Searching for Starbucks in St. Louis

The Marriott Hotel Starbucks was closed for the holidays.

I’m addicted to coffee. Not simply coffee, but Starbucks triple long shot espresso with a splash of cream. This provides a morning jolt without an overabundance of caffeinated liquid to wreak havoc on my kidneys. Of course this creates a problem. If I don’t get my morning espresso, I’m catapulted into a migraine headache by noon.

For Thanksgiving my wife and I traveled to St. Louis to visit her family. Thanks to the airport Starbucks, we departed Los Angeles properly caffeinated. I awoke on Wednesday morning determined to find a strong brew to start my day. I sampled the free coffee in the hotel bistro. It was swill as I suspected. No problem. St. Louis is a large city and I assumed they’d have multiple coffee houses like Los Angeles.

I asked the hotel concierge if there was a Starbucks nearby. She frowned as if I’d asked her to explain the theory of relativity.

“Uhh, it’s pretty far,” she said.

“How far?”

“Do you know where Kansas is?”

Surely she must be kidding. I did a quick Google search and learned there were six Starbucks locations in St. Louis. The closest was inside the Marriott Hotel just down the road. It was 27 degrees outside but I was determined. I donned a pea coat and scarf and trudged a half mile along a busy road. I entered the Marriott…