Gateway Birthday: Life at the Crossroads

January 4, 2011
Ever since my New Year's Eve arrival back in St. Louis, I had been happily following an "early to bed, early to rise" routine, to start the new year on the right foot of a healthy routine. And true to my personal routine and now rather long-standing tradition of not working on a weekday birthday, I took Tuesday, January 4, 2011 as a personal holiday off from work. It turned out to be a great day of patterns: discovering hidden patterns, observing more patterns, remembering old patterns, and establishing new patterns. So it was that I proudly entered my 40th year...

After a nice quiet morning, I headed out into St. Louis to run a few errands. Part of getting settled into this new hometown is requiring me to find the familiar in what is new, so off I went to re-establish more of the routines that make a place a true home: dry cleaner, tailor, post office, bank. It was a cool sunny day and I smiled feeling that I was finding more of what will become "my" local services.

Then it was time to begin the annual routine of treating myself to Birthday Adventures - hooray! Even after multiple trips to St. Louis for business meetings and conferences, I had never spent time at the place that is arguably its most iconic landmark, so Birthday Adventure #1 was a visit to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM): the famed Gateway Arch and Museum.

The good fortune of a weekday birthday (aside from the "stolen/found time" of not being at work) is that major tourist attractions don't seem to be very crowded, certainly not first thing in the morning (even if I didn't make it into the parking garage early enough for the $2 discounted early-bird-parking deal). After airport-like security screening, the National Park Service welcomed me to the JNEM site. I paid for my tickets and moved ahead for the full experience: "Journey to the Top" and the documentary movie about the building of the arch.

Waiting area for the tram ride to the top of the arch.

I'll take what's behind Door #3...

...and that would be the egg-shaped elevator-tram pod (seats 5).

4 minutes later, and I'm 630 feet in the air, above the site of the original St. Louis.

Looking Northeast, over the Mississippi River.

Looking Southeast, Missouri to Illinois.

Looking Southwest.

Looking West: hello downtown, and SLU should be off in the distance.

Looking Northwest.

Self portrait in the luminescent egg going back down to the underground lobby/museum level.

Thanks NPS!

Memorial to "The Builders," flanking designer Eero Saarinen.

Uh-oh! A bear greets me at the entrance to the museum!

Have we truly realized this vision yet?

Also the founder of UVA - wahoowa!

Appaloosa and Louisiana Purchase display.

History of expansion and exploration on display - sadly, an unrealized dream from one of the Wright Brothers.

Beaver alert!

Artillery strip.

Native art.

Tatanka! (American bison in Lakota language.)

Multi-panel mural of the Missouri River.

Peeking inside a teepee.

Beautiful shield, beautifully displayed.

A longhorn, for sure!

A "Wells Fargo Wagon:" oh great, I got myself humming songs from The Music Man for the rest of the morning...

Westward expansion was a rough life.

Homestead display.

Loved the light on this glass display; I'm always drawn to blue glass.

Stagecoach.

St. Louis, MO: positioned at 1830, in the concentric rings timeline that arranges the museum displays in a system that mirrors the theme of (westward) expansion, and moving through crossroads.

After the museum and the almost vertigo-inducing documentary movie about how the Arch was built in the 60s, I headed out to enjoy the rest of my day. I discovered that the theme of exploration beyond crossroads (of time and space) that was so present in this first adventure would carry me through the rest of my day.

Looking up, near the north side of the arch.

Sun + Arch = Natural and Manmade "diamond ring" view.

Arch pattern multiplied in tree-lined park vistas.

More man-made arches in the bridges over the Mississippi riverfront.

Next it was time to fuel up at a lunch break with my great friend, Melanie. After navigating some street closures and traffic snafus (anther necessary routine in any city living), I made it to the History Museum in Forest Park and Melanie and I headed out to Clayton for a bite to eat at Kaldi's, which I learned was selected to supply coffee in the Swag Room of the Golden Globe Awards. Sure enough, a very tasty white chocolate latte capped off my vegetarian sandwich at the original store. The lunch break was a nice remembrance of the unchanging patterns in the constancy of true friendships.

Pillow in the bay window seat for my Birthday Lunch.

Pineapple light overhead at Kaldi's.

Next was a short drive through Forest Park to the St. Louis Science Center, to discover and explore more designs and patterns in nature, science, and technology. I don't care if the museum is really geared towards kids: I always love a good science museum.

Ansari X Prize rocket #1 at the entrance.

Ansari X Prize rocket #2 at entrance.

Huge structure in the lobby - fun to watch the mechanics!

The animatronic greeter has to be modeled after a drag queen in San Francisco, I'm guessing...

You swallow a quart (one liter) of snot each day. Gulp!

Everybody poos.

"That'll do, Pig. That'll do."

My typical reaction to cats.

Rhinotillexomania? That's one science I am glad I never studied.

My vote (after the coffee at lunch): to pee.

Even though Melanie was right that "Grossology" was seemingly designed to entertain 10-year old kids, it was a fun exhibit to walk through - and that included walking into a giant nasal sinus cavity display...oh, so that's what it looks like in there!

Hello, Pteranodon.

Hello, Pteranodon Kite.

Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops: animated robot - cool!

The arch appears again, this time in LEGO, perfectly designed and created by Adam Reed Tucker.

Why yes, I am going to the OmniMax theater (to see "Legends Of Flight"). Why is the Concession Stand poster man wearing my identical black turtleneck outfit?

Under theOmniMax sign.

Traffic visible from walkway over the freeway.

Pedestrian walkway.

Model of Mars.

More arches.

Still more arches.

Good night, Science Center: see you again soon (I'm sure).

After the museum and sightseeing adventures of the day, I returned to the apartment for a quick change and then was off to some new highways and streets to get to Yoga St. Louis. Yes, my last major task of the 40th birthday was to start an 8-week series of classes at an Iyengar Yoga studio here in St. Louis, so as not to forget and forsake a routine that had treated me very well in San Francisco. The director and lead instructor at this studio, Bruce Roger, has studied with and knows several of the teachers back at the Abode of Iyengar Yoga in SF, so I was happy to be the "new kid" in the class.

One of the lessons that Bruce discussed with the class that evening is that achieving the stillness of mind that is the aim of yoga practice requires the circular pattern of learning, un-learning, re-learning, and doing, un-doing, and re-doing. Such is the case with all cycles in life and of life. I was happy to have the gift of this insight on this landmark fourth decade day of patterns, routines, icons, and lessons.

A final vestige of the holiday season - sipping to make it last, smiling to make it count!

A simple supper and glass of wine ended my personal holiday. Back to work on January 5. Happy Birthday to me. Happy New Year to all.

Best wishes for the new year - cheers!