Photo journal of the birthday festivities…

Sarah invited Russ to St. Louis to celebrate his birthday yesterday and he invited me to tag along.

The weather was a gift in itself with blue skies, some cloud cover, low humidity and just enough warmth to make it pleasant.

Our first stop was lunch at the Nomad in an area of the city known as “Dog Town”. This was the area of St. Louis where the Irish settled and is a fun stop for sure.

We enjoyed sitting out on the quaint patio area with Sarah, Jack and his parents. The food was so good. This little cafe features a simple menu and we all loved what we ordered. Russ and I had the burgers, Sarah had a smoked turkey gyro and Jack and his parents ordered the pastrami sandwich, which looked amazing.

Another feature of the menu was Kimchi Brussel sprouts – these were so yummy. I had a side of potato salad that was one of the best I have ever had. Check it out if you are in St. Louis!

After lunch, we got to go see Rocco – and I didn’t get a picture of this gentle giant, but he is cute as ever and doing well..

Then Russ, Sarah and I headed to the National Transportation Museum. Located out near Kirkwood, this is a lovely facility. Not only does it have a variety of trains to explore, there are other features of transportation including automobiles, history of flight and other interesting exhibits.

These two goobers posed for me…but I also got a candid….

The variety of trains from over the years was very interesting. This one was called the “Whale Belly” and was rather impressive. Sarah helped with a demonstration so we could send the photo to the kids…

If you took little ones, there are both inside and outside areas they would love to explore. And the entire exterior displays include a variety of pollinator gardens and landscaping that is so beautiful.

We did not allow enough time and would love to go back. You can climb up in some of the trains and just standing next to them was rather impressive. There are information placards along the way with facts and we were all surprised at the dates of some of these massive pieces of machinery.

I highly recommend both the restaurant and a visit to the museum.

We had a …. you know… best. day. ever. <3