It was two weeks ago today that we high-tailed it down to St. Louis, so it's about time to wrap up the travelogue!

It was Sunday morning and we took a last walk down to the Arch.

Then we checked out of our hotel and made our way to the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM). "Dedicated to Art and Free to All."

SLAM is located within beautiful Forest Park, along with the St. Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum, and more.

Kate was interested in taking in the contemporary art collection but we'd also been given tickets to the special exhibition, Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015... and we managed to do both. I'll let the photos do most of the talking... it all sort of blew me away!

I see Rod Stewart!

I'm pretty sure my brother had this shirt.

Amazing Zoot suit!

Unisex Caftan, 1970, designed by Rudi Gernreich

The fabrics and colors were amazing!

These are tiny samples of wool knit bathing suit designs!

I don't know why, but I've a soft spot for the Pearly Kings & Queens!

The contemporary art was also amazing...

White Combustion, 1960, Alberto Burri

...and also more Wayne Thiebaud pie (Cafeteria Counter, 1961)!

And then we turned the car for home. It was another fun, whirlwind trip... and I sure do hope to get back there someday!

I will leave you with this:

And a wish for a fabulous weekend! You're welcome.  :)

We arrived in St. Louis late Saturday morning, and our first stop was for food!

We landed at The Urban Chestnut (midtown), so also had to have a beer(s)! It was pretty quiet when we arrived, but then a group of bicyclists rode in and between-time wedding guests (we decided) walked over from a nearby church. The food menu was sparse but excellent, and the beer selection was pretty great too!

Next stop was Bellefontaine Cemetery. I've been wanting to visit that cemetery for a dozen years or more... and I will need to go back. Our purpose this time was to visit the family plot where some of Rusty's & the kids' ancestors & relation are buried. He visited many years ago and brought back photos and rubbings and a drawing of the plot, but I've wanted to visit in person ever since!

The plot is oval (as many in the cemetery are) and the graves are arranged in within the oval, headstones all facing toward the center. The tall monument is for one Wilson McGunnegle, Rusty's great great uncle.

These are Wilson's parents -- Rusty's great great grandparents -- Elizabeth Starr & George K. McGunnegle (one of a great many GKMcGs... and I thought my ancestors were stuck in a naming rut!).

There are numerous familial military ties. Wilson was a Lieutenant in the Navy (beautiful nautical motifs decorate his monument at Bellefontaine); his son, Col. George K. McGunnegle (of course!) was an Infantryman; his sister Clara was wife of Brigadier General John Wynn "Black Jack" Davidson, both originally interred at Bellefontaine and later moved to Arlington National Cemetery.

It's all so interesting!!

The next stop was to pick up artwork -- the impetus for the trip in the first place -- but Kate swung by and dropped me at KNITORIOUS first!

This place has also been on my list since practically forever! It wasn't long after I began this blog that I came to know Sandy. She opened a yarn shop in St. Louis and I began blogging about knitting from NE Wisconsin, both in 2004, and we both called our ventures KNITORIOUS! We've been in touch on and off ever since -- giggling over things like a Target commercial (below, from 2010, notably at the :23 mark).

She's long known of my desire to visit, and it was such a treat to finally get there!

The space is truly wonderful -- open, well lit, and so much room! A dedicated classroom area (above), a more informal area with comfy seating beyond the magazine racks (below), not to mention a third table space near the front door, quite full of knitters while I was there!

Panoramic view of Knitorious!

A visit with Sandy -- on my list since 2004!

The yarn selection is lovely -- terrific product lines and plenty in stock.

I bought some Loft, which I've never used before (in truth, it's my first Brooklyn Tweed yarn of any type!), to make a Seeds Hat or two.

And I can't seem to pass the Unicorn Tails without snatching a few.

But this... KNITORIOUS Yarn!

Beautiful, rare natural colors of undyed Merino wool from Missouri's own Genopalette. It's all fingering weight, the three above and the marled are 100% merino, the white at bottom left has some silk. It's really terrific and I can't wait to knit with it!

Big whoop-de-doers that we are, our night life consisted of a walk to the Old Courthouse and Gateway Arch, dinner at nearby Caleco's Bar & Grill, watching Cardinals fans, tuning into the NFL Network from our hotel to catch a little Packers preseason football, and lights-out at 9:30pm... we were both SO TIRED!! So catching some actual nightlife & music is another good reason for returning to St. Louis!

We managed one more pretty sweet stop on Sunday morning before heading home... I'll share all about that sometime over the weekend or early next week. I have a few "chores" over the weekend, but it's mainly shaping up to be pretty quiet. Sweet!! I hope the same for you!

Last weekend's spontaneous trip to St. Louis, MO, with Kate helps the checking off of a larger "bucket list" item of mine, and that is to visit as an adult all the cities that I lived in as a child. The list also includes:

• Milwaukee, WI (check)
• Escanaba, MI (check)
• Denver, CO
• Toledo/Columbus/Cleveland, OH
• Toronto, ON
• Chicago/Highland Park, IL (check)

We were fully prepared to depart when I finished work at 5pm on Friday, but I was lucky enough to get off at 1 instead. Kate had an after-5 appointment to deliver some artwork in Madison, giving us time to detour to Milwaukee for a stop at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Seriously, is that not one of the most beautiful structures in the world? Even the lower-level parking is striking. Someday, I'm going to camp out and watch the "wings" open/close.

The main reason for our stop was the exhibition Rashid Johnson: Hail We Now Sing Joy

We were not there at a time when we could hear Antoine's Organ "come alive," but alive it was... relevant.

We had time to swing through a couple of other areas.

Refrigerator Pies, 1962, Wayne Thiebaud

Bluffs, 2009, Tara Donovan, buttons and glue (!!!)

Modernity Circa 1952, Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely, 2004, Josiah McElheny

From there we drove to Madison, where Kate made her delivery, and we had dinner.

Then we hit the road for St. Louis... we didn't make it that far on Friday night, though, construction & traffic making for angsty driving. We stopped overnight near Oglesby, IL, and set the alarm clock for an early start on Saturday!

To be continued, as usual... we packed a whole lot into just a couple of days!!  :)