Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Usually, the weather is nice by the time Easter rolls around, and when I was younger my siblings, cousins and I would spend Easter afternoon out at my grandparent’s farm. Well, we still spend the afternoon out at the farm, but the weather wasn’t the best this year. It decided to start getting sunny right about the time Tim and I were leaving to head back to Saint Louis…funny how those things work.
Tim and I headed north Thursday afternoon and spent the first two nights of the trip at my brother’s house in Omaha. Friday was our day to galavant around Omaha and just hang out. When we came back for Easter last year, we hit up the Henry Doorly Zoo [which will always be way better than the Saint Louis zoo] and Rosenblatt Stadium before it gets torn down. So we explored other areas this year…
We went and had lunch with my awesome friend Nicole, and then downtown to the Old Market. I had to show Tim one of my favorite spots in the whole city…the Old Market Passageway. It leads to a couple different restaurants, several shops, and even an office or two. I love the combined look of an old building with a green house feel.
We stopped at the Upstream Brewery for a drink while down in the Old Market…Tim likes to try local brews whenever in a different city. I think it got a thumbs–up from him. Tim enjoyed the Flagship IPA [pictured] while I had the Madcap Maxie Hefeweizen. The brewery is in an old, brick building [like the majority of places in that area of town], and is a place worthy of checking out for either a drink or some food.
Then we headed to the Hot Shops just north of downtown [where the first picture was taken.] It’s an art center that’s free to the public to walk through and look at local artists’ work. A lot of the artists even let you come in their studio if they are there working and have the door open. It gets it name from the hot shops attached to the building with the studios—a metal smith/sculpture shop, a pottery/ceramics shop, and the homemade glass studio.
Picture of hand blow glass ornaments in the Crystal Forge shop.
One of the artists’ studio’s door. This door used to have the Mona Lisa painted on it. Kind of made me sad when I saw she had changed it.
Close up of the door…the artist uses puzzle pieces for added details and texture.
More walking through the Hot Shops. I love old sliding doors like this. I like how it’s not closed when it says to keep the door closed—obviously it’s an old sign.
We ended the night by going an getting a couple drinks with some people [hey Nicole!] at a place called the Crescent Moon Alehouse. The bar on the lower level sells “Boots” of beer, and with it is a game. I grabbed a picture of the bar rules because I thought it was funny—it’s up the individual table whether to play by the rules or not. I say make up your own, or add to the current ones.
Overall it was a good weekend. Lots of driving but worth it to see the family and some friends. I even managed to catch a glimpse of someone snoozing while I was driving us back… 🙂
—m.