"Honeymoon"- Day 1

We are so glad we were able to see everyone for the wedding, and appreciate you traveling to be a part of it! During this last week, we've been saying bye to people leaving town, taking care of bills and laundry, and getting used to our new "husband and wife" titles. :)

While Patrick and I would have ideally visited South America and hiked to Machu Picchu for our honeymoon, we settled for a vacation closer to home that we could afford. St. Louis seemed to fit the bill, and although we were originally disappointed when we had to trim our 1 week plan down to 3 days (after we realized anything more would be out of our budget), that probably ended up being a good thing.

Our honeymoon wasn't quite what we expected. Just not as romantic, smooth, or as planned as we had hoped (which affects our patience and attitudes in less than pleasant ways too), like our Branson trip in the fall had been. We are still happy we had the time away to help us make the transition from the dominating "PLAN WEDDING" mindset, to one more focused on our relationship and having some time together before going back to everyday life. And the trip definitely wasn't all bad either, as you'll see below and in the posts to come!

Our first stop after arriving in St. Louis Saturday afternoon was Schlafly Bottleworks- a craft brewery well-known in the area. Before taking a tour of the facility, we ordered a few wares to try. We made a quick stop to REI afterward, where we bought a paddle and life jacket, meaning we are now equipped to take our new kayak out (hopefully this coming weekend!). :)

We arrived at Hotel Indigo a few hours after check-in, but we received a voucher for a free breakfast for 2 because of the "inconvenience" of having to wait at the front desk a couple minutes while they made sure the room was ready. (Awesome!)

As you can see, the room has a fun atmosphere, with some really swanky touches, like salon brand toiletries. I forgot my hair-pick though, and unfortunately the free comb I got at the front desk was not so high-end (took way too long to untangle my long hair).

We were pretty hungry when we left for dinner at The Hill (a designation for an area of town with lots of Italian restaurants- highly recommended for dining), but decided to risk the estimated hour long wait since it'd probably take just as long to randomly choose a different restaurant and wait there. Ended up being longer than that, so in addition to being cranky by the time we were seated, we weren't feeling too good either. I was worried we'd shock our barren stomachs, and while the food was delicious, our digestion was definitely a little odd the rest of the trip.... which you can find out about soon in the next post!