Date: December 14, 2013 - December 15, 2013
Crew: Luke, Sarah, Khristian, Breanna, Caitlin, Me
Show: Mansions
Venue: The Firebird
Coffee: Sump
Breakfast: The Mud House
We departed around 10:30 from Luke and Sarah's house in my parents Honda mini van. This was in reaction to the Atlanta trip being taken in a 5 (4+) seat hatchback.
To have all the room a mini van offers was nothing short of amazing.
We took 71 S down to 64 through Louisville so that we could stop at Quills coffee shop in New Albany. Jesse (the head roaster) was working a barista shift and he made us some amazing coffee as per usual.
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| Jesse, ripping v60's |
The rest of the drive flew by, we had a great time talking and listening to Luke's AMAZINGG Spotify playlist.
We arrived at our hotel and had a few drinks while we discussed options for dinner.
I remember it being quite the ordeal. We ended up settling on a suggestion my Dad had made, an Italian place called Gian Tony's in St. Louis's Italian neighborhood called The Hill. They asked if we had reservations, we did not, so we waited as they checked to see if they could accommodate us in their nearly empty restaurant. Someone in our group overheard someone in the back condescendingly refer to us as "walk ins" like we were some sort of second rate patrons. Seriously, there was almost no one in the entire dining area. They "found" us a table and we sat down. We were not under dressed, or rude, and even still when our server came to the table his interactions with us were odd. All of that to now tell you about the silver lining. The food was out of this world. I ordered the eggplant parmesan and it was so delicious as was the pasta and (clearly) fresh marinara. In additional to being amazing, it was not overpriced or over portioned. I left feeling very satisfied.
We left the restaurant and went in search of coffee. We partook at a little hippy coffee shop that had diner coffee at best. Literally a Starb***s americano would have been better. I actually ended up dumping the remaining bit of coffee out, it was that bad.
We arrived at the venue about 45 minutes before the show. It was an odd venue from the outside, in what appeared to be a downtown business district. It looked like it was closed, until we realized you parked and entered in the back. The inside was super nice. Great stage, nice bar, and booth seating which made the wait leading up to the first act not so bad. They had quite a bit of New Belgium beer at the bar, and since we didn't have them in Cincy at the time (we do now) I ordered some of their offerings.
The first band was a total joke. Not actually, they (I think) took themselves very seriously. It sounded like cats fighting basically.
Mansions was amazing. They played as a three piece, Christopher singing and guitaring, bass, and drums. They played most of Doom Loop and a few off of Dig Up The Dead and only one from earlier stuff, "Talk, Talk, Talk". I was kinda bummed at how short they played, but it was still worth every penny.
After the show we hit up Shnucks grocery where we purchased english muffins and cream cheese as well as some beverages. We sat around the hotel watching some sort of cooking shows while devouring our favorite food before heading to bed, which couldn't of come soon enough.
The morning started off with a trip to Sump Coffee. It was nothing short of spectacular, particularly the vibe and the shot of natural processed Kenya I had. The v60 left a little to be desired as it was almost too light to really pick up any substantial flavor notes.
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| Single origin Natural processed Kenya espresso. A delight to the senses |
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| Khristian's Cappuccino |
As per our usual trip format, we asked one of the baristas where we should go for breakfast, and he suggested a place called The Mud House. It was amazing. I ordered a dish called the Mudslide which was a layer of potatoes, black beans, onions, two over easy eggs, and bacon, with toast. It was nothing short of amazing.
We followed that up with a trip to the Arch, which I have never been in. It was absolutely terrifying, but worth the experience. Notice the wonderful artwork in the snow.
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| Phallic Art |
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| Girl. |
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| Other girl. |
Our trip home was pretty easy, we weren't in a rush so we stopped quite a few times. We all decided it was one of our best, most positive trips to date.
