Fish Cake

Eat them up, yum!

You can bike, walk or run the Centennial Greenway in St. Charles County. It is connected to the Katy Trail that runs from the Heritage Museum to the Heritage Park.

It is part of the River Ring Master Plan that will join the Missouri River Valley with the Central Mississippi River waterfront.

600 miles of trails and parks for exploring will pass  through twelve municipalities; Clayton, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, Olivette, Overland, University City, St. Charles City, St. Charles County, St. Louis City, St. Peters and St. Louis County.

The name, Centennial Greenway, commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the 1904 World’s Fair, which celebrated the Discovery Expedition by Lewis and Clark, in Forest Park, the 1904 Olympic Games, and the Centennial Anniversary of University City.

Cake artist - Mark Swain

Nine down 241 to go.

Beautiful Junk

Building a cake

Colin and Andrew found some help to look for the cake at Laumeier Sculpture Park. They were really attracted to the giant eye and were not even afraid of it.

The artist used beautiful junk to build this cake. Beautiful junk is taking material, any type of material and recycling it to be used again for another purpose. It doesn't have to go through the recycling process like plastic bottles or metal cans. The materials can be used in their original state.

The platform is wrapped in a plastic type of netting material that you would see at a construction site.

The bottom layer has landscaping materials of small garden rocks that spells out the lettering, STL250, and astroturf is wrapped around the rest of the layer.

The next layer is a tribute to the tools an artist would use to create his sculpture. There are nuts and bolts, different length screws, electrical sockets and jacks.

On top of the top layer was covered in different size pieces of wood. Fat ones and skinny ones. These are the pieces of wood that had fallen to the floor after the cut was made.

The cake is topped of with pencil sticks, to measure twice, and part of an orange, heavy duty electrical cord for the flame.

Beautiful junk, Beautiful cake!

Cake artist - Nick Lang

Eight down 242 to go.

Deja Seuss

The House of Magic

The Magic House has the most colorful cake so far and, according to Colin, "the biggest," as it sits on a platform.

The magic House was celebrating another birthday - Dr. Seuss.

We arrived as it opened and wee little one and wee little two are all here.

They were watching us touch the electrical charged ball and laughed at our stand on end hair.

It was time to hop on a train on out of there.

All aboard!

Next stop, the Kirkwood Train Station. In 1853, the train ran for the Pacific Railroad to Kirkwood. Today it is served by Amtrak.

As we admired the painted train on the cake, our train of thought was disturbed by a smell tickling our noses.

We followed it across the street where the Great Harvest Bread Company was serving bread so sweet.

It was rolled in a twirl, creamy, dreamy, Cinnamon Swirl.

We wanted a loaf to bring home for our supper,
Homemade onion soup and super ham sandwiches.
"I can slice bread on rack one but not on rack two,"
Ok we will take a loaf of Honey White bread from rack number one,
"Oh," she said, "that can't be done.
That bread is too hot and just done."
We took the loaf whole and made sure the door closes,
We headed back to the car nibbling on that treat that tickled our noses.

We can eat bread anywhere!

Cake artist
The Magic House
Mary Hanson

Six and Seven down 243 to go.

Cake spotting

Over the river.

The Missouri River that is. To St. Charles County, Colin and Andrew's neighborhood.

Colin and Andrew

First stop, the Lewis and Clark Boathouse. As we pulled into the parking lot, Colin called with excitement in his voice, "Hey Grandma, I see the cake and I see your car."

The Stl250 cake is a tribute to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The bottom layer has, as Andrew would call them, "bird eyes." There were areas of blue, for the river and green, for the land. The map had the northern states with the path of the expedition. We followed the path with our finger and when we got towards then end at Washington state, Colin knew it was named after the president.

We did a little exploring around the boathouse. Colin read a rebus story about how people founded the land. Andrew ran down a boat landing to the river, there were lots of bridges to see. Then we walked through the Never Dying Garden.

The next few cakes on our list were not to be found by us today. I don't know if they were hiding inside buildings but it was a nice winter thaw day so finding a place to park wasn't meant to be.

The last cake was at Ft. Zumwalt Park. It's a nice little ride around Lake Whetsel. The cake sits in front of the Darius Heald House where tours are through appointment only. Off to side, stands the stone chimney from Zumwalts Fort, which is now being rebuilt.

The cake has recognizable pictures of these buildings, the lake and playground painted all around it. Strands of Christmas lights are on the top of the cake.

Could this be because every year the park has their Celebration of Lights, where you can drive around the park to view the holiday light display?

Cake artist
Lewis & Clark Boathouse - Ashli England
Ft. Zumwalt Park - Leah Pruitt

Four and five down 245 to go.

Cake-thedral

First church.

Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest Episcopal parish west of the Mississippi River.

It is an example of Gothic architecture, with a belfry tower flanked by gargoyles.

I can hear the bells sound off every weekday at 12:10p.m. They were cast by the same German foundry that did the bells for the German Pavilion at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.  The largest bell weighs 5,732 pounds, making it the biggest in the state of Missouri.

Free tours are available. Inside you can view the church's most impressive feature, behind the altar are intricate carved screens called reredos made of stone from France.

Their STL250 cake is painted with a stained glass design and on top of the layers there are colorful, metallic confetti that are glued down.

Cake artist - Mark Swain

Three down 247 to go.

Reno-CAKE-tion

Stir up the Campbell's

 

The Campbell House Museum has been going through renovation and restoration since Robert Campbell bought it in 1854. Upon his years of living in the house Campbell:

• enlarged the back of the house for a larger kitchen, dining room, and more bedrooms
• combined the two front parlors into one large space
• added a three-story bay window on the east side
• added three extra rooms on the third floor
• enclosed the porch
• created the Morning Room

Campbell also bought the lot to the east of his property and added the carriage house and then a latticed summer house. During the summer months, I've seen them seting up tables, chairs and decorations as if there was going to be a wedding in the garden. If not a wedding some fancy event.

 

Brick wall of the Campbell House Museum

In the late 20th century a set of pictures, taken through­out the house in 1885, was founded. The pictures were then used for the restoration project, bringing the house back into the 19th century that includes original Campbell possessions such as furniture, fixtures, paintings, and objects.

On the outside. all of the facades are of finished and painted brick, except for the one facing west.

 

Is this why their STL250 cake is done with a brick pattern?

Cake artist - Nicholas Nihira

 

Two down 248 to go!

I am not amuse(um)

That's what the Queen says.

I just found out that "A social media application to be unveiled soon will share facts about each location, give cake hunters a chance to share a comment or a picture and allow “check ins” for a sweepstakes featuring great St. Louis prizes." from the stl250 website. I am on their email list so maybe I'll be notified when it will take effect.

Today I thought I would go to some local places that are on the list. The closest location near me is the Ferguson Depot. It's where the Norfolk-Southern freight line can roll past the Whistle Stop as many as 20 times a day. I didn't see any trains go by nor did I see any cake.

Next nearest location, the Chain of Rocks Bridge. That place looked like no one has been there since the last eagle, that was last month. Ugh!

I will say the weather hasn't been the greatest for the roll out of these cakes. And after re-reading the stl250 website I see, "Installation of all of the Cakes is underway - visit back often for an update on which cakes have been installed and are ready for a visit!" In the past 2 days I have visited their website very often and I think they sneak information on there after I leave it.

After feeling a bit disappointed, we decided to go down to the Missouri History Museum. They were having a 3 day birthday celebration with activities for the whole family. The exhibit, which runs through next year, is 250/250; 50 People, 50 Places, 50 Images, 50 Moments, and 50 Objects was free.

As we circled the museum looking for a parking space, we saw no cake. We asked several staff/volunteers where the cake was, only to be directed to a table with cake, cupcakes to decorate. No one knew anything about the cake. We walked through the exhibit, grabbed a free soda and decided to leave, again unfulfilling a goal for the third time of the day.



Rich in front of the Weiner Mobile

When we exited the building, our eyes widen, our hearts were filled with excitement as we saw the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile! No more cake thoughts in our head, just the weiner mobile. We took pictures, got some souvenirs that included postcards and the hot dog whistle.

We headed back to the car, trudging through the ice covered sidewalk, thinking the day wasn't a total loss, we saw the Weiner Mobile. We circled the museum one last time, and then...there it was just being delivered, the CAKE.

Rich pulled up in front of the cake. I jumped out of the car to take pictures. As I was taking pictures lots of families were passing by. No one turning a head to look at the cake. I was standing there yelling inside my head, PEOPLE HERE IS THE CAKE, LOOK AT THE CAKE.

At least the day wasn't a total lost.

Cake artist - Thomas Sleet

One down 249 to go.