4th of July Under the Arch

Last week, K and I decided we wanted to hit the road for the 4th but weren't sure what we wanted to do so we decided to hand over our decision to the will of Priceline. We figured since it was so close to the weekend, there would be hotels with rooms still available that would be willing to do a little price cut in order to fill the room. We got lucky with the Hyatt Regency at the Arch in St. Louis....50% off, yeah that's what I'm talking about! Seriously, I have no idea when is the last time I paid full rate for a hotel room. We immediately got online to see what STL had going for the 4th. Just so happens that Fair St. Louis happens every year on the grounds of the Arch and the Hyatt was right across the street. Fair STL is a 3 day event with live music, air shows, kids' events and fireworks everyday. Bingo! We headed out Saturday morning and made really good time up I-55 until we got to the exit to our hotel. It was closed, along with numerous other streets in the downtown area, for the fair so we wound up in Illinois. The bad part was we were working with a GPS that refused to give us any directions that did not involve the interstate and the closed exits so it took us a while to navigate downtown. I finally had the Hyatt in sight and thought we were there until this:

Blocked again! We finally made it to the hotel about 40 minutes later and by that time we swore we would not get back into the car until it was time to leave. The lobby was a madhouse & the check in lines were looooooong but the bellhop let us in on a little secret that he could check us in so we were done with the lobby in a flash, thank goodness because I could feel my patience waning. We unloaded all of our stuff in our cut rate room while deciding what our first step would be. Even though we paid a lot less than the going rate on our room and it had a weird set up, we were still very pleased with it. It was shaped like an L....when you walked in, the bathroom and a weird little spare room/giant closet were on either side and it opened up to where the bed was and then the room ran down the side of the bathroom to form a little sitting room.

We had just an ok view but it did allow us to see a bit of the Arch and the river and it was a good spot to watch the really bad thunderstorms that rolled in late Saturday afternoon.

As we were putting our stuff away, one of the airshows started so we rushed out to the park to see everything. It was a good show, I just wish there would have been some Blue Angels. That is what I really want to see during an air show but we still saw some cool planes and tricks!

After the air show, there was a concert, a really bad concert (Steve Miller Band) but I was talked into staying because K likes them, I have no idea why but he does, and then watched the fireworks show after the concert. It made up for all the suckiness of the concert. I would have taken some video of it but my phone was dead by that point. Activities were through for the night after the fireworks and we were starving so we headed back to the hotel. This is where the greatness of our hotel was realized!

That building in the background is our hotel.....the absolute closest building to the park grounds. Score!!! We were back in our hotel and getting a table at the Brewhouse while people were still trying to get to their cars.
We got up Sunday and headed back to the park for the early airshow. After a little over an hour into it, thunder and lightning started to we grabbed our stuff and headed to the Landing to find some lunch. We stopped in at Hannegan's Pub and were able to eat and get out before the rain came. We made it back to the hotel and watched the thunderstorms which were pretty bad. 9 people were struck by lightning during the storms in STL. When it looked like the storms wouldn't be stopping for a while, we grabbed a nap and then headed down to the Red Kitchen and Bar for some cocktails. We had planned on going back to the fair for the Maroon 5 concert and more fireworks but everything was cancelled due to the storms. We grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Landing and walked around for a bit before stopping in at Jake's Steaks for a bite. It was the perfect choice!

We were able to find a spot at the bar and started our people watching. After a couple of drinks, we ordered the stuffed jalapenos as an appetizer and the second I took a bite, I knew this restaurant must be visited again!

Roasted jalapenos stuffed with smoked brisket and cheddar cheese and then baked. Oh. My Gosh!!!! I could have easily eaten 100 of these! The sauce that came with them was some sort of spicy, garlicky ranchy tasting dip that was excellent too. While we were waiting on our appy, two guys at the bar were served some gargantuan piece of meat that looked rather interesting. It was called the Beast and it was a 48 oz. pork steak that was smoked and then grilled, served over cornbread with 2 sides. The second K and I heard it was smoked, we were sold. Ever since he got his smoked a few months ago, we want everything smoked, so Bingo! Plus it helped that the 2 guys that were already eating it said it was good. BTW, the Beast is one of those food challenge things and if you eat all of the meat, cornbread and 2 sides in an hour, it is free and you get your picture on the wall. Both guys accomplished the task and were #2 and #3 to go on the wall. K and I decided to give it a try, the pork steak, not the challenge! When our plate came out one of the guys that had just completed the challenge was apparently feeling a little threatened and wanted to make sure we knew we were NOT getting our picture on the wall since we were sharing.

We ordered our pork steak with the jalapeno mashed potatoes and the pepperjack and bacon mac & cheese. This was a ton of food, you can't even see the 4 pieces of cornbread because they are hidden under the steak. The steak was ah-maze-ing! It was so tender, you didn't need a knife to eat it and the smoke flavor was perfect but I think I liked the potatoes and mac & cheese the best. Thinking back on the meal, I am craving the sides way more than I am the steak. This was the best mac and cheese I have ever had besides the Lobster Mac and Cheese at Zamperi's in Destin. Anyways, it was very, very good food and we made ourselves pretty much sick from eating so much and we still had enough for another person to eat when we were through.

This plate of food was massive and I cannot believe we witnessed two people finish it all alone. Look at the size of the bone!!!

One of the guys that took the challenge finished in 20 minutes and said he felt fine and then had more beer to drink after he got through eating. He was a true Beast!
After we finished our attempt at the Beast, we couldn't do anything but head back to the hotel and go to bed. We got up yesterday, came home and chilled. Dinner at Olive Garden last night since we didn't get to go to the Hill and get some real Italian while in STL and back to work today. Back to reality stinks!!!