Today was our last driving day. We left Louisville about 9am, and drove across both Indiana and Illinois, stopping only briefly in Mt. Vernon IL to have Steak and Shake (I keep wanting to write that in Cleartype, as that is was Illinois loves to use).
Upon arriving in St. Louis, our first stop was Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, one of the best things in St. Louis and on Route 66! After that, we drove over to Washington University to see where we park on campus and get an idea of the look of campus. After that, it was over to the hotel.
Dinner was over in the Delmar Loop area, the “trendy” area of St. Louis near the Washington U campus. We ended up eating at Pi Restaurant, a wonderful pizza restaurant with gluten-free crusts (in fact, we got our dinner for only the tip, as they came out after 20 minutes and told us they screwed up cooking the order the first time, dropping one pizza and burning the other… and thus they comped our dinner… but the remake was wonderful). We also took some time driving around Ladue, Brentwood, Creve Cour, and U City, finding the TJs, Whole Foods, and all sorts of creature comforts.
Tomorrow is our formal visit to Wash U. We already have the tour scheduled, plus liberal arts day, meeting with two history undergraduates, as well as one of their American History professors. Dinner will be with my cousin Les at Westwood Country Club. Les is my closest relative on my mother’s side (his mother was my grandmother’s sister), and I always enjoy seeing him.
P.S.: We got out of Louisville just in time. An apparent tornado touched down at Churchill Downs this evening, about 3 miles from where our hotel was.
