Poor St. Louis

Unfortunate news for the Casa Loma, St. Louis was just rated as the 'Most Dangerous City in the US' by an NBC pole. Possibly a confirmation of this pole was part of our Halloween stay that I neglected to mention in my previous blog posting. On arrival we found that we'd left a couple of items at home and wanted to find a drug store where we could pick them up. We walked down to the desk and asked the clerk on duty if there was a drug store in walking distance. She told us that she wouldn't recommend walking anywhere in the vicinity of the hotel due to the danger of doing so. Something to be aware of if you choose the Casa Loma as a dance location.

Halloween at the Casa Loma

Here we are, Major Nelson and Jeanie sans the blonde wig. I knew it would fly off when dancing, so I opted for her dark evil twin. With short hair. :-)

Happy sigh. The happy because I love Halloween so much, the sigh because it’s over. Gary and I, along with my mom and dad, had a wonderful time at the Halloween Ball at the historic Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis.

The floor was crammed with the usual gambit of costumes from the sublime (a beautiful mermaid), to the funny (Tiger and several, um, blonde ladies), to the downright risqué (a giant male atomically correct part), to the creative (a group of bloody cooks from hell’s kitchen.)

The Band, Smash, was good, but waaaaaaaay too loud. I like loud. But when you shout and STILL can’t make yourself heard or hear anyone else, that’s too much volume. I don’t get it. The piped in music played during breaks was plenty loud enough to cover the partying, but as soon as the band started to play, the dial, as Nigel would say, was cranked to 11.

It was more crowded this year. And while I am perfectly OK with sharing the floor with non-dancers and various examples of individual expression, I am NOT OK with being slammed, stepped on, or shoved. People didn’t do this on purpose (many had been drinking…a lot), but still. Gary and I come to dance, so perhaps it’s time to sample something else.

Right now we have our eye on the Willowbrook ballroom near Chicago. We’ve heard tell they put on quite a Halloween bash….