Sunday, November 29, 2009

NHR: St. Louis for Thanksgiving


John's next acupuncture treatment is coming up on Tuesday of this week. But for now: Thanksgiving in St. Louis involved 1653 miles round trip of driving for this driving-impaired person, but I got to see my son's new loft condo and a lot of other nice things so am sharing. The photo above is the building where my older son just bought a loft condo and we stayed there -- on the floor, since he has no furniture yet. Oh my back.


That's him with my dog Gabey dominating him without mercy.

This is the view out his windows:


Urban life is something I just tasted once long ago. Now it interests me again. This was a really fun place to come and go. Lots of activity: restaurants, coffee shops, little art galleries, clean sidewalks, lots of sun flooding the streets in the early morning.

We saw the Thanksgiving Day parade in downtown St. Louis:




And we saw this most beautiful sculpture I've ever seen: "Vigilance and Peace", from the old Post Office building. "Vigilance" (on the left) reminds me of my mother!!



And my doggies accompanied me everywhere I went, even to the downtown dog park where
Rufus got rolled by a St. Bernard and loved every minute of it.


Rufus has mad urban skilz. He immediately figured out how to poop and pee on concrete. Gabey never did. Rufe also figured out how to jump up on a low concrete wall and run along it. He didn't blink when asked to walk into an elevator, whereas Gabriel was flummoxed and panicked, and had to be carried. Gratings? Rufe had no worries but Gabey would drop to the ground and quiver. It was strange but I think Rufus is a reincarnated hip-hop artist and Gabey is just a sweet little angel from some protected grassy planet somewhere in a galaxy far far away...

7 comments:

Funder said...

You're a dedicated mom - 800 miles one way is about the point where I'd (ugh) fly instead of drive. Your son's pad reminds me so much of our old apartment in downtown Memphis! Urban living is lots of fun at first, but it gets old. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I'm not doing it anymore.

I agree with Gabriel - gratings are scary!

Flying Lily said...

Funder, what a beautiful place you lived in! That view - wow. I thought about flying but it would have been expensive because my other son and his girlfriend, plus the dogs or else board them...and flying is something I no longer enjoy much either...

JJ said...

That building looks gorgeous. It looks like you and the dogs had a great vacation!

Flying Lily said...

jennybean: Yes!! Thanks and I hope you had a good holiday too!

Once Upon an Equine said...

Looks like a nice loft. And fun parade. Ha, I took my dog in an elevator once and she acted really weird, kinda hunkered down and looked panicked when it started to move. I'm sure moving up and down is a very weird sensation to the doggies.

Flying Lily said...

OnceUpon: yes that's exactly how Gabey was. I wonder what they think is happening - do they understand directional travel without moving their legs, at all?

Funder said...

I spent years pondering dogs in elevators, and I finally decided it must be Human Magic to them. After the doors close and it lurches a bit, you are magically somewhere different!

I don't think my old dog ever realized there were other different floors, just Home and Lobby. If the elevator stopped to pick up another passenger, he'd try to barge on out - it stopped, therefore we are at our destination, let's go!

I suspect my current dog has a vague idea of what really happens, because she used to ride in a glass-walled parking lot elevator with me. She really enjoyed watching the view change as we slid up and down.