Adventures in Forest Park

Once upon a time not so long ago, Lauren and I had some crazy adventures in Forest Park. I had originally wanted to spend the day finding all of the geocaches in the park (there's about 18), but then I found out that Lauren had never been to the St. Louis Zoo! I decided we would have to fix that.

Our day began with a couple of geocaches near the zoo. Then we proceeded to the World's Fair Pavilion where a police officer told us that people were setting up for a wedding. We looked for our next geocache and played in the fountain while we listened to the warbling of a trio practicing for the wedding.

Next we took a break for lunch and played at the Turtle Playground. There was supposed to be a geocache in there, too, but we didn't find it. It must have been muggled. We took photos with the turtles and admired the snake-head that had been replaced after it had been vandalized.

After lunch we hit the zoo. I love the zoo! I love the animals AND the fact that I don't have to pay for the privilege to see them. We saw pretty much all of the animals. Since Lauren had never been before, I HAD to make sure she did it right. We saw the sea lions get fed, and I dragged Lauren through the Herpetarium. We had a lot of fun in the Primate House, watching the high-energy ring-tailed lemurs bounding all around their space. Another fun place was Penguin and Puffin Coast. It felt pretty cold coming in out of the Missouri heat and humidity, but we got used to it, especially after the puffins near us kept splashing us! Check out a few more photos here.

As we left the zoo, the clouds that had been above us all day finally let loose with the rain. It was a nice rain, a summer rain. It was light and warm, and we didn't mind walking back to the car in it. Then it was on to Pat's Irish Pub and Grill. Mmm...

The main event: The real reason we came to St. Louis was to see "Meet Me in St. Louis" at the Muny. We found our last geocache (total: 3) on the way to the theatre. The rain had let up, and it was a gorgeous evening. We listened to some music before the show and then went in.

The show was great! I got a little anxious when the Trolley Song started and there wasn't any hint of a trolley on stage, but they opened up the stage to reveal a real, motorized trolley car that carried the actors offstage! Lauren and I were bummed when it started raining in the middle of the second act. People headed to the wings to get some shelter. Those who remained seated began opening umbrellas. Lauren and I didn't have anything, but we had made it that far in our beloved musical, and we were going to see it through! We waited patiently as they called the rain delay and gave us updates as to when the play would began again. Turns out there was only about 15 minutes left, but that included Esther's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the trip to the World's Fair. For the fair, they opened up the stage to reveal a lighted outline of the buildings at the fair. It was beautiful! And at the encore, everyone stood and sang "Meet Me in St. Louis" together. Yay for a great ending to a great day!