Institutionalized

I spotted a magazine at the supermarket yesterday and was intrigued by the cover story. Being curious but cheap, I made a mental note and found the article online today:

101 Things Every St. Louisan Must Do

Being born in St. Louis, and having lived here for roughly 2/3 of my life, I figured I had most of these in the bag. And of course, a lot of the obvious ones -- the Arch, Union Station, the penguin house at the Zoo (although not, strangely, the rest of the Zoo) -- I had done any number of times.

But after counting it up, I was mildly surprised to find out that I've never done 50 of the 101 things on their list. Many of these I've never heard of; where the hell is Sioux Passage Park? Many others hold little or no interest for me, like the Casa Loma Ballroom or lunch at the Zodiac Room in Frontenac (ask me again in 40-50 years, maybe).

But I was surprised at the number of Saint Louis Institutions (my wife's favorite word) that I, to my lasting shame, have never experienced. See #s 34, 48, 61, 72, and (believe it or not) 96 to see what I mean.