Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend brought us ..... visitors! First up: our nephew, Nick (my brother Steve's oldest), and his girlfriend, Kelly, came from Oklahoma City for the weekend. Saturday was the hottest day of the year with temps over 100 degrees, so what better thing to do than go for a long walk through Tower Grove for a shopping trip at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market? Yikes, we were boiling! (Lest you get any crazy ideas, those yellow glasses contain much needed lemonade.)

We showed Nick and Kelly only the finest sights in Saint Louis. After a shopping trip for local beer at a big liquor store, we walked next door to a huge costume shop and had a bit of fun.

No blog post about the weekend would be complete without mentioning our stop at Sump Coffee. Nick had heard about it, so we checked it out. By far and away it's the most serious coffee place I think any of us had ever been to. And it's run by the most seriously bearded guy with the most attitude about coffee you'll ever meet. If you're a coffee lover (and that means NO decaf, NO sweetener, and preferably NO milk) and you're in Saint Louis, you need to visit this place. It's intense. (And the coffee is superb.)

And no trip to Saint Louis would be complete without a stop to taste John and Troy's home brew.

And on the beer theme, what better place for lunch than a local brewery? 4 Hands Brewing Company has a nice little eatery and it was a perfect stop for a bite to eat.

On Saturday night we were joined by Peter and Kayla, who stopped for the night in Saint Louis on their drive from Denver to D.C. Before sitting down to grilled burgers at our house, a group photo.

Having five Harrisons at home is always the preferred choice. But we'll take four when we can get it.

Troy couldn't join us for dinner as she was working. So after dinner we drove over to iTap to say hi to her.

Since Kayla and Peter left bright and early the following morning, it was their only chance to see Troy.

On Sunday morning we went with Nick and Kelly to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The temperatures were a bit more civilized and we enjoyed walking around the gardens and seeing the annual Japanese Festival that they hold there.

On Sunday evening, John, Troy, Nick, and Kelly hung out together. Meanwhile, Brad and I went to the Gateway Arch. This is a bit of an unusual view of the Arch, which is pretty from so many different angles.

Then we met up with group at John D. McGurk's, a local Irish pub in Soulard, to listen to live music. It was a great way to end a great weekend.