Thursday, August 23, 2007

Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City

Ok, so its been a long time since I've posted, but I'm back. For now. :D

I must say, coming back online and seeing ya'll's discussion on my drinking choices, be it Old Style, Pinot Noir, or Welches. Still, I'll stick with my Vault and Water.

So, Recap:
We drove to DeVry university and parked on Wednesday night last week. From there, we took the shuttle over to Wrigley Field. It then rained for an hour and a half, so I sat there listening to podcasts waiting for the game to start. The atmosphere at this stadium, and the exuberance of the fans, not just towards the Cubs, but just for
the game of baseball was great. Cubs lost, and the Reds won. But the Hot Dogs were fantastic, and the people were great, and the stadium definitely has its charms. As one of the other people said, everybody should make a trip to Mecca once.

The next day, we went down and just walked the downtown area of the city, topping it off with a dinner at Pizzera Uno. Good stuff, if rather expensive and crowded.

The next morning, we drove over to a small rural town outside of St. Louis, and stayed Friday night. Our friends from Texas were moving in this weekend, so we helped with that.
That was Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday, we took off to St. Louis for a Cardinals game.
After parking, which is far less expensive in St. Louis then in Chicago, we walked over to Busch Stadium and took a tour of it. Sat in the dugout, and realized that if your rich and have $28,000 to spend on seats, there are simply incredible seats to have.
I hadn't realized it before hand, but the Cardinals are second only to the Yankees in number of World Series rings.

After the tour, we took off to the St. Louis Arch and Jefferson Expansion Memorial. At first, I was indifferent to visiting this, but after being there, I can do nothing but recommend it. The arch itself is magnificent from both the outside and on top. But the real star of the place, in my mind, is the museum underground. Starting with Lewis and Clark, and carrying through the rest of our manifest destiny to the conquering of a continent, it was a brilliant display. I was there for an hour, and managed to make about 15% of the way through.


Meanwhile, part of my family was watching
batting practice. So we caught back up with each other, and the game started.
First of all, Busch Stadium is a great park, if the concessions are expensive.
Second, the fans are even better then the cubs fans. They don't boo their own pitcher.
Third, the Cardinals are a good team.
So the game was quiet until the 8th, and the Cards busted out a 4 inning to win the game.

And I decided I like Albert Pujols.
A. He hits Home Runs.
B. He fields well.
C. Nice Charity.

So now I'm in Kansas City, I'll come back later. Incidentally, Bush is here right now. I won't meet him, but it is the closest I've been since Election Day.

4 comments:

Gino said...

now yer bloggin.

i love postings like this.

Daweed said...

Just a comment
The lewis and Clark museme below the arch(yes it's underground)HAs guns in it if you have read about the strict gun laws in illinios well the Guns are everywhere in missouri.

The games at these staduims are great, the fans are awesome and are really into the game and not just their to bum around and eat hot dogs.

Solameanie said...

PB,

Did you get a chance to see the Jefferson Barracks cemetery while you were in St. Louis? I had to preach a funeral there this past spring. It looks an awful lot like Arlington National Cemetery.

It's very moving to see all those rows of plain white stones going as far as your eye can see, and knowing all those stones represent someone who served in our military. Makes me even madder at the Dems just to think about it, but that's another story. :)

Glad you're enjoying yourself. While in KC, you'll have to rate their barbecue and see how it compares to Texas.

And for the record, I like water. Really.

RobertDWood said...

Gino, thanks.

Daweed, I agree about the fans.

Sola, I didn't see the Jefferson Cemetary. I didn't know it was around there...

I didn't have any KC BBq, but I did put barbeque sauce on 4 of my 5 hot dogs at the Royals game. (Dollar night rocks).
Oh. And at Worlds of Fun we had an all you can eat buffet of Brisket, Fried Chicken and Hot Dogs. The Brisket was good, if not quite Texas caliber. The fried chicken though... amazing.
Good. Water is healthy