Day 11: St. Louis & Waterloo, IL

On Wednesday, Andy's parents took me to Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm was originally owned by President Grant's father-in-law, then by Grant himself, then by the Busch family. Since then, Anheuser-Busch has turned it into a tourist attraction.

The first place we visited was the grounds where the Clydesdales were kept, raised, and trained.


Sometimes, the horses sleep standing up. I think that's what these next two were doing.






The ponies' legs grow a little faster than the rest of their bodies do, so it's a little awkward for them to get around at times.

One of the qualifications needed to pull the official Budweiser wagon is a black mane and a black tail. From what we could gather, most ponies' tails start out white, and from there they may or may not turn black later on.




This one is stopping for a snack.


Me, bravely defying the "CAUTION, WE MAY BITE!" signs.


After the stables, we took a tram tour around the grounds.

I think there's supposed to be a waterfall back in there.


The original main gates have statues of deer on either side. The deer are fake, but the antlers are real.


Mr. Busch lined the property with gates made out of Civil War rifle barrels, as a memorial to the soldiers in that war. These gates stretch for a couple hundred feet, which is pretty impressive.


This is the original log cabin U. S. Grant built on his in-laws' property.


These covered wagons were sitting outside the log cabin.


As were these cannons.


Some donkeys, just hanging out.


The Grants and Busches both raised and showed horses. This is a very old equestrian jump.


A trumpeter swan, showing off for the tourists by balancing on one leg.


There are supposed to be some Japanese fish in there somewhere.


Rams, I think. Or antelope. I guess my optical zoom isn't all that great.


Baby versions of whatever animals were in the previous picture.


Some longhorns of various types.


Buffalo.


A (relatively) newborn buffalo.


More baby buffalo. Actually, one of them is the same as in the previous shot.


An emu. You'll have to take my word on this one, because it's hard to take pictures as the tram is moving.


A period covered bridge.


See that tree in the middle? Just to the left of it, kind of hidden behind the hill, is an endangered Asian deer. I believe these deer are only found in captivity.


A better look at the same deer.


Ooh, there's an even better look.


The tram dropped us off at this little zoo. I only got a few shots; the first was of these lemurs.


The other was of this bald eagle, looking very truthy. There were two bald eagles; both were rescued after being injured. Neither can fly anymore, so there's no roof or restraints on their area.


Next to the zoo was a carriage house that displayed quite a few old carriages. It also had this bust of Adolphus Busch.


Here's a horse-drawn firetruck, located in the carriage house.


Next to the carriage house was a stable for the show horses. As I mentioned above, the Busches love to show horses. None of these are actually Clydesdales; they were actually a variety of horses in this stable.

Here's Michelob.


Here's a donkey. I'm not sure if it was the "celebrity" donkey that wanted to be a Clydesdale.


Here's the same donkey, after I learned to point my camera lens through the bars, instead of at the bars.


Here's the other donkey that was in the stable. Maybe this is the one from the commercials.


Another show horse.


Here's President Grant's St. Louis home, Whitehaven. It's called Whitehaven because the house was originally white before the Grants discovered lime green paint. The house originally belonged to Grant's father-in-law, and President Grant lived there after the Civil War and before he moved to New York at the end of his life. Oh yeah, there were also eight years in there when he lived somewhere else.


Here's a view of the property from the side. The green house is off to the right. The stone building behind it is the "summer kitchen." In the winter, meals were cooked in the basement (the "winter kitchen"), so the heat from the cooking stoves could spread through the house. In the warmer weather, meals were cooked in a separate building, to keep the heat out of the house. To the left are two red buildings: the icehouse, in which chunks of ice from the adjacent river were stored for up to three years (!) when packed properly, and a chicken coop.


That's it, and unfortunately that's it for the St. Louis area. On Thursday, I stop in Effingham, Illinois to visit the Stolz family.