St. Louis and Champaign Adventure!

Tom and I ventured east for the weekend to see my sister, brother-in law, and celebrate Tom's birthday! It was a fun getaway, and it's always good to take a break from the real world and see family.


I surprised Tom with our first stop in St. Louis - we headed downtown to the Robert Mayfield hotel. We were in the middle of the action (and a St. Louis Cardinals game) when we got there. We got checked in and headed to dinner at a really fun place called, Taste. It was a really great little spot, and had a speak-easy feel to it. We enjoyed delicious dinner and drinks, and their decor was awesome. After dinner we went to check out Urban Chestnut Brewing Company and tried several yummy beers. The next morning we went over to Schlafly Brewing Company and ate lunch, and checked out their brewery from a distance. It was a fun food, beer, entertaining 24 hours in St. Louie! Here's to you Nelly! 

We then drove north to Champaign, Illinois to see Jessie, Rick and my niece, Skipjack the cat. We ate at a fun pizza restaurant and enjoyed a few libations for Tom's birthday. The rest of the weekend was spent wine tasting, avoiding the heat, touring the campus, exploring an awesome new restaurant in Champaign called Big Grove Tavern (highly recommended!), messing with the cat, and catching up on family gossip. It was a successful, relaxing time!!

We started our trek back to Kansas Sunday morning and had a little bit of unfortunate excitement with my poor car. (Blog post to come!!)

Tom blowing out the candles. He is getting old so we could only fit one candle on his cupcake! 

Fun restaurant we tried in St. Louis. 

Jessie and Rick at dinner! We had fun!!!

White wine tasting at the neatest little shop by Jessie and Ricks house!

Yummy beets at dinner!

Pi Kappa Phi - Toms frat house on the University of Illinois Campus

Beers on tap in St. Louis

Tom and I at dinner

Hello and goodbye St. Louie!

Sleeping Skipjack

We loved this place!!