4 States. 3 Days. 2 People. 1 Really good time.

That just about sums up this past weekend for us. We drove to St. Louis to visit our good friends James & Julie, taking a roundabout route through Memphis on our way. This meant we drove through Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky in the span of 3 days.

I really love St. Louis. It makes the list of cities I could definitely see myself living in if we decided to leave Nashville. (But it’s a short list. I love Nashville.)

When I think of St. Louis, I think of a city filled with history, character, culture, good food, and lots of free attractions. The St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Science Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Grant’s Park, and CityGarden are all free (!)

On this particular trip, we bid on a hotel room on Priceline ($41 a night, thank you very much), played card games with our friends, ate tasty food from local restaurants, and visited the Science Museum.

I remember building this same arch in the Science Museum when I came with my family years and years ago.

Our favorite restaurant on this trip was Local Harvest, in the Tower Grove neighborhood. We discovered it on the Slow Food St. Louis website, which houses a directory of restaurants who value farm fresh, seasonal, local fare.

We shared a couple bagel sandwiches and a brisket salad.

You can read my full review of the restaurant on Laurel of Leaves.

This short weekend of travel meant plenty of time in the car. But that also meant we had time to catch up on some reading. We each have a list of books and online articles/manifestos to finish before we fly to Fiji & New Zealand in less than 2 months.

Speaking of which–do you think everything we will need for a whole year will fit into these backpacks?!