Saturday in the Garden

I talked John into going to the Missouri Botanical Gardens last Saturday.  There was a special event happening there - the Best of Missouri Market, where local artisans and makers of all kinds of good food were selling their products.  After reading an ad in the newspaper, that's all we knew about it.  We didn't have anything special going on, so we decided to be spontaneous and drove down to it.

We arrived around noon and were shocked at the traffic.  The Gardens are (or is it the Gardens 'is'?) located in an older part of St. Louis with very narrow streets and lots of homes without garages.  The Gardens parking lot was full and the streets were packed with cars for blocks.  I credit John's parallel parking skills for squeezing our vehicle into a spot I would have never attempted.

We wandered in, and the first thing we saw was a fountain with red water.  The Cardinals are once again a force to be reckoned with, so every fountain in town is running red in support.  Really, it's hard not to be a Cardinal fan in this town.

Some local restaurants were selling food, and after meandering through the gardens for a while, we sat down and enjoyed a brat and a Schlafly Octoberfest beer.  Quite yummy.

They had 4 huge tents full of vendors and their wares.  Of course our favorites were the food booths that handed out samples.  We came home with basil and asiago cheese chicken sausage, Italian sausage and a package of Braunschweiger.  Apparently the onset of autumn means consumption of tubed meats in our household.

The Gardens were lovely.  Even John got into it - especially in the domed tropical forest.  So until we go back next spring, I leave you with these - images of a lovely afternoon in the middle of St. Louis.