“Iris”

St. Charles/St Louis Missouri April 22 – April 29, 202

The main goal on our trip north was to arrive in Door County Wisconsin and have optimal weather. To do that, we had to meander south of Wisconsin until late May. So on our way, we chose a campground in St Charles Missouri. The selection was based on the location of the park on the Katy Trail. The trail is a 240 mile multi use trail. The trail was awesome and appeared to be popular. We rode on the trail several times during our stay. The trail ran parallel to the Missouri River and had some very nice views.

St. Charles was an unexpected surprise. It had a quaint downtown area with historic brick buildings containing shops and restaurants located off the Katy Trail. St. Charles was the staging location for the Lewis and Clark expedition and the location of a small museum about Lewis and Clark. We had dinner at Salt and Smoke, a very good bbq place with a nice outdoor patio. We also had drinks at the wine bar and sampled some beer at the local brewery.

While in St. Charles, I read about wineries located south west of the city and we obviously decided to check a few out. We visited Montville Winery and had lunch on the deck. We tasted wine at Augusta Vineyards, and we had a bottle of wine on the deck at Defiance Ridge Winery. The views were wonderful, the wine was passable (probably similar to box wine), but we had a wonderful afternoon driving and sampling wine.

We traveled into St. Louis several times and we liked the city very much. We visited the Arch and the museum located below the Arch. The museum is dedicated to the building of the Arch, growth of the St. Louis area, the changes in the native American population and western expansion. The Arch is next to the old capital and is situated in the middle of a lovely park right on the Mississippi river.

We visited Ulysses S. Grants home in St. Louis named White Haven. The home was originally owned by his wife’s family and where Julia (his wife) grew up. The Grants bought the home from Julia’s father and over the course of the marriage lived there for a number of years. The color of the home called Paris Green, apparently the color was hard to make and therefore a sign of wealth. The Grants selected the color and so the National Park Service recreated the color for the restoration. I thought it was a crazy color and very bright in person.

We spent a day shopping at Soulards, a farmers market operating in St. Louis since 1779. We bought leeks, shitake mushrooms, apples, green beans, spices, aloha peppers, jalapeno cheddar bread, and cinnamon pecans. We also tasted a couple of local favorites, Imo’s pizza with provel cheese and gooey butter cake. Both were delicious.

I cannot write about this area without talking about our visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The day we visited, the weather was perfect. While we missed the tulips, the irises were in full bloom. The azaleas were stunning and the dogwoods were still blooming. We strolled the paths for several hours. I absolutely loved the botanical gardens.