Time Warp

While we were driving through the Loess Hills on Saturday en route to visit my grandmother's grave, we passed through a small town that I had been to a few times as a child. We went because there was a geocache there to discover.

It was like stepping back in time!

None of the streets in Castana, Iowa are paved.

The old school appeared to be closed.

The central park had a cool memorial to local veterans, which included the corner pillars and entrance to the former bank which is no longer standing on the site. There was also a time capsule buried there, scheduled to be opened in 2036.

At the community center we discovered Castana's volunteer fire truck, ready to be dispatched in case of emergency!

What do you think? 1940's? 1950's?

I Spy

Things we spotted along the roadways of our trip.


Two of my favorites in one spot!


Clarkes Restaurant in Almyre proudly displays the fact that they have air conditioning! (Note: the town is in the midst of Amish and Mennonite settlers...so perhaps this explains things a bit.)


London Calling!

A plethora of great British pubs!


(Best fish & chips I've EVER eaten!!) Photos by DD


(First time I've had bangers & mash....but not the last!) Photo by DD


(Also serving the local brew from Railway City Brewery! I had the Iron Spike Copper Ale, while DH had the Seasonal Roundhaus Pilsner.)

St. Thomas Visitor's Center & Travel Information (photo by DD)


Also the site of the life-sized statue of Jumbo the Elephant.

Memorial Day 2010

From the Top

I realized I hadn't posted the most obvious photos from our St. Louis trip--those from the arch. Amanda captured most of these, from either the van or at the top. I didn't go up this time, but waited down below with my knitting project in hand.

Enjoy the view!

Arriving at the riverfront:



Bridges over the Mississippi River:



Illinois:



Downtown St. Louis (& beyond!):



Busch Stadium:



The Old Courthouse:



From the base (see the windows at the top??!!):



This last is the only one of the bunch I took. Seeing the city from the top of the arch is pretty cool! If you go: be prepared for a LOOOONG security check point if you go in the north entrance (closest to the parking ramp). [Tip: walk around to the other entrance. Almost no one does, meaning the security line there is WAAAY shorter!] Be prepared to remove your belt and have everything scanned. They do refuse to admit people in this post-9/11 world. They turned the 3 people in line ahead of us around and wouldn't let them in after they failed the metal detector 3 times.

Union Station

Union Station was St. Louis' railroad hub back when long-distance travel meant taking the passenger train. Today it is a shopping center and hotel complex. Still, the architecture is wonderful. And you can't beat lunch at Hard Rock!

















Note to any and all persons who may have ever visited Union Station with us: Even though there seemed to be fewer shops inside, The Fudgery is still there. They still sing. They still give a free sample following the "show." The fudge is still really good!

Kid Paradise

The City Museum is new to St. Louis since we moved away in 1988. (Wow, that's a long time ago!) It is pretty much Mecca if you're a kid (or a kid at heart, or need to keep a kid busy.) It's a re-claimed warehouse/office building with 3+ stories of fun to explore and a human-sized hamster run attached to the outside of the building. Oh yeah, there's also fun on the roof, including a school bus perched OVER the corner, 11 stories up. (Yeah, you can go in. Yeah, the front door opens. Yeah, it's WAAAAY off the ground!!!)

Take a peek!


















You'd be surprised by all the places kids found to crawl around and explore. They had a great old arcade. And an area where they collect architectural details from old buildings being demolished. And several slides where you got on the slide on one floor and ended up down a couple stories. (One slide was made from the rollers at the loading docks, only instead of being flat to push boxes into the storage area, it was tilted for a pretty fast ride!)

All in all, if you're intrigued, or have kids, you should go if you get to St. Louis. Skip the added $$ for the roof if your kids are older than 12-13. Entrance bands are good for the whole day, so pack a lunch!

The Fabulous Fox

One morning we went downtown to take a tour of the Fox Theatre. DH had taken me to a Gordon Lightfoot concert there when we were dating. I was excited to get inside again as it is without a doubt THE most ornate theater I've ever been in.

Mr. Fox reportedly built 5 theaters around the country in the late 1920's. All were named "Fox Theatre." The St. Louis Fox was built in 1927-28 and openend in January of 1929, nearly 11 months prior to the stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929 which ushered in the Great Depression. Hard to believe when you step through the golden doors......




and into the lobby......







When the theater opened in 1929 it was a movie theater. Can you imagine?? There was an older woman with us on the tour who had grown up in St. Louis. She had gone to the movies at The Fox as a girl/young woman. She didn't say an exact date/era, but did report that when she went, the price of admission was $.35 (thirty-five cents!)

The theater holds 4,425 people. The original Wurlitzer organ which was played when the theater first opened (the films were silent movies at the time!) is still at the front. Turns out this is the theater where the famed Stan Kann played the organ for decades. He made many appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. (Often had a vacuum in tow!)

Today, the movie screen has been removed and the theater houses live productions. It was nearly demolished in the 1970's after a series of rock performances had "nearly trashed" the interior. Thankfully that didn't happen.

This is the stage from the first of three/four balconies.....



The chandalier is 12' across. The little basket above the front curtain was used in the Fox's production of Phantom of the Opera. The phantom swoops down in very dramatic style to take the audience and cast back to the 1800s.

We got to stand on stage and tour back stage. It was interesting to see the signatures of all the people who've performed there on the walls. I photographed a few....like Santana and Richard Harris who performed in Camelot there. We got to see the five stories of dressing rooms.

We got to walk through the Fox Club, which is the second floor of the theater. It costs member corporations $20 to $25,000 a year to belong. For that they get to bring 8 people per night of a show to dinner 1.5 hours before the show and sit in box seats. We got to try the box seats, and frankly I didn't think the view was very great as the top part of ths stage wasn't visible because of the balcony above.

It was all very interesting. (Even the kids seemed to enjoy the tour.)

Today there are only three Fox Theatres remaining: Atlanta, Detroit and St. Louis. The Atlanta theater is purportedly quite ornate, but a different style altogether. The Detroit Fox is said to be a near duplicate of the St. Louis Fox.

The Fox is in St. Louis' "Arts District" which also houses the Powell Theater (now home to either the symphony or opera, I can't remember.) Here are a few scenes from the blocks immediately surrounding the Fox Theatre.