St. Charles is on the way to St. Louis, sitting along the banks of the Big Muddy itself. Fantastic structures line the historic old town and have been lovingly transformed into charming shops and restaurants of every description. The wooden building was Missouri’s original State Capitol.

We made the Benton Park neighborhood our home this leg of the trip, with gorgeous, mansard topped brick buildings galore, however absent from this photo. The subtle glow of lights emanates from tasty Peacemaker. Top notch cocktails and seafood, stellar hush puppies, too!

This is the old Falstaff Brewery, just around the corner from our digs. It is HUGE and for sale! If you have millions and millions, do please consider making something wonderful with it.

St. Agnes Church – for you, Aunt Mary

How about this to mark your address? The coolest in St. Louis!

The Missouri Botanical Garden is probably the largest I’ve visited, and, as one would expect, pretty darn magical! A heaven-scented oasis.

If you’re a peanut lover, as I am, please give a hearty nod of appreciation to George Washington Carver, who, besides Jimmy Carter – maybe, did more for the precious legume than anybody. He was also a thoughtful human being and ahead of his time. He is the genius behind the advent of crop rotation!

We enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Salt + Smoke BBQ after our botanical wander. Good golly was it great!

Mansard roof & classic bicycle. It’s like someone knew I wanted a photo.

The Gateway Arch is every bit as gorgeous and majestic as I hoped it would be. At 640 feet, it’s a long way up, too! Additionally, the city mandates no structure can rise above it. Very apropos.

At Cahokia Mounds – a long abandoned Native American City, estimated to have 40-50,000 inhabitants (between 1100 – 1350), and structural marvel, where millions of tons of earth was dug to create more than 50 earthen mounds. The view of St. Louis is from Monk’s Mound, the largest in the complex and the largest mound north of Mexico.

I love thinking on what this place looked like and how the people lived. What rich history can be found just about anywhere!

A slice of summer at Russell’s. Sweet perfection.

The world is your gym, peeps!