Continuing my trend of having this blog lag behind the actual trip, we spent Wednesday touring St. Louis. By that I mean going to the Gateway Arch (including to the top), to Busch Stadium and to the Anheuser-Busch brewery.
The arch is, quite simply, fantastic — fun to look at from the ground, and even more fun to look down from. It’s something like 600 feet high, and I was really thinking I’d like to try catching a ball dropped from it too.
Under the arch, underground, is the Museum of Westward Expansion, which has all kinds of stuff about Lewis and Clark, presidents, pioneers, Indians and … baseball. (St. Louis is a big baseball town, maybe the biggest). A highlight: seeing a glove worn by one of my heroes, Stan “The Man” Musial, the greatest Cardinal of them all.
Busch Stadium is a very nice retro-chic ballyard in the manner of Seattle’s Safeco Field, and perhaps the coolest part is all the statues of former Cardinals stars out front.
As for the brewery, well, picture a malt/alcohol version of the Tillamook Cheese Factory, only bigger, older and more visually appealing than that (everything is made of red brick). As at Tillamook, the tour is free, and at the end of the tour, in the hospitality room, each guest could have two free glasses of the beverage of his or her choosing. Myself, I had a couple of Budweisers, the King of Beers, the Big Number One.
OK, have to hit the sack; at this writing it’s midnight back east, and the Louisville Slugger factory awaits tomorrow.
As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to follow the trip on Facebook too.
