May 2021: I realized I hadn’t put the St. Louis Girls Trip in my TravelBlog, so I’m (trying to) reconstruct by using what I put in my other blog and adding photos. I had all the photos in an online photo album but I can no longer access the album (12 years later). I had a lot of photos on a CD but it's old and some of the pictures couldn't be read but I was able to transfer a lot of them.
This trip included: Amy, Callie, Connie, Dawn, Deb, Lynn, Michelle, Staci, me. Jenn came by when she saw on FB that we were in her neck of the woods. Sadly Jennie, who booked the house for our group, was unable to attend due to medical issues. Lacy was pregnant and her doctor advised her against traveling. I don't remember why Courtney (Rev) couldn't make it.
We all met on a website several years ago. We all blogged at the same place so we “knew” each other pretty well, although some of us had never met in person. Amy, Lynn, Dawn, Courtney, and I went on a Chicago Girls Trip in 2009. I had met Courtney when she was in Arizona on a business/pleasure trip in 2005. I don't remember what year I met Connie but I think it was probably around 2005 as well. Anyhow...
This is from my personal blog:
A few days after the trip ~ Seriously, I’m not waiting for someone else to recap first. 
The next day ~ Hold your pants
on. These things take time!
This recap will be more of “what we did” because I could never (maybe someone else can provide that
angle) capture the essence and energy of the group individually. Nor how
cleansing it is to your soul to spend some time away from your usual routine
with some incredible women. There is no way to describe the feeling of “meeting” someone you’ve “known”
for five years and you just click. How could you be strangers? Or reuniting
with those you have met previously. We had some very personal conversations,
some intense, many filled with laughter, all good!
I arrived in St. Louis Thursday afternoon. Lynn picked me up we circled around until Connie and Deb arrived. We got back to the mansion rental where Callie, Staci and Dawn were hanging out. The question of the hour was what is the definition of a mansion because we all thought this was a just a nice, big house. It didn't feel mansion-y. Two seconds of research when I got home revealed that there used to be defining things like a ballroom or 6,000 to 8,000 square feet (depending on the source) but bottom line was “Today, however, there is no formal definition beyond being a large and well-appointed house.” The house was really nice and the rooms were spacious but there was a wee tad of false advertising. When we arrived there was NOT ONE MAN in the 7 man hot tub!
M&M went home (they live in St. Louis) and the rest of us went back to the house, had a little beer and/or wine and a lot of conversation.
Friday Michelle took ½ day off work and joined us again. Lynn stayed at the house to relax and the rest of us headed to St. Louis to do something St. Louis-ie. We checked out Union Station and the Arch. We ate lunch at Beechwood Bistro by Sage. We sat outside. They had a very nice patio and a really pleasant server but they were out of several items on the menu and the food took for fricken ever to get to our table. Staci spoke to the manager who agreed to give us a nice discount off our tab for our inconvenience.
We left there (not mentioning the detour thru the mall for ice cream/cookies at Nestle). We walked down to the Arch which was a nice walk but a little farther than we had anticipated. 3.2 miles round trip according to Dawn’s pedometer. There was beautiful architecture and landscaping and we walked past Bush Stadium where people were starting to gather for the Cardinal/Cubs game.
After we did sit ups on the grassy area under the Arch, Staci, Callie, Dawn and I went back and Michelle, Connie and Deb went to the museum under the Arch. We stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on a few things to make pizza and salad for dinner. In the meantime Amy had arrived at the house and hung out with Lynn. While we were getting dinner ready Jenn arrived.
We hung out on the screened in patio for a while and then we checked out the hot tub.
Later on Staci, Lynn, Callie, Amy and I discovered that even though the brochure said each bed sleeps 2, 5 could fit comfortably! We stayed up talking until the wee hours.
Saturday after breakfast it was time to bid farewell to Callie and Dawn who had planes to catch and Michelle had to get home to Maya. We got ready to go to lunch and Jenn left when we did. We went to Steak ‘n Shake, cuz its local and you know, when in Rome. It was good.
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| Before |
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| After |
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| Sunday Morning Shenanigans |
Staci and Lynn left first thing Sunday morning and Amy hung around to take Connie, Deb and me to the airport around noon. When we planned the trip Michelle said since she lives in St. Louis she would do airport shuttles but that didn't actually happen due to her personal schedule.
We truly missed those who had to cancel for various reasons but rest assured we talked about them plenty. :wink:
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