End Of The Season
Well, you know it's the end of the season when the top has to go back on the Jeep. Yeah, it's weird since i'm coming back from daily temps around 90 during my week in Dallas (no more horses!!!), but we're looking at frost by the middle of the week. And with my recently shaved noggin' (have you noticed?) it's going to get real chilly really quick. So, with tears in our eyes, we decided to have one last day of open-top motoring. We had brunch with Randy and Jim who are spending weekends here in the city more now. And after being at JJs late for the Mr Moon contest, it was nice that they didn't have to drive the 40+ minutes out to St Charles County. Ari's, a really nice Greek restaurant that we love going to (and are super friendly to us) has a nice brunch for only 7 bucks (and their gyros are phenomenal too). The girl that waitresses there thinks Matt and i are really cute (see? he looks good on me!) and we love hanging out and chatting with her.
After brunch, we picked up Coco and just started driving. Where we went was not that important, just to go and enjoy the last warm, sunny weekend that we'll probably have for some time to come. Hell, we can tell it's going to be a tough winter...the squirrels are digging up everything they can get their hands on to store against the coming cold. We wound up going through Forest Park which is always nice. We drove past the site where they they had the Highland Games on Friday and Saturday which, of course, we didn't know they were having until we were bartending yesterday. Oh well, wait'll next year.
HERE'S something that i didn't know. There is a memorial in the park to the Confederate Soliders who died in the Civil War. Hmmm. Then again, when you consider that Missouri was a swing state back in those days, which side you got "drafted" into depended on who was in charge at the time. In these parts, folks learned to sing "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" and "Dixie" with equal fervor out of a sheer desire to survive. Matt said that the little semi-circular drive around the obelisk and the cannon barrel acrossfrom it was known as "the Fruit Loop" back in the day and was a popular cruising area back when we were teens. Here i always heard that Tower Grove Park was "the Fruit Loop" and had been warned away from there for who knew what would happen to a tender young chubby boy. Alas, i can only dream of what may have happened for their admonishments and the guilt inspired by my catholic education kept me in fear for not only my hide, but for my mortal soul. Ah, the paths we choose.
We continued our tour on into University City and wound up at an estate sale on Delmar, west of the Loop. This place had been pretty picked over by the time we got there, but we didn't really want to buy anything anyway. We just wanted to see this 10,000 square foot, 9BR/6Bath, monstrosity. It was really hideous too. Matthew started looking at a Japanese screen which i might have been tempted to get him for his upcoming birthday (only 10 days left!!) had it not been for the $900 price tag that made me choke. "Uh, honey? Look at these Japanese plates! They're only 10 apiece!" We left empty-handed, even passing on the Star Trek Next Generation life-size cardboard cutouts. We drove around aimlessly a little while longer. Still no music as the stereo i got was rejected for repairs by Alpine due to "water damage". *sigh* Well, in two weeks i'll be back on the road again and i can't really afford another one right now. After awhile, we decided to head back to the house and, reluctantly, put the top back on the Jeep. Oh well. C'mon, winter, bring on your worst. i'm ready for the challenge.
