Action-Packed Couple Of Days

SUNDAY

Park visited: None
City: Kirkwood, Missouri
Food of the day: Steak & Chicken Fajitas at Union Station Houlihan's
iPhone song of the day: "Swing" by Savage & Akon
Miles traveled: 20

Heavy weekend rains combined with the fact that the Kirkwood fields are basically located under sea level resulted in the complete cancellation of the remainder of the June Baseball Classic on Sunday. My Mom had already offered to do all of the laundry for myself and the Nate's, so I assisted her with in completing this task with my free morning. Before her and my Dad got back on the road for Union, we grabbed lunch at Texas Roadhouse and enjoyed a very nice conversation prior to their departure.

With an unexpected free day placed in our laps, the Road Trip crew descended into downtown St. Louis Sunday afternoon to partake in the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour. The beer journey took us through the 45-degree lager area where the beer barrels are located, onto the bottling/canning area on the factory floor, inside the stable area that houses the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales (which included our favorite "Claire") and eventually the hospitality room where we were allowed to sample two types of Anheuser-Busch's product.

Our guide Sarah was giving her first tour ever which slowed things down a little, but overall the hour-long walk around the AB grounds was a fantastic experience. I was hoping to try two beers I hadn't tasted before at the tour's conclusion, but the Beach Bum keg ran out just before I reached the counter. I elected for a fresh Budweiser Select and the Belgian brew Shock Top.

Following our brewery excursion, we met up with one of Clink's friends from STL, and headed for Union Station downtown to get a bite to eat. We chose Houlihan's, which turned out not to be anything special, but pretty good nonetheless. The combo (steak and chicken) fajitas did do the job, and a Boulevard draft was a nice complement to the meal.

MONDAY

Park visited: Busch Stadium
City: St. Louis, Missouri
Food of the day: (tie) Raspberry Sprite at Sonic & Chicken Quesedilla at J Buck's.
iPhone song of the day: "Hurt" by Danse Russe
Miles traveled: 20

After a pretty lazy Monday morning, we had a quick lunch at Sonic and made our way to the fields in Kirkwood to straighten up the trailer and pack up the remainder of our supplies from Saturday's events. After we finished, we took a couple hours to hit some balls. Without an actual fence on the field we were using, our Home Run Derby plans were kind of scrapped. We did enjoy the swinging exhibition, despite our extreme amateur pitching abilities and Kohrs' difficultly shagging in the outfield without a left-handed glove.

Back at the hotel, we got cleaned up and made our way back to downtown St. Louis and Busch Stadium for the Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates game. Prior to entering the park, we enjoyed some appetizers and pregame beer at J Buck's on Clark Ave. while Clink made some last minute fantasy baseball lineup changes on my iPhone.

In terms of seating at the game, we opted for the $10 "standing room only" spots, which ended up being very enjoyable. Our position along the third base line offered a great view, as Cards dropped a tough one to the Bucs 5-4. Jason Michaels (former Indian) hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 7th winning that tied the contest at 4-4, and Jason Bay eventually drove in the winning run that spoiled a relatively decent performance from Adam Wainwright.

It was definitely impressive to see 42,000 fans at a Monday game against a pretty crummy team, but simply gave credibility to the theory that St. Louis patrons are some of the most intelligent and loyal fans in baseball. There was one lady, however, who really irked us before the game started. As a local St. Louis high school choir led the park in God Bless American and the Star Spangled Banner, she stood with her back turned the whole time while she laughed and talked with one of the ushers.

This is one area where I have no tolerance for disrespectful people, and her antics were shameful. And then, the fact that she had the gall to turn and give a half clap when she realized it was over was pitiful, and really got under my skin. Why can't people take two minutes out of their way important life to honor THEIR flag and respect a tradition that is much more significant than their petty conversation? This is almost just as bad as men who don't think the "please remove your caps" announcement doesn't apply to them. No one is looking at your hair. No one cares. Take your freakin' hat of and show some respect for 120 seconds.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Altogether, these past couple days have been excellent, and it's hard to believe we've already fit so much in to just two weeks of our three-month adventure. We still have a lot left to see, do and experience, and I look forward to sharing it all with YOU.

I do appreciate all of the consistent readers of this blog, including Jason Dolan, Candra Spirtoff, Sara Bailey, Patrick Clark, the Jung family, Elisa Arnold, Megan LaFollette and Brandon Quinlan. If I didn't mention you, please leave a comment so I know you're out there....and either way, thanks so much for keeping up with our Road Trip! For ALL the pictures from our journey cross country, please visit the "Baseball Youth Road Trip Recap" link located on the right side of this page.

Until next time,
Chris