Two weekends ago, the fam made the trek to St. Louis to meet my sister, Damaris, and celebrate her 27th birthday. St. Louis is the perfect half-way spot between northern Illinois and northern Mississippi, where Damaris lives. We had so much fun, and it was an easy drive for both of us. I foresee many more trips to the Lou in the future!

We arrived at Drury Inn at the Arch on Friday night and quickly dropped off our bags before wandering over to Ball Park Village. We ate dinner at Drunken Fish, where we enjoyed teriyaki bowls, some cocktails, and tried a couple of different sushi rolls! It was my second time eating there, and hopefully it won’t be my last! Then, we headed to the main area inside BPV which was PACKED and so much fun. People were playing beer pong, watching basketball on the massive TV screens, listening to a band, and having a blast. March Madness isn’t a bad time to be in Ball Park Village!

On Saturday, we went on the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour. You get free beer samples, you get to see the Clydesdales and Dalmatians, and you get a behind-the-scenes tour of the brewery. Best of all, it’s completely free! Even though I’ve already been there, I would definitely go back. I highly recommend you check it out next time you’re in STL!

After the brewery tour, we made our way to the City Museum. I had heard great things about it, and so had my family. Well, it was total CHAOS to be completely honest. 🙂 There were hundreds of little kids running around all of the different mazes and areas of the museum. It was packed, and kids seem to love it, but I think I would be terrified to bring my (non-existent) kiddos there! It seems like it would be so easy to lose them in one of the dark mazes or crowds of people running through the building.

The rest of Saturday evening consisted of basketball and food. That’s more our style, anyway. 🙂 We stopped at a wood-fired pizza spot, called Pizzeoli, for a quick lunch. We tried a meat-lovers type of pizza, as well as a tasty chicken, spinach, and goat cheese concoction. Both delicious, but we’ve never met a pizza we didn’t like! Side note about Pizzeoli – it used to be an all vegan restaurant, but they added choices for meat lovers about 6 months ago.

Afterwards, we hung out in our hotel lobby to watch Loyola beat Kansas State. It was such a fun game to watch! After the game, we hopped in an electric cab and made our way over to Sugarfire Smokehouse, a highly-recommended BBQ spot in St. Louis. Well, we got there too late, because they were COMPLETELY sold out. It must be good if they’re sold out and the restaurant is still packed at 9 p.m.! I hope to actually try Sugarfire someday, but since they were sold out, we went to Robust Wine Bar, just down the street. The menu was fairly “fancy” compared to what we’re used to, but it was very good!

On Sunday, we woke up early to pack our bags and head out for breakfast. Since we were so close to the Arch, we made our way over there to take some pictures and enjoy the view.

Our Sunday breakfast spot was Roosters, another highly-recommended spot. You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. I had a delicious skillet platter with breakfast meats, eggs, and potatoes… It’s hard to screw up breakfast!

We said goodbye to Damaris after breakfast, and made the 5-hour drive home. More and more, I enjoy trips like this, and giving travel or “experience” to people for birthday gifts, instead of “stuff”. Spending time together and experiencing new things are always more fun, anyway!

What’s your favorite spot in St. Louis? Have you been to any of these restaurants? I’m already looking forward to our next trip back!