The obvious perk of this job is getting paid to travel. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to the entire lower 48 and a large portion of that was due to the truck. People ask us everywhere we go what our favorite place is. It’s a really tough question. There’s so many unique and interesting places that I would be hard pressed to pick.
For example, after a military base stop near Washington DC last week we made our way to St. Louis, MI for a food bank fundraiser. St. Louis is a city that I’ve been to briefly on a couple occasions but this is the first time I had a couple days to explore. My eldest brother is doing some training at an air force base a couple hours away that was able to drive up and spend the day with. Since it wasn’t a clear day and since I had already been we decided to forgo the Arch. Instead my brother and I headed to the stunning Cathedral Basilica. It boasts one of the largest and most intricate mosaics in the world. The entire ceiling is covered with an estimated 4.5 million mosaics. In fact the church doesn’t have any painted surfaces which is quite remarkable.
Then we checked out the interactive prohibition exhibit at Missouri History Muesuem. They had a speakeasy and charleston dance tutorial, multiple photo booths where you could either be a protester or a criminal, flapper costumes on display and a bunch of propaganda from the time period. In honor of the cities 250 year anniversary we were also asked to write a postcard to the future that will be read in something like 2060. We topped off the night with a wonderful dinner in whats called the loop which is filled with boutiques and restaurants.
My favorite way to discover a city is on foot without an agenda and so the next morning I got an early start and did just that. The neighborhoods around our hotel were lined with exquisite stone and brick homes. I was very tempted to ask someone for a tour. Out west in Idaho we don’t have many buildings that old let alone live in them! I took my time walking downtown as was impressed at how clean St. Louis is for it’s size, really impressive. I saw a matinee at a beautiful theater downtown and while the pre preview advertisements rolled they had a organist play below the screen. I asked the gentleman about the tradition after the movie and he said there are only two theaters left in the country that still do that!
There are a lot of places that I will come back and visit that were never even on my radar before…now how cool is that?!
-Kristie
