the birds were doing. About 8:30 we were all packed up and started on an uneventful trip back to the KOA. It was a long day but well worth the effort.