baseball,  personal,  travel

the boys whirlwind baseball adventure

August 11, 2008 /

As dictated by the boys. I’m just typing and plugging in the pictures. A ridiculous amount of pictures follow…

Day One:

At 4:00 in the morning we went in the car to LaGuardia airport with Uncle Nelson, us, Dad, and Grandpa Ken. We took our flight to Washington DC  where we had breakfast and Jack had a muffin. Jack held up the muffin showing it Dad and Patrick and started saying "muffinie goodness"! Then we boarded the plane to Kansas City. We arrived at the airport around 9:15. Then, we picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel. Once we got settled in, we went to Aruthur Bryant’s for lunch. They made world famous Kanas City BBQ. We really liked it,(but it could use some personal hygene.) After lunch, we went to the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame. We learned about famous Negro League players like Satchel Page, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Jackie Robinson. When we were done, we went back to the hotel for a little while and then we went to the game. When we got to the Kauffman Stadium it was the Royals vs. the Chicago White Sox. They had really cool waterfalls at the stadium. The Royals lost 4-2 but we got some good stuff anyway. We headed back to the hotel and got some sleep. (after 20 hrs of being awake).

Img_0041 Img_0044 Img_0045 Img_0047 Img_0043 Img_0048 Img_0049 Img_0051 Img_0052 Img_0055 Img_0059 Img_0060 Img_0062

Img_0065  It wouldn’t be a vacation w Grandpa Ken if there wasn’t a restaurant in a really bad neighborhood with an armed security guard:Img_0066 Img_0068 Img_0070 Img_0087 Img_0076 Img_0089

Day Two:

We woke up at the Sheraton, had breakfast (including more of Jack’s muffinie goodness), went back to the hotel room, relaxed a little bit and took a quick dip in their indoor pool. After the pool, we went to the ballgame and it was REALLY hot. The Royals won 8-2 this time. We went to Strouds for linner (lunch/dinner). Strouds Chicken is famous for their pan fried chicken and it was like country style. It used to be a house in the country with a log cabin, then in was some kind of manor, and then it was sold to some people that made it into Strouds. The food was really good. We got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken. Patrick went on a walk with Grandpa and got some really cool pictures. After eating at Strouds, we drove halfway to St. Louis and went to sleep in a new hotel. The Econolodge was disgusting and it smelled bad. And there were bugs. Seriously.

Img_0091 Img_0098 Img_0103 Img_0104 Img_0109 Img_0111 Img_0117 Img_0128 Img_0175 Img_0199 Img_0201 Img_0203 Img_0210 Img_0211 Img_0219 Img_0226 Img_0222 Img_0242 Img_0243   

Day Three:

We woke up and got breakfast at McDonalds and it was pretty good. After breakfast, we drove 2 hrs. to downtown St. Louis. We went to the Cardinals team store and got merchandise before the game. Then we went to the Gateway Arch. We had to wait on line for a really long time but when we got to the place where we had to get up to the top of the arch, we went in these cool space capsule kind of things and we spiraled up to the top. We got a couple of great pictures from up there. It was a great view. Then we got down and we went to Ted Drewes which makes frozen custard like Carvel. Except it was much better than carvel. When we finished eating, we went to the Anheiser Busch Brewery for a tour. They had clydesdale horses and a lot of cool other stuff. Dad liked it cause it had BEER. It smelled like barley and yeast which we sorta liked but sorta didn’t. At the end of the tour we got free beer and soda. Soda for us, beer for dad and grandpa. For dinner we went to Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill which is an Italian restaurant. We had some fried ravioli there and it was REALLY good. Then we went to the Cardinals vs. Phillies game at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals lost 5-3 but they had cool statues in the front of the stadium and a cool team store. We left in the 8th inning, and went to a new hotel which was much better.

Img_0250 Img_0251 Img_0253 Img_0255 Img_0256 Img_0259 Img_0265 Img_0270 Img_0276 Img_0277 Img_0282 Img_0286 Img_0290 Img_0291 Img_0292 Img_0298 Img_0301 Img_0331 Img_0340 Img_0344 Img_0367 Img_0375 Img_0377 Img_0380 Img_0383 Img_0384 Img_0431 Img_0455 Img_0458  Img_0462

Day Four:

We drove for a while to Chicago. When we got to Chicago, we went sightseeing downtown and saw the Sears tower, lake Michigan which was pretty cool, the watertower that survived the fire, the opera house, and a cool mossy church. We had lunch at Lou Malanatti’s which had Chicago style deep dish pizza which was really good. Then we went to the team store and to Wrigley Field for the Cubs vs. Astros game. The Cubs lost 2-0.There was a huge rain delay with tornado warnings with a 2hr 45 min rain delay. The hotel we made reservations at had a blackout cause of the weather. We heard tornado sirens but dad told us it was the police! So we went to a new hotel (the super 8 motel) and it was okay.

Img_0466 Img_0468 Img_0471 Img_0474 Img_0476 Img_0477 Img_0478 Img_0479 Img_0481 Img_0485 Img_0490 Img_0499 Img_0501 Img_0505 Img_0545 Img_0579 Img_0611 Img_0635 

Day Five:

Technically, there was a day five, but not much. We took the plane home and Jack had more muffiny goodness for breakfast. 

So there you have it…a jampacked vacation with lots of baseball and lots of good food. A big thank you to Ken for the trip, John for the trip and for taking pictures, charging the camera battery, and not losing/breaking the camera, and to my boys for taking tons of pictures just for me (how awesome are the ones of the arch??!!) of things they knew I would like.  I have them so brainwashed.