Hamilton, etc.

I got a head start over Brad on our visit to St. Louis, which began with just what you might expect: beer. Troy was giving a talk on wheat beer at Civil Life, so Anne B., Anne W., Dave W., and I went over to learn a lot, eat a little, and drink a medium amount.

Professor Troy educated us about all of the wheat beer offerings that Civil Life has to offer, including  the grains and hops, where the name comes from, the different traditions of brewing it, why it tastes and smells the way it does, etc. Lucky for me there wasn't a test at the end.

Here is the professor with some star students.

And here is the professor again, this time with her unpaid intern.

The unpaid intern earning his keep.

It was great to see Troy in her element and to hang out with these two.

Meanwhile back at home, Allie was getting to know her dog sitter, Ashley.

Back in St. Louis, on the next night it was a treat to get together with my old book club.

Since the book was an astronaut's memoir, we met at the Moonrise Hotel, ate at the Eclipse Restaurant, and visited the terrace (with the world's largest man-made moon, behind us).

Our plans for Friday night need no introduction.

Do I need to say how super excited we were to see Hamilton?

As were Anne and Dave.

As were Anne and Sue!

 This really happened!

That's right, it's the Hamilton stage! (Right after I took this the usher told us not to take pictures, but she didn't say I had to delete what I had already taken.) Our seats were fantastic. Anne did a great job of choosing them! We all loved the show! (But then again, you already knew that, didn't you?) All these days later I still feel like I'm basking the the afterglow of Hamilton.

The next day, over in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, Mary and Andy spent what looks like a beautiful Saturday hiking Old Rag Mountain with a cast of thousands (not pictured).

Back in St. Louis on Saturday, we visited some of the wedding sites that Brad hadn't seen, including the wedding ceremony site above. They were set up for a wedding so we got a glimpse of what it will look like in June.

And of course we got to visit Sirius, who was expressive as always.

We spent Saturday afternoon at 2nd Shift Brewing (the wedding reception site), visiting with John and Troy and lots of friends.

On Saturday night we went out with John and Troy. The service was slow but the company was great.

On Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch together before heading to the airport.

As if the trip wasn't already great enough, as an added bonus on the way home I got to see the Grand Canyon. (Brad unfortunately was on the other side of the plane.)

And of course we had an ecstatic dog to greet us on our return.