Back From St. Louis

Bar-b-que, beer, biscuits, and blues. That's what St. Louis was to me.

I spent last weekend and the beginning of this week in St. Louis, where Isabella was giving poster presentation for a conference. So I joined her and we hit the town and had some fun.

Random thoughts:

* For a wound care conference (blech), I was astounded at the number of participants who went outside for smoke breaks!

* Never knew how silt-y the Mississippi River was! It's kind of like thick, brown, sludge. Great place to hide a body, I would guess.

* After our paddle boat tour of that thick, brown river, I was immediately struck with the desire to re-read "Life on the Mississippi" and "Huck Finn". Maybe I'll hit the library next week.

* That arch? Really impressive from the outside. Not so impressive from the inside. We rode up to the top in these little round Dr. Evil pods to look out tiny, tiny little windows. You gotta go up, its the touristy thing to do. But when all is said and done, lying on your back in the grass and looking straight up at the arch is much more awe inspiring.

* I love blues music. Love, love, love, love it. Made me miss San Francisco and the great blues bars there. (I know...blues isn't the first thing that pops into my head when I think "San Fran" either.)

* And the poor Cardinals fans had the blues while we were there.

* Just walking around a city with a baseball hat on (in my case, a Red Sox hat) is just the best way to meet people. Instant connection. In any city.

* We also visited "the Old Courthouse" which was the site of the infamous "Dred Scott" case. I sort of remembered that from high school history. That was the guy suing to buy his freedom, right? How the heck did that end? Ummm...hmmm. I guess we should go visit, because high school was a long time ago. Let me just say -- I don't remember it being that dramatic when I studied it in school. And since I am such a nerd (who checks out "Life on the Mississippi" after a boat ride) I couldn't help thinking: "Oh, to be in AP American history and write a paper comparing the Dred Scott case with Proposition 8". Yeah, I know. NERD.

* I am so sluggish and bloated from the food I gorged on all week. And so not ready for my first sprint triathlon of the season tomorrow. I can only hope that the high fat will make me more buoyant and power me through the bike ride!