Back to St. Louis

Flat Juliette Adventures in Kirkwood, Maplewood, and downtown St. Louis, MO, June 19, 2012 through July 15, 2012.

**Apologies from the hosts (The Dunlap Family) for occupying nearly a month of Juliette’s year-long trip.

What follows in an excerpt from Juliette’s travel journal…

…I arrived in Kirkwood, MO to the home of Josh, Casey, Noah, and Toby Dunlap on June 19, 2012.  It was not as warm of greeting as I had hoped since Mrs. Dunlap and my previous host’s were such good friends.  However, I soon understood why.  It seems that the young boys in the family; Noah, who was just a couple months past 4 years old, and Toby, two-and-a-half years old, were in the hospital.  Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap were with them at St. Louis Children’s hospital after the little boys were diagnosed with an infection of Escherichia coli, or what most people know as E. coli.

This illness was pretty scary for the mom and dad since many children who get sick with E. coli sometimes have their kidneys stop working.  The kidneys are very important and keep the blood in your body nice and clean, but with an E. coli infection, the toxin released from the bacteria makes the red blood cells break apart and start to clog up the kidneys.  If it gets too bad, some patients have to have dialysis or a transfusion.  Dialysis is where the doctors hook up tubes from a special blood cleaning machine to the patient to clean their blood to help the kidneys out.  A transfusion is where the doctors take out a lot of bad blood and put in new blood from a blood bank.

           Noah didn’t get nearly as sick as Toby, and the doctors said that he could go home on Thursday June, 21.  Both boys had been in the hospital since the day before Father’s Day.  Such a strange present to give their dad!  

This is a picture of Noah and Toby at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

 Toby’s condition was not improving and the doctors decided that he needed a transfusion.  Toby had swelled up from so much fluid that he had gained nearly 10 pounds.  The doctors thought that his kidneys were about to shut down and so on Sunday morning, June 24, Toby had a transfusion.  A couple days later, the doctors were so happy to see that Toby was getting better, that they said that he could go home too.  Thank goodness for the clean healthy blood in the blood bank.  This just shows how important it is to give blood during local blood drives!

After being home for a few days, Mr. Dunlap thought it was time to show me around town.  We visited the Kirkwood train station and farmer’s market.  It is so nice to see so many happy people enjoying the nice day.

Then, we decided to see the biggest national monument in the United States of America, The Gateway Arch.  It was June 30, almost 100°F outside, and the big Independence Day party that the City of St. Louis puts on called Fair St. Louis was just starting to get set up.  We thought that it would be a great opportunity to see the riverfront   Mr. Dunlap, Noah, Toby, Grandma Dunlap (who likes to be called Yia-yia), and me loaded up and headed to a train station in Shrewsbury, MO to catch a ride on the MetroLink.  The MetroLink is an electric train that makes up part of the public transportation system for St. Louis and the surrounding towns and cites.  After boarding the train in Shrewsbury, we rode the train all the way down to the station under Eads Bridge.  Eads Bridge is a very old bridge that connected St. Louis, Missouri to East St. Louis, Illinois.  

Here I am sitting in my seat on the MetroLink on the way down to the Arch.

  We walked across the riverfront right up to the Arch.  The arch is made out of stainless steel and people are allowed to walk right up to it and touch it.

The Arch is so tall, it is hard to get a picture of the whole thing so close.

This is Noah, me, and Toby standing in front of the north leg of the Arch.   It is really shiny, and you can see Yia-yia’s reflection

 There is a museum underground between the legs of the arch.  After we went in and got our tickets to ride the tram up to the very top, we walked through the museum.  There are a lot of interesting things to see in the museum which is called the Museum of Westward Expansion, which is a great place to learn about the Louisiana Purchase and what life in America was like back around the early 1800s.  That is over 200 years ago!

This is me inside a teepee on display in the museum.  

This is me and Noah on the ride up to the top!

 

We spent a lot of time looking through the exhibits, but eventually it was our turn to ride the tram.  When they built the Arch, they had the great idea to put a tiny train inside the arch so that people could ride up to the top.  The tram cars are very small and barely hold 5 people, but the view from the top is worth the cramped ride.  When we got to the top, there were about 80 people already there.  People were taking turns looking out the small windows out over the city and over the river into Illinois.  Thankfully the air conditioning was working!  The very top of the Arch is 630 feet from the ground.  This makes it the tallest monument in the country. 

By the time we got off the tram ride back down to the bottom, it was getting late and we decided to head back home.  We waited at the MetroLink station under the Eads Bridge again.  It was a very hot day and we were all tired.  We thought about going to Ted Drewes’ Frozen Custard for a fruit concrete, but later decided to visit Noah and Toby’s great-grandma and great-grandpa to tell them about our adventure.  Maybe next time I am back in St. Louis, I can visit Ted Drewe’s after a day at the Zoo.

This is our souvenir photo for our Arch tram ride.  The big happy fellow is Josh, Noah and Toby's dad.

Well, I am heading out to Washington DC to visit with Mr. Dunlap’s brother, Benjamin and his wife Heather.  It should be an exciting trip seeing our nation’s capital.

This is me at the top!

Here I am waiting for the train under Eads Bridge

Wellington in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Hi fellow Girl Scouts.

I'm sorry it took me so long to write, but I wanted to make sure I included pictures.

I am in a horse town called Wellington.  It is a suburb of West Palm Beach, Florida.

My host mom picked me up after work on Saturday, April 7th.  She apologized for being so late but made up for it by presenting me with a cupcake.

I had my own room with my own bed in my own room.

After settling in we went for a walk with the dog.  It is so hot and humid here even though the sun has gone down.  It is still over 70 degrees and my hair is so curly.  My house mom has a funny part to her hair that she calls her cow lick.  She says it acts up all the time.  On our walk we saw several toads.

My host parents tell me that these are exotic or non-native toads and are a pest.  It is hard to believe that something so cute could be such a problem.  I guess they are toxic and can kill your cats and dogs if they lick one or pick one up.  On our walk we saw quite a few exotic house geckos as well.

They are pretty cute too and not harmful.  I guess in some cultures it is considered to be good luck if a gecko enters your house.

After our walk I was pretty tired so I went off to bed.

The next day was Easter Sunday.  It was a nice relaxing day. We went out to get some bait for fishing.  Almost everything was closed.  The grocery store and even Target was closed.  We picked up some bread for fishing at the dollar store and some earthworms at PetSmart and headed home for some fishing.  They had enough fishing poles that I could have my own.

Can you see my yellow bobber in the water?

I didn't catch anything that day.  My house parents said that the fishing is usually better during the evening.  We did see some really big fish swim by though.

I was still pretty tuckered out from a day in the sun so I headed off to bed after our walk with the dog and guess what?  There was a gecko in my room!  I took a picture of him. 

He is starting to re-grow his tail.

Monday the 9th I spent the day bird watching.   This is what it looks like in my host parents' backyard.

Don't let the grass fool you.  It is very crunchy feeling on your feet.  I guess there is so much sand in the soil that the grass absorbs some of it.  My host dad was kind enough to pick me up for a picture.

Here are a few of the birds we saw.  A whistling duck:

A funny looking bird called an ibis (they have blue eyes):

This one is a juvenile. You can tell by his coloration.

A long-tailed grackle:

And a bunch of exotic Muschovy ducks.  My house parents named one of the Muscovies "Sneezy" because he sounds like he sneezes every now and then.  He came right up to me.

The evenings are pretty much all the same.  Walk the dog and in for the night.

On Tuesday we went for a bike ride and lizard watching.  Check out the pictures of the exotic lizards they have right in their neighborhood. This guy is called a curly tail.  When he runs he curls up his tail.

This guy is called a brown anole. 

I guess they also have green anoles here but the exotic brown anoles are taking over and chase the green ones high up into the trees.

Speaking of trees.  Check out this awesome picture I took of a pine tree.

Check out the other plants growing on the tree and the flowers.  My host parents told me that the flowers bloom here year round.  I also took a picture of a bromeliad that was growing on another pine tree.

Tuesday we all headed off to bed early.  My host mom said that she had to get up early to send me off to my next host.  She wanted to take me to the zoo where she volunteers on Wednesdays, but she said I was on a tight schedule.  I need to visit two places a week if I am going to make my 100 places in a years time.  She wanted to keep me longer and take me with her to Peru this summer.  She promised that she would keep up with my travels on the blog and maybe even send something back from Peru.  She said that I am now heading north.  She wouldn't tell me all the details but said that there might even me snow where I am headed. 

St.Louis, Missouri

Juliette Started her Tour of St. Louis, Missouri on the Train at the  St. Louis Zoo, which is one of very few FREE to the pubilic Zoo's in the country

The meerkats.

— at The St. Louis Children's Zoo

                                                          The chimps.

                                                                 The Penguins!

 The Naked Mole Rats in the Children's Zoo.

Cast of what a gorilla hand would look like at the Zoo. We think Juliette looks like Fay Ray.

                                                 .Cheetah. Waaaaay in the back.

Some sort of lemur

 The hitch visited Grant's Farm on opening weekend!— at Grant's Farm.

Goats!!— at Grant's Farm.

 The zoo's goats are bigger. And they like to eat paper. Run Juliette, run!

 Flat Juliette wanted to see what it's like to freelance for a newspaper, so she came with me to a city hall meeting.— in Valley Park, Missouri.

Jackson, Ohio

hill top view of Jackson, Ohio

Main street - Jackson, Ohio

First Presbyterian Church of Jackson

I started my Jackson journey by arriving Saturday afternoon of April 14th.  My host family mother was busy at a rain barrel workshop at the church. We attended church the next morning at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, located next to the apple painted water tower.  (Jackson County use to be home to many apple orchards, the county still holds an Apple Festival the third full week of September.)

Rain Barrel Workshop

The Apple painted water tower

Me at the organ 

I was also able to sit behind the organist bench.  This is one of the oldest organs in the town.  Behind the choir is the pipe box which holds all sizes of pipes.

Can you see me in the middle?

Trillium recurvatum

Geranium maculatum

Trillium grandiflorum

I learned that the official state wildflower for Ohio is the White Trillium (the carnation is the state flower). I have several photos with wildflowers.  The white trillium, the toad trillium, and wild geranium.  The toad trillium's petals do not open all of the way and they curve inward.  Hence the scientific name, recuratum.  All three of these flowers bloom in the forests of Ohio, Michigan, WVa. and other similar ecosystems.  Here in Ohio you can find them in the month of April.
Notice we included the scientific name of each.  That is because my host family mother is a biologist, teaching high school students in a near by town.

We visited the Markay Cultural Arts Center.  Years ago it was a theater with live performances, then a movie theater.  It is now in the process of a renovation.  There is a photo of me sitting on the stage with three of the six bas reliefs in the background.  These are the originals that have been restored.  The depicted life in Jackson county in the 1940's.

the stage floor is being installed soon

at the Markay

me on the left, coal miner on the right

apple girl carrying basket and me

Later in the day we went to the parents of my host mother to put some compost on bales of straw where she is growing strawberries.  I guess strawberries love compost.  I didn't get too dirty. 

This area was settled many years ago by people from Wales.  The country side reminded them of home, plus coal mining that was taking place in SE Ohio was something they did in Wales so there was plenty of opportunities for these Welsh coal miners.