The Two Most Difficult Cakes of All (Cakes 182-183)

Did I mention that Tom went with us on our caking adventure today? These next two cakes are the reason why. I think that there are some other spots he might have rather gone, but I told him that I needed him to go with me to get the Grand Avenue Water Tower, and the Mary Meachum cake. Those are the trickiest cakes, from everything I've seen and read on the STL250 group on Facebook.

Here is the Grand Avenue Water Tower cake. You can see that it's in the middle of a roundabout. Most of the time, it's a very busy roundabout. But we got there around 11, and it really wasn't too terrible. Cars and trucks were moving fast, but we were able to park at a meter within sight of the tower, and walk up to the roundabout. Then I went ahead to get some pictures of the cake, and Tom brought the girls across the street. We could have probably managed this by ourselves, but it would have been a lot trickier without Daddy!

This is the oldest surviving water tower in St. Louis. Built in 1871, it is 154 feet tall. A five foot diameter standpipe inside the tower held water, which was used for firefighting and to regulate water pressure in the area. The tower was decomissioned in 1912, and the standpipe and spiral staircase were removed. In 1998, the tower was restored and lit by floodlights. It loses something with the fencing, I think...

The next tricky cake is the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing cake. This area is known historically for being part of the Underground Railroad. It's in a very industrialized area, and it we got stopped by a train on the way there!

The cake is positioned along the trail, a good ways down. We disregarded the "no motor vehicles" sign, and drove the car pretty much right up to the cake. No one fussed at us for doing that, so I guess it worked out pretty well. We just had to be careful not to hit any bikers on the trail...we saw a few going by. Tom said that this was our revenge for all of the times that bikers took up the whole road so that he couldn't drive his car. Ha, ha!

Holly said, "Mom, did Mr. Brooks paint this cake?" I told her I didn't know, and I wasn't sure. She said he did. I said, "Maybe it's someone else's cake, though. I don't know." Then Chloe found his signature, and both girls were very proud of themselves that they recognized his style!