Day Nine, St. Louis, MO: Southern Hospitality

I used my last full day in St. Louis, and the first since this trip started that had decent, sub-90 weather, to tour the St. Louis zoo. St. Louis has an interesting arrangement in that the zoo is supported by taxes from the city, and admission is free. I’d be pretty upset with this arrangement as a resident, but as a visitor, I can’t complain.

The zoo wasn’t particularly spectacular or unique. It is, however, interesting that the zoo was located in the middle of Forest Park, which is the second largest municipal park in the country behind Central Park. Forest Park is a bit more motorized than it’s New York counterpart, but it’s still an extraordinarily large area of green expanse to find in the middle of a city.

Dinner was at Taleyna’s Pizza. St. Louis does have it’s own style of pizza, which is a very thin, almost flatbread crust, and Provel cheese, which consists of Provolone, Cheddar, and Swiss.  It’s a great combination.

I’m  extremely grateful to my hosts in St. Louis, Dave and Jennifer, who have been kind enough to both show me around the city and treat me to so much of the great food here. Dave was raised in the tradition of Southern hospitality, and it has certainly lived up to its reputation. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving for Kansas City after checking out the Arch in the morning. Even just nine days in, this has been the trip of a lifetime. I’ve always thought of this as a large trip, but I’m starting to realize it is a vacation as well. I’ve seen so many new and amazing things, but the whole experience has been relaxing enough that I’ve enjoyed every minute.

One more site-related update. Since full-size pictures aren’t uploaded to the site, you can find some of them at http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith.