Sweet Endings

This blog entry will mark the last of the “Summer Vacation” series and I hope you have enjoyed my musings and insights into a really wonderful adventure with my boys, Bud and Peanut.

Our final leg of the tour was a stop in St. Louis to do What St. Louisans Do. We attended a St. Louis Cardinal game (yes, 1SweetMama bleeds Cardinal red!!) and enjoyed frozen custard at Ted Drewes, a local tradition for decades.

Ted Drewes started when Ted Sr. opened his first ice cream store in Florida in 1929, followed by two locations on the north side of St. Louis in 1931. In 1941 the family opened stands on the south side. The current Chippewa location, where we ate, is on the famed old Route 66.

The above photo is the one I took of the stand. Bear in mind, it looks like this pretty much every hour of operation. Frozen custard-hungry patrons patiently stand in line, sometimes 6-8 people deep, for their favorite flavor concoctions. Some like it straight up in vanilla or chocolate, or you can order a Concrete (similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard) in several varieties. My Concrete of choice is the “Frisco”. Having grown up in St. Louis, I ordered this absolutely yummy flavor a million times. Finally, I asked them why it was called a “Frisco”….they said it was because it is full of fruits and nuts. Their words…not mine.

By the way, the ballgame was great because it was my first time in the new Busch Stadium and I got to see Albert Pujols’ derriere (we were very close behind – no pun intended - the first base line) for 8 glorious innings. The photo is of Bud and Peanut at the ONLY moment the sun shone after we entered the ballpark. Very soon after this photo was taken, storm clouds blanketed the city and we cheered on the Red Birds in a thunderstorm….they never pulled the tarp out and the boys and I finally gave it up at the top of the 8th inning after we realized that the Cardinals could never rebound from a heartbreaking score of 8 to 2. Yes, the Colorado Rockies handed the Cardinals’ butts to them. Oh, well…..at least we knew that our day, and thus our vacationing fun, would end sweetly at Ted Drewes.
And so, on a sweet note, we ended our vacation and returned home the following morning. But we also knew that, at the end of our journey, we would arrive at another destination where life is sweet…..home in the “Ice Cream Capital of the World®”.

And as a sidebar, make sure you come back and read my blog next Tuesday….I will tell you about my experiences this weekend as our community hosts “Ice Cream Days”. If you find you are in the area, you really should come out to Le Mars, Iowa, and take in all the fun and festivities of this flagship ice cream event for our town. And if you happen to read this in time for the parade, you will recognize me….I will be dressed like a package of Blue Bunny® Bomb Pops®. Check out all the Ice Cream Days details by clicking here.