Taste of St. Louis Giveaway!

Over the last few months we have had a BLAST visiting St. Louis and sharing our experiences with you! We know that many of you would love to spend the day with us touring the city, but because of time, distance or other responsibilities you just cannot make it. So we have decided to send St. Louis to you!

We are going to occasionally have a "taste of St. Louis" giveaway, whereby everyone will have a chance to answer a few questions about our adventures. If you get the answers right, your name will be entered into a drawing for a fun St. Louis item.

This time around, One Lucky Winner will receive....

A St. Louis Original Gooey Butter Cake Mix from Park Avenue Coffee!

So take a peek at the rules and enter the giveaway!

Rules:

1) Answer the questions below and send an email with your name and answers to sowhatswiththeflowers@gmail.com

2) All entries must be received by 11:59 pm (central time) on Wednesday, July 7, 2010.

3) We can only send the mix to a winner within the continental United States (sorry to our friends outside the U.S.)

4) There will only be ONE WINNER this time so get your entries in!

Questions:

1) What Italian restaurant did we eat at on our first outing?

2) How many feel tall is the Arch? (*hint* follow the link or search the photos)

3) What does Nauvoo mean?

4) What are the only three remaining structures from the 1904 World's Fair? (*hint* explore the link)

St. Louis Foodies

(Posted by Mary)

Food. Obviously something we need to survive, but in St. Louis food is something to be relished and consumed as often as possible! Our adventure this month centered on food. We visited Soulard Farmers Market, Park Avenue Coffee, and Gus' Pretzels. Oh and since each is located in a separate historic district we also had the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in St. Louis!

Soulard Farmers Market

Soulard Farmers Market is said to be the oldest farmers market west of the Mississippi. Regardless of age, the market can be one of the best places to find fresh produce or a random tchotchke. If you happen to visit, try the mini donuts, visit the meat markets and indulge in fresh produce!

Lafayette Square
and
Park Avenue Coffee

Now you may be wondering why us non-coffee drinkers would visit a coffee shop but let me tell you this coffee shop has one of the best cakes in the Lou. Gooey Butter Cake. If you are not acquainted with this cake I am truly sorry for this unfortunate absence in your life. If you are lucky enough to have tasted this St. Louis culinary marvel, Park Avenue Coffee may be the next stop to Gooey Butter Cake nirvana. Over 70 different types of gooey butter cake are available! We tried traditional, peanut butter chocolate and white chocolate raspberry.

Gus' Pretzels

Pretzels stacked in an old milk crate, sold by an old man on the corner of Gravois and Des Peres Blvd. is how I have always known these treats. Not wanting to risk disease however, we went to the headquarters of Gus' to get the real deal fresh from the oven! These savory treats have been a part of St. Louis history since 1920 and they don't disappoint.

Forest Park

(posted by Christina)

“Forest Park, officially opened to the public on June 24, 1876, is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. At 1,293 acres, it is approximately 500 acres larger than Central Park in New York.
In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition..The St. Louis World's Fair...drew more than 20 million visitors from around the world to Forest Park. Today it attracts more than 12 million visitors a year.”
This beautiful park is located in the heart of our wonderful city. Included in the park is the St. Louis Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Jewel Box, the Muny, and many other exciting locations to explore.
During our adventure (and I do mean adventure) to Forest Park, not only did time prevent us from visiting all these intriguing locations, but Mother Nature did as well…

We began with a quick stop for some “original St. Louis style pizza” at Imo’s pizza (the best pizza in the whole wide world!)

You'll notice that we really like to take pictures of each other, taking pictures...

(We decided to take our yummy pizza to go, and enjoy lunch in the park.)

The drive to the park wasn't very long, but we still had to entertain ourselves during the car ride...

This picture just makes me laugh!

Karen's eye...

Pizza time!

After lunch, we ventured over to the St. Louis Art Museum. Of course, we weren't able to take pictures while we were inside, but we were able to get some fun shots outside.

A statue of Saint Louis himself outside the museum.

Notice the ominous clouds that are approaching...

The ever so lovely Karen...

Awe...

Yet, more pictures of us taking pictures...

In this picture, Mary was apparently surprised and I decided to take a nap...

Capturing the experience from every angle...

Directly in front of the museum, is the Grand Basin and a great view of the park grounds.

Despite the fact that the storm clouds were still approaching, we were fearless and proceeded to go to the St. Louis History Museum (also located in Forest Park)...



However, as soon as we got there, the skies opened up and poured down rain. We waited out the storm as long as we could before the Museum closed, and then made a run for the car.

The result was three very wet girls...

A lot of the homes near Forest Park date back to the World's Fair.

As we left the park we realized that the park area wasn't just hit by a rain storm, we had just missed a TORNADO!

...but in the end, St. Louis still ended the day on a good note.