The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River and was the most famous crossing of Route 66. It is a mile long and has a 22-degree bend in the middle. The name is derived from the “chain of rocks” in the river just below the bridge. It was built in 1929 as a toll-road and closed in 1967 because the NEW Chain of Rocks Bridge was built. The reason I became interested in it was because I read a book called “A Rip in Heaven” a couple weeks ago which tells the story of the murder of two girls on the bridge in 1991. It is now part of a state park and carries walking & biking trails (aka, it’s safe… supposedly…) When we arrived, the parking lot, which usually has an attendant, was locked, closed off by a chain. But we decided to park just off of the road and get out a walk over to the bridge to see it anyway. Well, just as we were getting out of our car, another car pulled up, then as we were getting further away, another car, then another car, to the point that it was getting really sketchy! So rather than be a victim of a car jacking (and yet, another chain of rocks bridge crime), we decided to skip the walking tour of the bridge and run back to the car and high-tail it out of there! Besides, it was really cold and windy. We do hope to make it back there another time before we leave the Lou.
After that excitement, we went to another St Louis landmark, Fast Eddies Bon Air in Alton, IL. We’ve been hearing about this place on the radio for nearly 4 years now and we finally made it. To be honest, it wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was still fun. The fascination stemmed from the fact that they haven’t raised the prices on food in 19 years, so I was excited to try the 99 cent ½ pound burger and 99 cent order of French fries, and Bobby was excited to get the 29 cent shrimp and $1.99 Big Elwood on a Stick. But when we got there, we found out it’s a bar, with a food line! It was kind of funny, we sat down and the only things the waitress could get us were drinks, and we tried to order food, the waitress said, “you have to go up and order at the food line and get it yourself.” We were a little concerned, but once we got the food, we were hooked - it was AWESOME! And our bill for 4 people with a ton of food was $12!!! You certainly can’t beat that!
After dinner we went and saw Wild Hogs, which was hilarious! My parents are casual bikers so I think they could easily relate with the guys in the movie, but even Bobby and I really enjoyed it.
Saturday we ate at St Louis Bread Co and attempted to go out shopping at Crate & Barrel, Target, and Trader Joes (we felt so urban) but it was miserably cold, snowy, and windy, so that was a short trip. We were happy to come home and enjoy the comforts of our space heater. Bobby and I were invited over to celebrate our neighbor Aiden Hathaway’s 3rd birthday. It was a really cute party and we've loved watching him grow over the last couple of years – I can’t believe he was only 5 months old when we met him! I feel like he has always been running around Atherton and charming us with his funny little quotes. (His family’s blog is listed in my links.)
After the party, the four of us had FONDUE! Most of you know that I love fondue (we have 6 fondue pots) and now, thanks to an anniversary gift from my parents, we now have a chocolate fountain too! We cooked venison steak and chicken in our wine sauce (yum), dipped bread & pretzels in the Melting Pot’s recipe for cheese sauce (very yum), and then dipped anything & everything we could find in the chocolate (super YUM)! Following dinner, we nearly all passed out in the living room because we were so pleasantly stuffed, but then decided to peel ourselves off of the couch & floor for a vicious game of Sorry! It was a great way to end a very fun weekend.
1 comment:
Jennifer! You know the Melting Pot’s recipe for cheese sauce??? Please share the love! That is one of my favorites!!
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