Exploring St. Louis with 250 Cakes

We went to Cheese-ology today for a late Valentine lunch after our Valentine blood drive. We were sad to learn, this week, that it is closing in March. :-( We wanted to go one last time before it was too late.

I was happy to see that the loop still has cakes!

The Vintage Vinyl cake went up after we did the rest of the Loop cakes. It was good to finally get it!

After lunch, we headed over to the history museum to buy baby cakes. Little miniature StL cakes. We plan to take a cake along as we visit the rest of the cake sites. Turns out this is the last weekend for the 250 exhibit. Unfortunately I was uber exhausted by this point so we didn't go through it. Jacob did get to see it last summer with CYIA. But we found some bonus cakes.

The gold cake was first displayed on NYE and is going to go in a time capsule to be opened in 2064, the 300th bday. The big cake is a Reunion Cake painted by several cake artists and also first displayed on NYE.

One of our Baby Cakes to be painted later.

We armed ourselves with maps of several areas of St. Louis and our iterneraries and set out to get as many cakes as we could before dark. We started in South St. Louis, headed into Illinois, and then back in to the Central West End area before it got too dark to see the cakes anymore. Along the way we ran into several other cake hunters, working to finish their lists before the cakes are gone. While we are still a long way off, they were all nearing the finish line. One gentleman only had one left when we left him. I hope he gets it!

Our day started with a cake we have passed many times, but didn't realize which cake it was. We thought it was the Hill cake, because it is in the Hill neighborhood near the big Hill sign on Kingshighway. We assumed it had moved when we finally got that one another trip. But, when we passed it again today, we had to turn around and go back for it. Turns out it is the Brightside St. Louis cake.

The sun was definitely bright today and was working against us much of the time. Not the best picture!

Brightside St. Louis

Our next stop was our first planned stop. Bevo Mill. Definitely on our list of places to visit again.

Bevo Mill

Then came Feasting Fox which reminds Alex of the Ren Fest park. She really wants to go back and try this one out.

Feasting Fox

Then we headed further South and hit Corandolet Park.

Carondelet Park

Lots of confetti!

We happened upon one of these little book houses. I love these and would love to own one! Thanks to Jessica for this picture, mine was not a good one!

Then on to the Carondelete Historical Society. This was a fun cake and what looks to be an old school.

Carondelet Historical Society

This looks like it's at the park, but it is at the historical society.

Along the river, we hit the Missisippi River Greenway in Jefferson Barracks.

Mississippi River Greenway

Jefferson Barracks Historical Site Visitor's Center

Then west a little to Harley Davidson.

Gateway Harley-Davidson

By now, it was time for a lunch break before we got ready to head across the river. Alex finds a nice spot to pose outside Subway.

One last cake before we cross the bridge.

St. Anthony's Medical Center

First stop in Illinois is at the Old Cahokia Courthouse.

Old Cahokia Court House

Pretty much across the street, we came to the Church of the Holy Family.

Church of the Holy Family

Out of Cahokia and on to Belleville where we find the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. We enjoyed this stop. While the Way of Lights was not lit up, we still got to peak at the camels and follow the nativity story. Again, the sun was working against us.

Our Lady of the Snows

Next stop, Victorian House Museum. We ran into a lady and her young son who had found about 230 at this point.

Victorian House Museum

Then to the Emma Kunz House.

Emma Kunz House

Then to Eckerts, a place we have been before and would love to go back to. Alex and I loved this cake! Pumpkins!!

Eckerts Belleville Country Store

You can just barely see me in the smile!

Then we started circling up north to Scott AFB. At this point we ran into a couple of ladies that were on the hunt and saw them at the next three cakes as well.

Scott Air Force Base.

Then northwest to the World's Largest Catsup Bottle! We remember visiting this site a few years back with friends from Texas. Can't get this one in the same shot as the actual attraction! :-)

World's Largest Catsup Bottle.

Alex is wearing out!

Want to own a big bottle of castup?

Then to Cahokia Mounds. Alex loves this spot. We had originally planned to make this trip on a warm day and picnic here and go to the top of the big mound for good pictures of St. Louis. But, life happens and plans change. It was a bit chilly for climbing the mound today and we were running out of daylight.

Cahokia Mounds

Another picture, Mom?

A small mound!

The big mound

Then into East St. Louis for the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center. This one was gated up and we thought we were going to have to get a distance picture. Then Alex discovered an unlocked gate. We were a bit uneasy "sneaking" in, but this is such a cute cake! Glad we got a close up!

Jackie-Joyner Kersee Foundation

We started to head to more East St. Louis cakes but the sun was really working against us now. There were too many highways coming into together in one place and the sun was making it impossible to find our exits, so we decided it was time to call it quits for this area and head across the river. Alex caught a picture of the Arch as we crossed over.

We were going to just head home, but decided that if we headed into CWE, the sun would not be such an issue. So, we headed to Left Bank Books.

Left Bank Books

Then on to the Chess Center. This one was fun.

Chess Hall of Fame

Chess Center

Chess Club

Then on to Gaslight Theater where we ran into a gentleman who only had one cake left. The one out in Warrenton that we have twice! I hope he gets it!

He was nice enough to take our picture for us.

Gaslight Theather

Then to Gaslight Square, just up the street.

Gaslight Square

Then to CIC-CET- Cortex. This one was a neat one.

Last cake of the day and maybe the year, Scott Joplin House. We lost light quick! You know it's time to call it a day when it's too dark to see your cakes! It's amazing how fast the light disappeared between this cake and the one before it!