Cheap shrimp, a free band, tasty food on a stick, good people, and semi-expensive beer...

Want to hear a fun-fact? In the 1920’s Anheuser Busch originally opened a little restaurant in Alton, IL (just outside St. Louis) called Fast Eddies Bon-Air. But, AB was forced to sell sometime in the 30’s because of a new law prohibited breweries from owning drinking establishments. Fast forward about 90 years and not only is Fast Eddies still in business, BUT they’re a local landmark that is apparently always hoppin’.


Obviously, since I'm not 90 years old, Fast Eddies has been around my entire life. And, throughout my life, I’ve heard tons of commercials about their cheap beer, cheap shrimp, and cheap chicken on a stick. While creating my list, I often asked other people for ideas, my cousin Bob and his wife Maggie mentioned Fast Eddies. I thought it was a great idea. It was a quintessential, “St. Louisy”, (even though it’s in Alton, IL) new thing to experience…plus…it was easy on the pocket book.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. One of my favorite things about this list is I don’t have any (or at least many) specific plans about how or when I will go about accomplishing something. I’ve come to realize part of the fun is observing how things organically come to pass which, oftentimes, results in me hanging out with a new or different crowd...another fun thing. That’s what happened with Fast Eddies.

My friend Ryanne’s birthday falls in December—right around the time when everyone is spending lots of money on Christmas gifts and new clothes for holiday parties. So, for her birthday this year, she decided to have a low key birthday party at Fast Eddies. Not only do I appreciate Ryanne for her overall quality personality, quick witted humor, and stellar event planning skills…BUT I also appreciate her personal challenge to be the one person who does the majority of these things with me! So far, in addition to Fast Eddies, Ryanne has watched the Birds with me, she was with me while I was reading Tipping Point (that kind of counts because she asked about it…), she came to hear Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill, she supported me and my sister in a fundraiser we did for the marathon we're running (in 4 days) with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (so that kind of counts towards the "marathon")…AND…one mustn’t forget her being my fabulous South African travel buddy!  

So, her birthday celebration was the perfect way to experience Fast Eddies. I made some new friends, saw some people I don’t get to see very often, AND hung out with friends (and even family) that I DO see on a regular basis…it was fun-tastic!!

As for Fast Eddies. I’ll go back. I mean, how can you say “no” to cheap chicken, shrimp, and beer?!? Plus, a live band and dancing AND (I almost forgot) some AMAZING people watching!?! ...a favorite pastime of mine. However, to add twist…I think I’ll go in the summer so I can hang out on the patio. I’ve always been a sucker for listening to a live band while sitting outside enjoying a few drinks. Kind of makes me wish it wasn’t January and 15*…

"Ice skating"

I consider myself a proud St. Louisan. I’ll be the first to admit, St. Louis is no New York City…but I think STL has a lot to offer, and despite some pretty hard hits to our local economy we continue to hold our own.


We have some great restaurants. A decent number of free music events. The St. Louis Cardinals. Lots of quality people. AND…one of the largest parks in the nation. Did you know Forest Park is 500+ acres larger than Central Park?
Forest Park Fun Facts

Speaking of Forest Park, in all my 30 years I’ve never ice skated at the Forest Park ice rink. That’s not saying too much considering my ice skating experiences are few and far between…and as far as I can remember…all indoor. Early December, I learned some good family friends, John and Angie, (aka Santa and Snowflake the Elf) had a skating “gig” at Stineburg Ice Rink on Dec. 12th. One of my favorite things about this list is I generally don’t have any plans for how (or with whom) I’ll do various activities. If an opportunity randomly comes up to carry out an item I’ll usually do it…especially if it involves spending time with people I don’t see on a regular basis. All that to say, it seemed all the stars were aligned and it made good sense for me to lace up my skates and hop on the ice for a few loops with Santa and Snowflake.

I won’t subject you to the story of my horrible experience at Wherenberg Theater the night before…but know this: I left Wherenberg super annoyed and $21 poorer. My ice skating experience was similar…pretty much to the penny. It is January 2nd as I type this blog entry and I’m officially re-annoyed.… but I digress…

Because of some other things happening in the afternoon, I knew Megan and I had a very narrow window of time to skate…i.e. 30ish minutes. By the time we purchased our ice time, picked up our skates, laced up our abnormally long laces, talked with Santa and Snowflake…nearly 30 minutes had passed before we actually got on this ice. After my first five steps (maybe 10 steps) …and just before I was about to move into my Triple Salchow (ok…that was just a test to see if you were still reading) the zambonie comes out to clean the ice (a 20+ minute process). Ever heard the phrase, “piss-poor timing”? Yeah…well…that’s what this was. Seriously? Didn’t Steinburg rink know that I had a hair appointment at 2:30?!?

Though I technically skated at Forest Park (all 10 steps) it really wasn’t quite what I had in mind. I tried getting my rink time money back from the kid behind the register…but I guess this whole “we’re in a recession” thing is making places tighten up their purse strings. So…much like my Wherenberg experience…I left annoyed and $21 poorer. Bah humbug. For the record, it doesn’t cost $21/person to skate, I was treating Megan since she was nice enough to join me on this endeavor.

Because I like to think of myself as a “glass half full” kind of gal…maybe the piss-poor timing of it all made the whole experience all the more memorable. Though we didn’t even make it a quarter of the way around the rink, I don’t regret why we chose to skate that day. I’m glad Megan and I got in some sister bonding and we were able to support some good friends. That’s worth $22. And, maybe it’s a good reminder that I shouldn’t try to cram so much into one day.

If you (whoever you might be) are in need of an ice skating buddy, particularly at the Forest Park Ice rink, let me know...I feel like I should go again.