The St. Louis trip...

We left after work on Friday and made it about halfway to St. Louis, stopping the night in Maclean, Illinois where we had a Super 8 lined up for the night. We walked into our room and it was uncomfortably warm. The air conditioning unit underneath the window came to life in a rumble that never died down. The bathroom door wouldn't stay shut. The pool was broken. And the pillows were small and not supportive. I mention all these things not to jump on Super 8, but just to contrast that with the hotel we stayed at in downtown St. Louis.
The Riverfront Hyatt Regency is what they call it now, but when I was growing up and hearing the Cards on the radio, it was the Adam's Mark St. Louis. In fact, when I made the reservation earlier this year it was the Adam's Mark, but whatever. This was a great hotel. We got a junior sweet, so we had plenty of room and we had a view of both the Gateway Arch and the old Courthouse (where the Dredd Scott case was litigated*). Gorgeous view. And the bathroom door shut the whole way. The king-sized bed was overflowing with pillows and the room temperature was cool and controllable without noise. Great.
*Note. I couldn't remember what the Dredd Scott Case was. All I could recall was it was "a slavery case bad." That right there is why I couldn't major in history and why I didn't get a lot of A's while majoring in English.
But that wasn't why we came to St. Louis. And we couldn't even get in our room at first. Apparently, our idea of coming into St. Louis just for a day and staying at the old Adam's Mark is not really an outside the box thought.
So, we left the van and our bags and headed over to Busch III.
And let me say, this stadium is gorgeous. Better than the hotel even (though warmer). The weather was high 70's and sunny when we got there, but clouds mixed in throughout the day to combine with a nice cool breeze for a perfect spring day. The walkways are big and accessible. Getting in and out of the stadium was so easy. (Wrigley really is a death-trap. I'm all for old stadiums and their beauty-and Wrigley is beautiful-but squishing in the almost-40,000 people in and out of there on a 90 degree Chicago sweat-fest? Well. It's not fun.)
We got there early and found our seats in the right field corner next to the foul pole. Chris Duncan, Troy Glaus and Skip Schumacher were taking batting practice as we sat down. This is where I really eye-balled the stadium. The orange-ish brick and the black of the railings and light towers were strikingly new. (Most of the games I've seen have been at Wrigley, so it's my most immediate frame of reference. Also, this is the newest baseball stadium I've been to.) The field itself was gorgeous. The crowd was late arriving (which seemed odd for the best fans in baseball), but they were quality. The southern family behind us offered up good commentary. As soon as Dioner Navarro bat touched the pitch that would be a homerun, the father cried, "Oh no!" With a southern accent. And People actually talked about matchups and after Albert failed to move two runners over with an out in the early innings, someone actually faulted him for it. I know it's just one crowd and it's hard to compare them to Cubs fans. But. In this small sample size, the Cards are waaaaaaay ahead. (Which isn't to say we don't have our douches, we do. And they were about, but not in as great a number.)
The pitching matchup (and the reason I had trouble sleeping the night before*) was Adam Wainwright v. Matt Garza.
*Note. This was the first time in a long time that I was so excited I couldn't sleep. It was just like when I was a kid and going to Adventureland that next day. I'd be lying on my transformers sheets thinking, "I'm gonna ride the Tornado and then the log ride and then the bumper cars and then the ladyfinger (my favorite!), but I have to go to sleep now. The sooner I go to sleep the sooner I wake up and ride the Tornado and the Scrambler..." Yup. 30 years old and going to see Wainwright pitch and Pujols hit and Ankiel do Ankiel things, this was making me all atwitter.
Note to Note. I was trying to find old Adventureland commercials on YouTube, but no luck. Today the internet let me down.
Anyway. Wainwright didn't have his great stuff, which was sort of obvious from the start. (Reminded me of a Matt Morris start I saw in Wrigley once. I've been working on a post for that story since Morris' retirement, so we'll get back to that sometime.) He battled all game and left with a lead in the 6th. But it was a tough game. Which was to be expected because the Rays have one of the best lineups in the game. They are fun to watch as well.
I'll be honest. I was pretty sure the Cardinals weren't going to do well. They'd been in a bit of a funk of late. Dropping three to Milwaukee (who hadn't really been hot) and 2 to Pittsburgh (who...well, aren't good). They bullpen had been a sieve. Things were pointing toward a May collapse and I had a feeling that I had come to witness it.
But, I was pleasantly surprised. The team was fighting. The Rays scored first, but the Cards scored immediately after. And I must say, Aaron Miles had a spectacular game. He got was 4 for 4 and had a really nice play at second base to save a run. (So, yeah. I'm sorry Aaron Miles. You've been really good this season. My bad.) My heart did drop a little in the 9th when Albert struck out and Miles ran into another out. (No, really, Aaron. I'm not throwing you back under the bus, I'm just saying. Hey, I was surprised you got on base at all.) Going to extras seemed like doom. But Ryan Franklin pitched us through the 10th (he'd pitched the 9th as well), and Ryan Ludwick. Well. Ryan Ludwick hit a homerun. Wind-aided, maybe, but awesome. That's the happiest I've been at a baseball game.
The only downside of the game? No Rick Ankiel. Apparently he hurt his shoulder. Get well soon Rick. *
*Note. I did not send flowers, depsite repeated, compulsive urges. I'm making progress.
After the game, we checked into our fabulous hotel and chilled for a bit. Seeings how I'd been wearing jeans, I needed to shower. (Every winter, I forget that 78 degrees is really warm when you're sitting in the sun.) After that, we headed to the Arch park and made our way through the pretty waterfront park to LaClede's Landing. Apparently, this is where St. Louis really started and it's a historic disctrict with brick streest (which I am a sucker for) and horse-drawn carriages (which I am less a sucker for, but still somewhat suckish). We ate at the Morgan Street Brewery, which was really good. I had their Maibock and Dinah had the Dopplebock (along with food), and it was real good.
I couldn't convince Dinah to do the the Wax Museum, but that was okay. We took the half-gallon jug of Dopplebock we bought back to the hotel, before setting out to walk around the downtown. I liked the downtown. It was pretty, but maybe a little still. And there seemed to be a lot of places looking to be leased.
The next day we had breakfast delivered. (I've never had room service before. It's really nice.) Then we checked out the Arch again. Today we were actually going to go inside and take the tram (not elevator) up. But. Apparently everyone takes the tram on Sundays, so we couldn't fit it in. We did pudder around the museum they have there. It was extensive (including anamatronics!), but not clearly organized. It was set up sort of like a tree. Where, starting at the center, you have the beginning date 1803 (for the Louisiana Purchase) and the next ring around it represents the next decade. It's a neat idea, but it makes it hard to follow a narrative through it.
After that, we checked out of the hotel and wandered around St. Louis for a bit. We looked through Forest Park, which seemed gorgeous. In the park they have the Art Museum and History Museum and The Muny, which is an awesome outdoor amphitheater. Looking around the areas around there was great too. To the west of Forest Park is Washington University (which has an awesome campus, good for them!). To the North is the Loop, which is apparently a hopping place for youngsters (or so Dan Buck, son of Jack Buck told me on the hotel travel channel) to hang out.
Then we went to Lafayette Square and ate at Sqwires, which was a renovated wire factory. Food there was good and the people seemed nice.
And then we left St. Louis. On the way out we drove by the Stadium again and saw the festivities for Stan Musial. The Cardinals were having the name in front of the stadium changed in his honor. Awesome.
Yeah. So we saw a lot of St. Louis, and as Dinah and I are considering where to live after Chicago, we added St. Louis to the list. (Along with Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and scenic Levittown.) I'm worried the summers are way too hot for me. And that I'll be really out of the way for family and stuff. But. We'll see.