Luvin' Benton Park! (Cakes 55-61)

We've been having a nice lazy Saturday. The girls were playing upstairs, Tom was in the Man Cave, and I was busily planning future cake trips. Ha ha ha! I went downstairs to ask Tom if he wanted a Reuben for lunch. Reubens are his favorite sandwiches. He said, "It's got to be more complicated than that." Nah...only about six cakes' worth of complicated! There were cakes in the Benton Park area that we missed when we went on the brewery tour, Luvy Duvy's Cafe being one of them. They serve an excellent Reuben sandwich, or so I supposed! Add a couple of cakes that were on route, and I could knock out a whole neighborhood! Being the good sport that he is, Tom tweaked the map a little, and we headed out for lunch, and cake-touring!

First stop, the Bevo Mill. The Mill has changed hands a few times, and it's currently only open for Sunday brunch and special occasions. Amy, Tracy, and Lori, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Daddy take us here for lunch once? It seems like the only time I've eaten here, I was with all of you guys. It's been a LONG time...

This cake has some awesome detail on the sides. I really like it. I like the clouds on the cake, too...looks like my picture of the windmill!

Our next stop was Jay International. This cake is on South Grand, which is the most diverse area in the St. Louis region. You can really see that when you go inside. There are people from everywhere! You can get some Asian stuff here, but it's not as good as the Chinese market on Olive, just because you have all sorts of different cultural foods in this grocery store. Not as much strictly Chinese stuff. Still, we were able to find some good cookies, and soy bean chips. We had fun snacking in the car!

Holly was especially glad that Daddy let her go in and look all around for the foods that she likes!

Our next stop was Luvy Duvy's for lunch. Chloe was impressed to find out that she's actually older than Luvy Duvy's. It opened in 2007. (This was a public vote winner.) Their food is really good, and it's not too pricey. I definitely recommend this as a breakfast or lunch stop. The park across the street makes the stop perfect for kids! Not to mention that the park is just what you need to break up caking...kids gotta have something in it for them, you know!

I really like this cake...and I'm seeing some St. Louis flag-type clothing in our near future...

Tom got his Reuben sandwich, Chloe and Holly got hotdogs (which were awesome), and I got a yummy BLT which Holly also enjoyed!

I just love this cake...it's one of my favorites so far! Phil Jarvis painted this cake, and also the Lemp Mansion one. He's a terrific artist!

Here we are at the Cherokee Business District. The Indian statue was installed in 1985. Holly wanted to know if that was a real Indian...and if it's stronger than Hulk.

Chloe recognized STL-Style on the cake, and she said, "We went here!" The cake is decorated with images from the businesses in the Cherokee District.

The Off Broadway cake was easy to spot! The girls had fun posing with this one, and getting photobombed by Daddy.

We were getting near the end of our cake quest for today, but everyone was still full of energy. We spotted the Lyon Park cake from the road, and raced to see who would get there first. Holly took off down the path, but then Tom started running across the grass, followed distantly by Chloe. In this next picture, you can see Holly racing along the path, trying to beat Tom there. He ran fast, but she beat him, even though she had a longer way to run!

I love the detail on some of the nearby buildings!

Surprise candle-blowing photobomb!

Tom has been showing the girls that they don't have to be afraid of honeybees in the clover. Clover is blooming everywhere we go. See the honeybee cupped in his hands? If you don't actually touch the bees, they won't hurt you.

The silhouettes on the cake look just like this:

General Lyon was the first Union general to die during the Civil War.

Last cake for the day was at the Feasting Fox. We ran into more cakers here. We'd seen some also at Lyon Park and the Bevo Mill. The funny thing is that one woman had her van all painted with STL250 signs and cake pictures. It was really funny! Too bad we weren't hungry...I told Tom that stopping here now violates my "you need to eat at the cake restaurants" policy. We'll have to come back! (Bevo Mill may prove to be another exception to that rule...I'm not a fan of Sunday brunches, and we have our Sunday routine.) Oh well! 

This is another Mark Swain cake. You can always tell by the "250"...his cakes always have dots on the 250. Not to mention his huge signature which is always on the front and back of the cakes. I like this one, but I like his Tower Grove Park cake and Cahokia Mounds cake better.

Holly was ready to see more cakes today, but we told her we'd see more on Monday. Chloe was glad to be finished for the day. She'll be happy to have a day off tomorrow, I think! Tom's feeling pretty good that he helped us find 20 cakes this weekend. That's a LOT! (But alas, a mere drop in the bucket...250 is SUCH a big number, people.)