The Katy!

We started the day on the Katy Trail, but not by bike. We can access it right by the hotel, but it was a rather strange access. Our hotel is at a large casino, spa, and hotel complex with a rather excessively grand and gaudy entrance across a bridge from the Main Street of St Charles. We could see the trail below us as we stood on the bridge and could also see another, lower bridge that led into a level below the main parking level of the hotel. So we found a staircase that led to the lower level and discovered a strange underworld to the hotel!

Newer upstairs entrance

Deserted area below new entrance

This level appeared to be an old previous parking lot and it had clearly been flooded in the past. We learned later that there was a large flood last May. There were large piles of dirt around the vast parking area that had obviously been cleared from the flood. This area is where deliveries are still made, but otherwise it was quite deserted and eerie.

Emerging from the creepy parking lot, we crossed the old low bridge and found the trail in front of us. It was exciting to just walk the trail into town and anticipate our future departure via bicycles in a few days.

Our first stop was at the Lewis and Clark Boat House. St. Charles is where the Corps of Discovery made their final departure on May 20, 1804 after Lewis met up with the expedition. The museum has a replica of the keelboat they used and also an excellent movie on the expedition. It was fascinating to think that the Corps left from the river right near our hotel and then ended at Fort Clatsop, which we have visited several times.

Missouri River from our window, just about where Lewis and Clark left from

Replica of Lewis and Clark keelboat

Looking forward

After learning about the strenuous trials of the expedition we needed to find nourishment ourselves. The Trailhead Brewing Company fit the bill perfectly and we were soon able to continue on down the Main Street of St Charles, checking out shops, restaurants, and the old buildings. St. Charles was founded by the French and most of the architecture is French Colonial in red brick or limestone. It’s quite an attractive town.

Mike getting distracted heading into lunch

The brewery where we had lunch used to be a gristmill

We had to make a stop at Little O’s old Time Soda Fountain, an original soda fountain that still makes “phosphates”. How could we leave without ice cream? Not possible, obviously. The shock came when we saw how big our two scoops amounted to! But oh so good. Like any good small town, there was also an independent book store, so we had to do our civic duty and find a good book to buy.

And those are NOT small cups!

St Charles was a charming town with a very interesting history. Tomorrow we will see what St Louis has to show us here in the Show Me state.

Street scene

Bar that Kevin and Melinda might like – very dog themed