A Weekend in St. Louis

We just had the most amazing weekend in St. Louis. We drove down on Friday, which happened to be my birthday. Basically, we celebrated the entire weekend. Hudson met us a few minutes after we checked into our cute Airbnb. It's strange. This is the first time it was just Brian and I visiting since we dropped Hudson off for his sophomore year. And, it was just to visit. No Family Weekends. No graduations. No soccer camps for Cole. Kind of strange. But nice. After settling in, we headed over to Hudson's new place. He moved while we were in Mexico. It's a cute house that he shares with two other guys -- both previous roommates of his. After that, we had dinner at Polite Society. Loved getting to celebrate my day with Hudson & Brian. We were pretty beat, so called it an early night. 

The next morning Hudson met us bright and early and we walked over to our favorite farmers market in Tower Grove. Seriously, it's so good. We tried a few goodies, and picked up some produce (beautiful tomatoes were still available! - it's the only time I'll eat them) and listened to some great live music. It was the perfect start to the day. After a quick stop at Walgreens to pick up Dramamine, we headed to Ideal Aviation, where Hudson works as a flight instructor. It was cool seeing where he works, but even better, he took us up for a flight! It's been four years since I rode with him and Brian and I have never gone up together. I tried not to think about it much beforehand, but it was such a cool, incredible experience. I'm so proud of that kid. We were only in the air about 30 minutes, but got a great view of the Mississippi River, Anheuser-Busch, and The Arch. After landing, we picked up sandwiches at Sando Shack and brought them next door to Amsterdam Tavern to watch the USA vs. Canada soccer match. Canada won, so we silently cheered. We are US fans, but our excited for our friend Jesse Marsch , the Canadian National Coach. After the match, we went to Hudson's place again, then walked around his cool new neighborhood before heading to Menya Rui for ramen. We waited in a pretty big line, but they turn people through fast and it was worth it. So delicious. Our only mistake was not ordering the fried chicken. Next time. Once again, it was an early night. Hudson had a party to go to and Brian and I were exhausted. Sadly, we also had to say goodbye to Hudson. He had to work the next morning and we had to make our way back home. 

Before leaving St. Louis, we stopped at Damn Fine Hand Pies. We each had a sandwich, but of course had to get donuts, some hand pies to go and a half a loaf of Sourdough Focaccia. In fact, it was the owners birthday on Friday too, so she was celebrating all weekend as well. It was the perfect way to end our weekend. Cannot wait to go back to STL.