Antiques Roadshow St Louis

So awhile back-like February, I applied for tickets to go to Antiques Roadshow. They had stops this year in Milwaukee and in St Louis, I couldn't decide which one to apply for, but went with STL. It's a random drawing, so I wasn't too optimistic. But whatdoyaknow? I got tickets!

The way it works it is, the Roadshow volunteers line up everyone and are filed into the proper assigned lines based on your ticket time. You're allowed to bring two items to be appraised. I read the on line directions carefully, they tell you things to NOT bring. They take a look at what you are bringing and assign you to the group for your item. Like glassware, paintings, militaria, toys, and such. We lucked out and had two textiles and two folk art, meaning we would only need to wait in two appraisal lines instead of 3 or 4.  Hubs took his favorite art. This table that he had made, features a carving by my BIL Steven Kelsey on a tree.

The last time I went to one of these, was with DD in Chicago-the lines were awful that time. The lines here were not too awful, but we chatted with people in our textile line that had been in line for 2 hours for militaria, and we saw the lines for glassware and watches were crazy long next to us.

 We had only about 3 people in front of us for textiles and the same for folk art too! WOW! What a great thing! So the table....I was skeptical....I didn't know what they'd say about it....Ken Farmer(We've seen him quite a bit on the show!) was called to collaborate with our initial appraiser, Nancy Druckman. They loved the burls in the wood, they loved the color and the shape. they loved the carving, they just thought it was a wonderful piece. And a retail estimate of.......$500-$700!!!! WOW!!!
Our 2nd folk art item was this set of bookends. Mom was pretty sure they were brought back from Europe when Grampa & Gramma went there in the 60's. And she was RIGHT!! Appraiser Nancy, said she felt these were created for the tourist market, likely in the northern parts of Europe and even though they aren't REALLY old, they still would be valued at $100-$200!! YAY!!!

 Then we had our textile items. Up first was this quilt that I have from my Great Aunt Grace. It's a very unique pattern, I think and all hand sewn. And I like the orange fabric.

The appraiser was Katy Kane and she also thought it was a unique design-"the stars look like pants don't they?!"...yes they do! She said that quilts are not as pricy as they may have been in the past however this one with the few flaws (a small stain and a bite out of an edge) would go for about $150. YAY!!!

And the last item we had was this Hawaiian shirt that belonged to my Grampa. He and Gramma went to Hawaii in 1959 and this shirt returned with them. I've always loved the fabric and the bright colors so I was hopeful! Appraiser Katy said it was lovely and obviously for the tourist trade with the cruise ship motifs. Another appraiser agreed and said the buttons were correct too-real coconut shell or the like. They both agreed it is in excellent condition and said it would easily retail for $150-$300! WOW! I knew I loved this shirt!!

So that's how we came out at Antiques Roadshow. Best experience ever! There was a long line for the feedback booth and  Hubs wasn't in the mood to wait in another line, so off we went!

Oh I almost forgot Soulard Farmers Market

We also went to the Soulard Farmers market while we were in St. Louis.  It is a huge farmers market and it's amazing to see all the great looking produce. Some is local and some is not-I don't think they grow oranges in St. Louis!LOL!

The place is set up with in central store area, shown in this photo then there are aisles running outward from the main building. It looks like something out of a movie-like what Farmers markets are described like in books.

The prices were really good-I noticed cherries were 3.99 a pound at the Schnucks & whole Foods, but only 1.99 a pound at the farmers market.  We bought some spices at the Spice Store, and some oranges. We were there on a Friday. so not every vendor was there, but they told us on Saturday, there's not an open space anywhere!

Fitz's Root Beer

We went to Fitz's to check out the root beer and have a bite to eat.

It's located in The Loop Neighborhood of St Louis. The Loop is pretty college student oriented. Lots of folks walking around and lots of restaurants and shops. There are folks playing music on e very corner. Some of them are good, some well, not so much.

Fitz's make their root beer ans other flavors of soda right there, and you can watch them bottle from the dining room. The dining room is all rustic brick and you can watch them cook behind the counter.

I had a tasty patty melt with onion rings and root beer-which is bottomless-they'll bring you a new mug of whatever flavor you like.

Hubs had a bowl of gumbo with Fries.

The food was good-nothing outstanding but good, and the root beer was excellent. The creme soda was good too.

It's fun to watch the bottling equipment working as you eat. they tell the story that they found the bottling line in a barn in Wisconsin, and brought it down to St Louis. It is unique and dates from the 1930s. Fitz's was a fun stop and we brought home a case of soda too!

Welcome to the Top

So here we are!

It was a cloudy day, and we did get caught in a down pour when we were walking back to the hotel, but what a cool visit! Down the ramp you see behind Hubs and through the security detectors into the lower level to see the museum of westward expansion, and buy tickets to the top! We knew there were stairs so Hubs had to stay behind. I got my ticket ($10) and went to the line to wait a few minutes. The park employees are very thorough, and guide the correct number of people into each area to board the cars to go up.There are displays and photos of the construction along the way too.

 Behind each of these numbered doors is a cozy little car that fits 5 people in a very snug seating arrangement.

These folks just got done and are leaving the area-see the person on the right side of the photo in the yellow shirt? they are climbing aboard their car to go up. The red boxes above the doors are TVs that show a short video about the construction of the arch to pass the time while waiting. 

Here you can see how "cozy" the pods are, I took this right before I had to board with my new "friends"!




There are no windows on the way up so it's a lot like taking an elevator, slower though. It takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to come down. The car ride is smooth and when it gets to the curve of the arch it does a little jog, step, jog, step as it moves on.

 This is the view out the East side of the top-the Mississippi River.

And here's the West side view-St. Louis. That tan building next to the highway is our hotel, the Hyatt Regency.

 See there's the Cardinal's Stadium.

 The signs by the windows tell you it's the very top! You can see there's a pretty good group of people looking around. You can stay as long as you want, then prepare to catch the next ride down.

This is the group of folks waiting to go down. You need to stand to the right side, on the yellow section of the steps to stay out of the way of the getting out of the cars. I liked the sign at the top of the steps when you get out of the car. It's lit up here, so you can't see it in the picture, but it says Welcome to the Top.

 Here's a short video I tried to take of the car going down. I was in with a family and we were chatting as we went, you can see the inside walls of the arch and the stairs used by maintenance workers.

When we got done it was pouring rain! So we spent a little extra time at the Museum of the Westward Expansion. It details the Louis & Clark Expedtion.

 These manikins or models or whatever you call them, talk and move-it's pretty cool.

 The museum is free so you can hang around there as long as you like.

This is a pretty cool wall mural-it's made to look like it all carved stone but it's actually a flat painting. Well except for the arch model part.

There;s also a little candy/snack shop and the souvenir store too. We didn't buy any thing at the souvenir shop because we couldn't find anything in there that was made in the USA. SO the rain had pretty much stopped so we thought we would be able to make it to the hotel fairly dry-boy were we wrong!!