St. Louis, MO (USA)

[Recurrent Simulator Training] Woke up at 0400 and drove over to the airport - I parked my car in the long term lot there. Got a seat on an American Airlines flight out of Atlanta (0730) and arrived in Saint Louis at 0800L. Picked up my rental car at the Dollar desk (0815) and drove down to Residence Inn Galleria, hoping to stash my stuff.  They were nice and let me check in early (0840) I even got to have some of the breakfast buffet too! From them, I got directions to Grant's Farm - I wanted to check it out in advance of our family vacation trip this summer... Stopped at an ATM in Webster Groves at 1045. Before I went into the park, saw that a former home of President Grant was open for a visit (that's where the name "Grant's Farm" comes from, I guess). It was interesting to tour this place - we had a good guide. The whole visit reminded me of the tree I saw in Tokyo last summer (see AUG 2002) that Grant planted... The nearby Adventure Park was mostly a wild animal "safari", petting zoo and Clydesdale breeding farm (the kids will like it...). I also found a nice German plaza-looking-place where you can get free samples of A-B products. Throughout the day, the weather was great. Headed back to hotel in the afternoon. Picked up Jim K (my sim partner for the week) at the airport just after dark and went back to the hotel for drinks (happy hour!). Dinner at Ven Ching Restaurant on Brentwood (finished at 2020).