|
HELEN'S JOURNAL |
 message... |
|||
| Date: 6th May
| Time: 8 o'clockish | Place: Chippewa St., St Louis | |||
|
After not being able to find Ted Drewe's on the east to west part of the trip, we are now sitting outside an Italian restaurant, directly across the street from the infamous frozen custard venue on Chippewa St., St. Louis. Don't think that we've chose Italian over home-grown Ted's. Oh no, as soon as we spotted it on our way into St. Louis, Leslie screeched the car to a halt, and out came the video camera, the digital camera, candid camera...then finally, after the documentation, came our long awaited Ted Drewes frozen custard experience served in two red plastic St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps. Ah - only in America. So we have the ideal spot for our evening meal, as we watch the continuous stream of customers queuing outside Ted's, or sitting on the pavement with their yellow cartons of frozen delight. Just down from Ted's heaving ice cream haven is Baskin Robins and across from that the Jack Sprat No Fat Ice Cream shop, which advertises its slimline ice cream on signs halfway down the road. Both are empty. I can't help wondering, as yet another carload of Drewe's devotees pulls up, why they bother. Especially as our waitress informs us that the side street next to Drewe's had to be made one-way to cope with the traffic. 'I don't know why its so popular. I don't think their ice cream is anything special,' she said. 'I suppose its because its just been here forever - there used to be an old highway - 66, I think, running through.' Earlier today we stopped at Meramec Caverns again. We didn't check in on Ranger Travis, but instead sat by the Meramec River skipping stones and watching a blue heron skim over the water. As we sat there we wondered how we could make minutes stretch into hours. And finally St. Louis again and that great silver curve in the sky marking the gateway to the west. We arrived too late try out the tiny internal trams that go up to the top of the arch, so have planned that adventure for first thing tomorrow. Instead we wandered down to the old Mississippi and watched long barges pass slowly by. Unable to get a room with a view, we've decided to try and find the Red Cedar Inn on Route 66, hoping they are: a) still in business; b) web making compatible. Leslie has dashed over the road and plunged into the melee outside Ted's. She's been dying to get back over there all evening. Oh ho - here she comes now and if I'm not mistaken there is a small plastic red baseball cap in her hand. |
|||||
|
|||||
