New Thing #93 - StL Exploration

Month 5 - StL Exploration

I've lived in St. Louis nearly half my life, and I've made it my mission to visit a lot of what this beloved city has to offer - the Arch, Zoo, breweries, Science Center, Botanical Gardens, Grant's Farm, City Museum and the list goes on. When I first moved here, I couldn't wait to see as much of it as I could.

I soon found that friends who grew up here hadn't even been to half of what I had explored. I suppose with the Arch in your backyard, you feel less compelled to visit. The same can be said for Ikea. Once it opened up a short 10 minute drive from my house, I feel less inclined to go.

Over the years, I either got lazy about finding new places or focused too much attention on my international endeavors. For November, I've chosen a variety of StL spaces that are less known, but still famous in their own right, but dropped off my radar for various reasons.

#1 - Compton Hill Water Tower - November 3, 2018

This towering beacon in the St. Louis mid-town skyline has always been on my list, but for whatever reason has eluded me. It's not far from my house, and is always visible whenever I return home from a visit east of the Mississippi.

It's only open to the public one Saturday per month, which is probably what led to me forgetting about it. I saw the event pop up earlier this week on Facebook letting me know that this weekend it was available for viewing. While the weather wasn't great (cloudy and chilly), I didn't let that deter me from making my way up the 198 stairs to get a 360-degree of my home. The cool weather actually helped cool me off after the climb.

A quick history lesson about the water tower. It was built in the late 1800s as a modern solution to an outdated water delivery system. The standpipe – six feet wide by 130 feet tall – was built on one of the highest elevations in St. Louis, an altitude well above sea level. To camouflage it, an architect/artist was hired to erect the surrounding structure 179 feet tall out of limestone, terra cotta and brick. The bell shaped terra cotta roof tops an observation deck providing 360 degree views of St. Louis. While I wish the sun was brighter today, you couldn't really beat the fall foliage!

There is a small $5 fee to climb to the observation deck – open only the first Saturday of the month March through November from 12-4pm (whew, just made it!), along with a few select summer evenings. The volunteer at the base gave me a few details about the structure, but most of what I learned came from a pamphlet. She also told me that over 2000 photos were found from the construction of the tower in the late 1800s and the tower's early usage in the early 1900s. The favorites were reproduced and hung along the walls of the stairwell, while the remaining can be found at one of the St. Louis libraries.

I've found that I really enjoy climbing structures and getting that rare bird's eye view of places. The 198 stairs went by in a flash – so much so, that I had to force myself to stop and pay attention to the photographs adorning the walls on the way back down. When I arrived at the top, only two people were on the observation deck – a volunteer and a young lady interviewing him for a project. They stayed relatively out of my way, so I was able to get views out of every window without having to wait my turn or worry about someone in my way. It. Was. Delightful. I hadn't been sure how busy it would be since this was the last available weekend until spring, but I really lucked out.

I spent about 20 minutes up here, taking pics from every window (they opened easily for an unobstructed city view) before heading back down. As I descended, I probably passed 15-20 people on the stairs, so I timed my viewing damn near perfectly. I spent a bit more time at each landing on the way down to check out the photos more closely. Hard to believe it was built in 1898. Even harder to believe were the quality of the photos from those early decades.

Two reservoir tanks.

Final tiny steps up to the top.

Looking south on Grand toward the South Grand neighborhood.

Looking north on Grand toward SLU Hospital and campus.

Those trees though...

Looking east towards downtown and the river.

Looking west down Shaw at the intersection of Grand. The tall buildings on the horizon in the top right are downtown Clayton.

Lots of windows for viewing! You can tell this is in the US though. None of the structures I've climbed in foreign countries have stools to sit on at the top.

Up to the dome.

The Arch way off in the distance.

Steps leading up the reservoir walls.

The Comfort Station, aka the bathrooms.

#2 - The Awakening II Statue - November 4, 2018

My quest continues for the weekend. After visiting the water tower yesterday, I researched what other quirky or new places I had yet to visit in StL. My search turned up The Awakening II statue in Chesterfield. You guys. This giant (literally) statue has been here the whole time, and I'm just now finding out about it.

The original 72 foot Awakening statue was built in DC in 1980 by J. Seward Johnson, Jr, and the second one was unveiled in Chesterfield in 2009. It's essentially pieces of a man that protrude from the ground making it appear that a giant is trying to emerge.

It's been super gross and rainy all weekend, which fortunately made tourists very scarce. I had the whole sculpture to myself. Unfortunately, the ground was soggy AF, and the pieces were too wet to sit on and take pics. It was still really cool, and I'm surprised I've never heard about it in the last 9 years!

#3 - Butterfly House - November 4, 2018

A few miles away from the statue is the Butterfly House, an extension of the Missouri Botanical Garden. While I did know this was here, I never made any effort to stop by. Which is a shame. It's a cute place with more butterflies in one place than I've ever seen. What I failed to think about was that in order for the butterflies to have a habitable climate, they needed a warm environment. Meaning it was a billion degrees in there. And I was wearing entirely too many layers.

Inside is a small gift shop, with you guessed it – a plethora of butterfly themed chachkies. Tchotchkes? However the heck you spell that word. A few spaces for educational programs, an outdoor garden, and more cockroach species than I've ever seen in one place, completed the building. I immediately headed out into the butterfly house, stripped out of my coat and scarf and took in the sites.

The employee gave me this to identify the butterflies I would see. Um, yeah, I didn't use this thing once.

Very busy butterflies. Trying to get photos of them on the flowers was tough, but I did the best I could.

Snack time!

When I walked in, I immediately thought it smelled like banana bread. Now I know why.

Perty!!

This would make two batches of banana bread!!

I tried to get a video of them swarming around. They were definitely everywhere, and it took all of my instincts not to flinch when they were flying at my face.

The employee warned me to watch where I stepped b/c apparently butterflies like to take little naps on the ground. I nearly stepped on this before I realized it was just a leaf.

Love this bench!!

Picked a bad time of year to see some foliage in the garden.

A 30' long lopatapillar statue created by the same StL native that created the City Museum, Bob Cassilly.

Another Cassilly sculpture.

#3 - Faust Park Carousel - November 4, 2018

The Butterfly House is located in Faust Park, around the corner from the Faust Park Carousel, a traditional 1920s carousel with hand-carved horses and deer. My new coworker helped with a remodel at one point, including the bathrooms, so I thought I'd stop in and see what it was all about. I also wondered if I could ride it. Turns out, adults are not allowed to ride (based on their website), and I was too chicken to ask if I could. There was only a guy and his daughter riding it, along with two employees, so the place was empty. Everyone just kind of stared at me while I looked around, and I quickly realized I looked a bit creepy, so I took a few photos and got the heck out of dodge!

Super cute little carousel.