On Saturday March 28th we checked out of our hotel in Chesterfield, MO before seeking out some weird St. Louis sights. Thanks to awesome books such as the “Weird” series (specifically “Weird Missouri” in this case) along with online resources such as Roadside America, we were able to find some fun things we could seek out in between our main attractions. We had two spots flagged for our brief visit in St. Louis; one a gas station shaped like a giant flying saucer and the other a giant eyeball located in a sculpture park.
The saucer ended up being something of a bust. For one thing, while it did have a saucer shape there was no indication of it being a spaceship…like where was the control hatch? Perhaps there was one back when it was gas station as it had since been converted to a Chipotle restaurant. That’s the thing about these weird attraction websites…they don’t always get updated!
The Giant Eyeball, on the other hand, did NOT disappoint!
David: Seeing the giant eyeball was a great little side trip. We had no idea what to expect but as soon as we saw it, we both started laughing. The eye is enormous and is very impressive in person! Whether this is actually art is open to conjecture but it is very cool nonetheless and all I could think about was the movie THE CRAWLING EYE from 1958. These little side trips helped add so much variety to an already exciting trip!
Dave: The sculpture was created in 2007 by artist, Tony Tasset. It’s actually designed after one of his own eyes and was created out of steel, resin, fiberglass, and oil paint. It’s definitely more impressive in person and we strongly recommend anyone visiting the area make a point to check it out!
After that we enjoyed tours all day at the St. Louis Zoo!
That night we stayed at a nice lodge in Cape Girardeau, MO. The hotel offered us free soda and popcorn and we relaxed and watched Wolfcop (wasn’t as funny as we’d hoped) before crashing out. Tomorrow we’d be entering Tennessee…highlighted by 77 degree temps and 1.99 gasoline!
Coming Up…Surviving an encounter with a car from DEATH PROOF!
The Terror Daves~
