The Clarion was/is going through a remodel job, and the front desk people were very friendly and helpful. They also gave us a couple free breakfast coupons, where the patrons were mostly loud old men employees with nowhere to go. After coming from a state that bans smoking at most facilities, we weren't breathing as easy in other states. Another four-hour drive brought us to St Louis, Missouri. Although it was only 75 degrees, the humidity turned us into whiners.
We skirted downtown and went straight to check into the Best Western in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. The girl sitting outside put down her cigarette and went inside to man the desk after changing the channel for the child watching loud television. We checked in as fast as we could, unloaded our luggage, the kids jumped in the pool for a quick dip, then we headed into the big city. (The horses and rest of the driving crew arrived while we were at the baseball game.)
We found a parking lot one block from the stadium, and towards the Gateway Arch. Since we had half an hour before the gates opened, we hiked the couple of blocks to the park to snap a few pictures.
The Gateway to the West, the Arch, is also known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Since it only takes four minutes to get to the top, we paid and got onto the next to last shuttle for the day. There are eight little oval compartments hooked together, each with its own little porthole entrance/exit. There are five seats inside with bright fluorescent lights. Two different voices and music were playing on the sound system during the ride. There is a small window in the door, but nothing to see but a dimly-lit metal stairway. We made it all the way up, 630 feet no problemo. We took some more pictures, and the friendly tourguide man took one of all of us on my cell phone, (sigh). It's a great view of the West and downtown St Louis and the Cardinal's stadium; to the East the mighty Mississippi River. We could also see some thunderheads heading to town from the south. The last group waiting to ascend where cheered to hear us exclaim, We made it! There were many murals with pictures and the building history, but alas...we wanted to catch a baseball. We bought a couple post cards and a frigerator magnet, and agreed this was the best attraction of the trip thus far.
Batting practice was well underway when we entered the ballpark. There were many more hopefuls here trying to catch a fly ball from Ken Griffey, Jr. and the other Cincinnati Reds swinging away. After batting practice, we found our seats on the top of the right field wall. Since we were hungry and a couple raindrops were dripping, we decided to see what was cooking. Then field crew started covering the infield with tarp.
What a storm! As we were strolling along trying to decide what would be most filling for the least dollars, the thunder and lightning and rain poured down. Of course, the concession area is covered, but we could see the storm raging all around us from the breezeway with all the other fans. After that half hour? delay, we took all our leftover napkins and dried off our seats. It didn't rain any more after that, but the young group in front of us was more into traveling conversation than the game, so that was a bit distracting. I did stand on my seat and wave my arms and baseball glove to make myself a target when Junior was up. Ron mentioned the scene from "The Natural" when (Glenn Close) stands alone that inspired Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) to hit a home run. Well, I was wearing a Boise State sweatshirt, which is inspiration enough! Maybe it reminded him of the good old days wearing Seattle Mariners blue. Well, he hit a homer right at me, about a dozen rows short though. The Reds won 10-3.
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