Started the day off by driving to Saint Louis...a little over 3 hours, so not too bad.
First stop was in Boonville to see if we could find any of the battlefields from the Civil War. They had 4 battles there, plus a couple minor skirmishes. Drove in, but couldn't find any signage whatsoever for any battlefields. We did drive around for a while checking out the city, so I'm pretty sure we got close to at least one of the areas where a battle took place.
Next stop (besides a bathroom break) was at Pappy's in Saint Louis. It was so good the first time we were there that we just had to go back! Plus Melissa and Jereme hadn't had it yet. It was just as good as the first time. We bought the Adam Bomb again and got much closer to finishing it this time since we had more help. I also bought a t shirt and a bottle of their BBQ sauce...now I just need to buy me a smoker!
From there we drove straight to our already paid for parking spot right next to Busch Stadium and really close to the Gateway Arch. I don't think I could have timed it better, the earliest entry for me was 4:30 and we got there at 4:28.
We walked over to the Gateway Arch and bought tickets to the top. We've been to the top of the Empire State Building and the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), so figured it was a must that we ride up to the top here as well. I told the boys that we lied, that this was actually the biggest roller coaster on the planet...HA! It was a little freaky going up since there was a window where you could see the insides of the arch. Kinda cool too though. The view from the top was amazing and the time of day was perfect...nice shadow of the arch on the Mississippi river. I took a few pics from the top that I hope turned out good. Stayed up there for a while then came back down for a couple souvenirs.
Walked back to the car and turned the AC on high (it was a bit hot and humid...not too bad, but still higher than we're used to) and relaxed for while. Walked on over to the game just in time for the first pitch. The game was a good one. Wainwright pitched a good game and the Cards beat the Braves 3-1 which is exactly what the Dodgers needed. Also met a couple cool Cardinals fans that were sitting behind us. We always seem to meet and chat the game away at the games we go to. That's one of the reasons I love our vacations. Cool people and cool places. The fans in Saint Louis are just great baseball fans.
Tomorrow is the end of our vacation as we are flying back to LA. I was another really memorable vacation for the Burgess family. Can't wait for next year's vacation...possibly Disney World, Marlins, Tampa Rays, and the Braves.
Goodnight.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013 - Omaha to Kansas City
Much shorter drive today at a bit over 200 miles. Much more relaxing than yesterday!
We drove pretty much drove straight through to our first destination of the day. Oklahoma Joes's BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas. Oklahoma Joe's is the best BBQ in the KC area per a lot of reviewers on the internet, so that's why we picked it as our 1 and only BBQ in KC. It did not disappoint. I had the rib and brisket plate and also split a Z Man sandwich with my brother. Awesome food. Not sure that it's better than Pappy's in Saint Louis though...guess I'll have to have Pappy's again once we're back in Saint Louis to do a better comparison!!!
After lunch we decided to check into our hotel and relax a while before the game. Ahhhh, relaxation!
Off to our 9th game on this vacation and the 2nd Major League game. The Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Field. The drive was a little over 10 minutes, so nice and close. Got to the game about 1/2 hour before game start so we had time to go to the team store for some souvenirs. When we got to our section I remembered something that had completely skipped my mind...we were in all you can eat seats in the Loge right by first base. Score!!! I think we got our moneys worth...the boys went back numerous times and the last time they went the workers at the concession stand gave them 5 hot dogs between the 2 of them. Needless to say we are all stuffed. The game went into extra innings ending with the visiting White Sox winning 4-3 in 12 innings. The Royals had runners at 1st and 2nd with 0 outs in the 11th, but failed to score. They should have had the batter bunt the runners and sac flied the winning run in, but no, they tried to hit him in. Shallow fly ball for the first out then a double play to end the inning. The fans in front of me felt the same way...complete lack of fundamental baseball! Oh well.
Off to bed now since we have another fairly long day tomorrow. Maybe a Civil War site or 2, maybe Pappy's for lunch, definitely the Gateway Arch, and a Cardinals game. I'm going to need a vacation after my vacation!
Goodnight.
We drove pretty much drove straight through to our first destination of the day. Oklahoma Joes's BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas. Oklahoma Joe's is the best BBQ in the KC area per a lot of reviewers on the internet, so that's why we picked it as our 1 and only BBQ in KC. It did not disappoint. I had the rib and brisket plate and also split a Z Man sandwich with my brother. Awesome food. Not sure that it's better than Pappy's in Saint Louis though...guess I'll have to have Pappy's again once we're back in Saint Louis to do a better comparison!!!
After lunch we decided to check into our hotel and relax a while before the game. Ahhhh, relaxation!
Off to our 9th game on this vacation and the 2nd Major League game. The Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Field. The drive was a little over 10 minutes, so nice and close. Got to the game about 1/2 hour before game start so we had time to go to the team store for some souvenirs. When we got to our section I remembered something that had completely skipped my mind...we were in all you can eat seats in the Loge right by first base. Score!!! I think we got our moneys worth...the boys went back numerous times and the last time they went the workers at the concession stand gave them 5 hot dogs between the 2 of them. Needless to say we are all stuffed. The game went into extra innings ending with the visiting White Sox winning 4-3 in 12 innings. The Royals had runners at 1st and 2nd with 0 outs in the 11th, but failed to score. They should have had the batter bunt the runners and sac flied the winning run in, but no, they tried to hit him in. Shallow fly ball for the first out then a double play to end the inning. The fans in front of me felt the same way...complete lack of fundamental baseball! Oh well.
Off to bed now since we have another fairly long day tomorrow. Maybe a Civil War site or 2, maybe Pappy's for lunch, definitely the Gateway Arch, and a Cardinals game. I'm going to need a vacation after my vacation!
Goodnight.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - Rapid City to Omaha
Another 500+ mile driving day with a few tourist attractions along the way.
First off was Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. We had seen advertisements for this for hundreds of mile so we just had to see what it was! It was basically a mall with a bit of a twist as it had a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally see such as a rock store (geological rocks, not rock and roll) and a lot of Indian type gifts and jewelry and apparently 5c coffee which we didn't get. We didn't stay too long as we had a long drive ahead.
Next was a Sioux Indian museum in Chamberlain, South Dakota. When you see displays like this along with the story it makes you sad to see what the US did to the native Americans. This was really close to Wounded Knee, a major slaughter of native American Indians. Sad.
One other site we had to see before we left South Dakota was the Corn Palace...another site that had billboard advertisements for many miles in both directions. The food was very similar to a county fair...lots of fried foods (Oreos, etc) and, of course, CORN! We stayed a while and bought some of this fried food and a couple ears of corn.
Back on the road and just about straight through to Omaha and the StormChasers baseball game. This was the 8th game of this year's road trip. The StormChasers are a AAA team in the Pacific Coast League and are the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. We didn't get there until the 5th inning. Too late of a start and too many stops along the way, much needed stops though. When we got to our seats we met a couple of Dodger fans that are from Paramount, California and are visiting a couple baseball fields while on vacation. They will be at the same games at us the next 2 days...Royals and then Cardinals. They gave the kids 2 baseballs from the game and the Wobbly Head giveaway that we were too late for. How cool is that! They were part of the on field games in the 8th inning, so I took a bunch of pics for them on their camera. I love the people you meet on these types of vacations.
Well, it's off to bed now.
Goodnight.
First off was Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. We had seen advertisements for this for hundreds of mile so we just had to see what it was! It was basically a mall with a bit of a twist as it had a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally see such as a rock store (geological rocks, not rock and roll) and a lot of Indian type gifts and jewelry and apparently 5c coffee which we didn't get. We didn't stay too long as we had a long drive ahead.
Next was a Sioux Indian museum in Chamberlain, South Dakota. When you see displays like this along with the story it makes you sad to see what the US did to the native Americans. This was really close to Wounded Knee, a major slaughter of native American Indians. Sad.
One other site we had to see before we left South Dakota was the Corn Palace...another site that had billboard advertisements for many miles in both directions. The food was very similar to a county fair...lots of fried foods (Oreos, etc) and, of course, CORN! We stayed a while and bought some of this fried food and a couple ears of corn.
Back on the road and just about straight through to Omaha and the StormChasers baseball game. This was the 8th game of this year's road trip. The StormChasers are a AAA team in the Pacific Coast League and are the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. We didn't get there until the 5th inning. Too late of a start and too many stops along the way, much needed stops though. When we got to our seats we met a couple of Dodger fans that are from Paramount, California and are visiting a couple baseball fields while on vacation. They will be at the same games at us the next 2 days...Royals and then Cardinals. They gave the kids 2 baseballs from the game and the Wobbly Head giveaway that we were too late for. How cool is that! They were part of the on field games in the 8th inning, so I took a bunch of pics for them on their camera. I love the people you meet on these types of vacations.
Well, it's off to bed now.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - Black Hills area of South Dakota
Today was one of the busier days of our vacation. We started out early for us, leaving the hotel at 10:30am. It takes everyone a while to shower and then eat breakfast.
Our first stop was Sturgis, famous for their yearly motorcycle rally. We were just a little over a week late for the rally, but went there anyway just to say we've been.
Next stop was a little more interesting for me a lover of anything history, Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood is famous for the gold rush in the area in 1876. As a matter of fact that was part of the name of the first attraction, the Days of '76 Museum. A bit of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and other old west characters from the late 1800's. They also had a really cool covered wagon collection and old American Indian artifacts.
We left the museum and drove into the historic part of Deadwood and walked through the town. The main attraction, for me at least, was Saloon #10 which is where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head while playing poker. He was holding the infamous Aces and Eights, now called the dead man's hand. We walked into the saloon and found the spot next to the fireplace where he was shot. He was facing away from the door. We grabbed some ice cream and walked back to our hotel.
Next stop was still in Deadwood and was the Mt Moriah Cemetery where both Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried. We had to wait for a tour bus group to finish up before we walked up to their grave sites. Not a problem normally, but there was a thunderstorm building up over us and the rumbling of thunder, so we just wanted to go check it out, take a couple pics, and get out. We narrowly missed the rain.
After visiting the grave sites we began our drive to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Its about a 50 mile drive and we were under that thunderstorm most of the drive! Heavy rain and dime sized hail! Apparently we just missed the ping pong size hail by about 1 mile. That would really have done some damage to the rental car, so we're very grateful to have missed the full brunt of the storm. It was bad enough where we were.
We stopped for lunch at a little diner in Hill City and had burgers. While there in the diner I checked out the reviews for the memorial and found out that it was a lot more than the $27 entry fee to see the monument...there would also be a $4/person charge to get anywhere near the monument. We decided that just before the entry point would be the perfect vantage point for the memorial and would save us over $50. Works for us.
Drove on over to Mount Rushmore Memorial from there (they are only about 15 minutes apart). This was the most anticipated part of vacation for me. Really enjoyed the view and think I got some great pics of the monument...will know for certain once we're back from vacation. I used my solid Manfrotto tripod and head and delayed shutter at f11 and f16, so I'm assuming they will be sharp. Stayed there a couple hours between the memorial, museum, and various souvenir shops. On the way out we met a couple people that the boys had seen earlier at our hotel, so we chatted with them for a while. They were visiting from North Carolina and were interesting to talk to (Billy Green).
Drove to Target to get a couple things and then to the hotel after.
Another big day tomorrow. We'll be driving to Omaha, Nebraska for a baseball game and would like to see a couple sites along the way.
Goodnight!
Our first stop was Sturgis, famous for their yearly motorcycle rally. We were just a little over a week late for the rally, but went there anyway just to say we've been.
Next stop was a little more interesting for me a lover of anything history, Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood is famous for the gold rush in the area in 1876. As a matter of fact that was part of the name of the first attraction, the Days of '76 Museum. A bit of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and other old west characters from the late 1800's. They also had a really cool covered wagon collection and old American Indian artifacts.
We left the museum and drove into the historic part of Deadwood and walked through the town. The main attraction, for me at least, was Saloon #10 which is where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head while playing poker. He was holding the infamous Aces and Eights, now called the dead man's hand. We walked into the saloon and found the spot next to the fireplace where he was shot. He was facing away from the door. We grabbed some ice cream and walked back to our hotel.
Next stop was still in Deadwood and was the Mt Moriah Cemetery where both Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried. We had to wait for a tour bus group to finish up before we walked up to their grave sites. Not a problem normally, but there was a thunderstorm building up over us and the rumbling of thunder, so we just wanted to go check it out, take a couple pics, and get out. We narrowly missed the rain.
After visiting the grave sites we began our drive to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Its about a 50 mile drive and we were under that thunderstorm most of the drive! Heavy rain and dime sized hail! Apparently we just missed the ping pong size hail by about 1 mile. That would really have done some damage to the rental car, so we're very grateful to have missed the full brunt of the storm. It was bad enough where we were.
We stopped for lunch at a little diner in Hill City and had burgers. While there in the diner I checked out the reviews for the memorial and found out that it was a lot more than the $27 entry fee to see the monument...there would also be a $4/person charge to get anywhere near the monument. We decided that just before the entry point would be the perfect vantage point for the memorial and would save us over $50. Works for us.
Drove on over to Mount Rushmore Memorial from there (they are only about 15 minutes apart). This was the most anticipated part of vacation for me. Really enjoyed the view and think I got some great pics of the monument...will know for certain once we're back from vacation. I used my solid Manfrotto tripod and head and delayed shutter at f11 and f16, so I'm assuming they will be sharp. Stayed there a couple hours between the memorial, museum, and various souvenir shops. On the way out we met a couple people that the boys had seen earlier at our hotel, so we chatted with them for a while. They were visiting from North Carolina and were interesting to talk to (Billy Green).
Drove to Target to get a couple things and then to the hotel after.
Another big day tomorrow. We'll be driving to Omaha, Nebraska for a baseball game and would like to see a couple sites along the way.
Goodnight!
Monday, August 19, 2013
August 19, 2013 - Minneapolis to Rapid City
A lot of driving today, almost 600 miles.
Only thing to really talk about is the world's largest candy, and soda store in the middle of nowhere Minnesota. Saw it while driving so had to stop. Ended up buying over $50 worth of candy and soda. We're stocked up for the rest of vacation now.
Off to bed now since we have a big day tomorrow. Deadwood, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Mount Rushmore. We may even try to squeeze in Sturgis and the South Dakota state fair.
Only thing to really talk about is the world's largest candy, and soda store in the middle of nowhere Minnesota. Saw it while driving so had to stop. Ended up buying over $50 worth of candy and soda. We're stocked up for the rest of vacation now.
Off to bed now since we have a big day tomorrow. Deadwood, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Mount Rushmore. We may even try to squeeze in Sturgis and the South Dakota state fair.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Friday - Sunday, August 16-18, 2013 - Minneapolis, MN
Friday...nothing to see here. Stayed at the hotel ALL day. Just hung out in the room and in the pool area. We really needed the relaxation.
Saturday
Left the hotel around 12:30 and drove over to Fort Snelling to check out their Civil War reenactment weekend. Really cool stuff. A lot of volunteers dressed up in era clothing, especially soldiers uniforms. The boys got to play in a 1860's style baseball game. Many differences from today's game. There are no foul balls...everything is in play. You can throw a ball at the runner to get them out. The bat is more of a cricket style bat and pitching was underhand. That's just a few of the differences. Drew and Josh got the 2 longest hits of the day.
There were marching drills and musket firings. Canon firing at 2pm was pretty interesting. Overall a worth wile 3 hours.
After the fort we decided to get dinner (really late lunch???) at a BBQ place we had heard about called Q Fanatic. Q Fanatic was featured on the Food Network with Guy Fieri. Pretty good q. We went to Walmart to get some items Melissa needed after eating and then went back to the hotel to relax a while.
After relaxing a while we drove over to the Mall of America to see what the fuss was all about and to check out a cool baseball sight. The mall was big, but really only slightly larger than either Del Amo mall or the South Coast Plaza back home. What we really came for was to check out the seat that is high up on a wall showing where Harmon Killebrew hit his monster homerun at Metropolitan Stadium in 1967....520 feet! After checking it out and snapping a couple pics we went over to where homeplate was. Standing there you realize just how far that hit was and how high above the field it ended up.
We left the field and went to our most anticipated event of our vacation. We went to pick up Melissa, Megan, and Jereme. Man were we happy to see them!!! We circled the airport 6 or 7 times waiting for them, but it was well worth it.
Sunday
Game 7 of our road trip was today. Minnesota Twins at Target Field. What a nice stadium and what classy fans. The place was pretty full which really shows the fans dedication considering how badly they are doing this year. Kudos to you Twins fans out there!
It was kinda funny how into his fantasy football draft my brother was. He left the game early to go to the car in order to call into his draft. Then his battery died so he had to use mine. Unfortunately I was using it for navigation and had to switch over to my Garmin before I got lost. I've been using the phone vs the Garmin while here since it takes into account all the construction and traffic going on whereas my Garmin does not.
Got to the hotel and had happy hour and lots of free beer at the Manager's Evening reception.
Now its off to bed. We're driving 8 hours to Rapid City South Dakota tomorrow. Fun!!!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013 - South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota
Well, today was one heck of a busy day. Started up by leaving our hotel at 9am to ensure that we were able to make in to our first game in Fargo, ND.
We made it to Fargo just after the game started. Our seats were right behind home plate, just a few seats towards first base. We were in Row 1, so we had a great view of the game. Got a few souvenirs (but not a shirt for me) and some food and drinks then went back to our seats. The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks are an Independent team from the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball league. This is the second team we've seen from this league on this vacation and this is the number 1 team from this division of the league. Saw back to back homeruns and 3 total homeruns during the game. We talked to a gentleman that was very enthusiastic about baseball, especially his team, the Minnesota Twins. He showed us a picture of him in the background at Fenway after Joe Mauer hit a go ahead homerun in the 9th...the picture was on MLB.com! During the middle of the 8th inning the farmer that was also a "ball boy" broke out in the Cotton Eye Joe right in front of us. Lots of cheers from the crowd on that one. The game ended shortly after with a RedHawks win.
After leaving the game we drove straight to the local mall which has a Roger Maris Museum. It was on the way out of town and baseball related, so we had to stop! Josh had bought a Roger Maris bobblehead at the game, so he was able to see some of his mementos at the museum.
Left the mall and had an almost 4 hour drive ahead of us before our next game. Once in Minneapolis we got stuck in a traffic jam. They were doing road construction and had 2 lanes merging into one...they also had 2 other highways merging into this single lane. What a friggin' nightmare! Instead of being 10 minutes early we were 30 minutes late.
The game we were going to...the second game of the day!!! was the Saint Paul Saints, yet another Independent team from the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball league...our third team from this league on our vacation.
We pulled into the parking lot and it was $7 to park, but we only had $5 up front. I was about to go into my backpack in the back of the car to get some cash, but the attendants said not to worry about it...we got to park free. We bought tickets in the right field bleachers. When at the souvenir shop Josh asked if they had any bobble heads. They didn't but suggested we talk to guest services and tell them where we were from. We did this, but they didn't have any this year. The lady running the guest services booth pulled out a couple Saints hats for us. Score!
The game itself was really cool. The team is partially owned by comedian Bill Murray, so they have some zany stuff going on. One of these is that they have a pig that delivers baseballs to the umpire between innings. They also have some really off key singers for the seventh inning stretch. Fun stadium to visit. We were exhausted so ended up leaving just before the 9th inning.
Tomorrow should be a relaxing day. We have nothing planned. A well deserved and needed day of rest.
Goodnight.
We made it to Fargo just after the game started. Our seats were right behind home plate, just a few seats towards first base. We were in Row 1, so we had a great view of the game. Got a few souvenirs (but not a shirt for me) and some food and drinks then went back to our seats. The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks are an Independent team from the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball league. This is the second team we've seen from this league on this vacation and this is the number 1 team from this division of the league. Saw back to back homeruns and 3 total homeruns during the game. We talked to a gentleman that was very enthusiastic about baseball, especially his team, the Minnesota Twins. He showed us a picture of him in the background at Fenway after Joe Mauer hit a go ahead homerun in the 9th...the picture was on MLB.com! During the middle of the 8th inning the farmer that was also a "ball boy" broke out in the Cotton Eye Joe right in front of us. Lots of cheers from the crowd on that one. The game ended shortly after with a RedHawks win.
After leaving the game we drove straight to the local mall which has a Roger Maris Museum. It was on the way out of town and baseball related, so we had to stop! Josh had bought a Roger Maris bobblehead at the game, so he was able to see some of his mementos at the museum.
Left the mall and had an almost 4 hour drive ahead of us before our next game. Once in Minneapolis we got stuck in a traffic jam. They were doing road construction and had 2 lanes merging into one...they also had 2 other highways merging into this single lane. What a friggin' nightmare! Instead of being 10 minutes early we were 30 minutes late.
The game we were going to...the second game of the day!!! was the Saint Paul Saints, yet another Independent team from the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball league...our third team from this league on our vacation.
We pulled into the parking lot and it was $7 to park, but we only had $5 up front. I was about to go into my backpack in the back of the car to get some cash, but the attendants said not to worry about it...we got to park free. We bought tickets in the right field bleachers. When at the souvenir shop Josh asked if they had any bobble heads. They didn't but suggested we talk to guest services and tell them where we were from. We did this, but they didn't have any this year. The lady running the guest services booth pulled out a couple Saints hats for us. Score!
The game itself was really cool. The team is partially owned by comedian Bill Murray, so they have some zany stuff going on. One of these is that they have a pig that delivers baseballs to the umpire between innings. They also have some really off key singers for the seventh inning stretch. Fun stadium to visit. We were exhausted so ended up leaving just before the 9th inning.
Tomorrow should be a relaxing day. We have nothing planned. A well deserved and needed day of rest.
Goodnight.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota
Today was a busy day.
We started out this morning eating breakfast in the hotel with me bring the boys their breakfast up to the room. We left the hotel in Des Moines around 10am.
First stop was an unexpected stop. I happened to see a sign for the Bob Feller Museum. Since this is a baseball vacation we just had to stop. It ended up being pretty neat. The bat that Babe Ruth used as a crutch during his farewell speech happened to be Bob Feller's bat. The bat is on display along with a bunch of other Bob Feller memorabilia in this museum. It also happens to be the last bat that the Babe ever held! Pretty cool, huh? We ended up browsing around the museum for about 1/2 hour then we were on our way.
Next up was the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, IA. Josh was complaining about how boring it would be. Guess who had the most fun? Yep, that's right, Josh! We ended up spending about and 1 1/2 hours here. If you always stay to your right while going through, you end up stepping chronologically through US railroad history. The most interesting part to me was the building of the Transcontinental railroad. I had read Stephen Abrose's book on the subject a couple years ago. It a really amazing feat of engineering, especially when you consider the tools and technology available in the early 1860's.
Next up was Big Mama's...almost. Josh and I noticed this eatery when on the Travel Channel's 101 best places to eat in the US and figured we should try it out while we were near Omaha. It was a real chore finding it. It ended up being in the middle of some school in one of the buildings on campus. It also ended up being closed already...closing at 2pm while we showed up at 2:20. Doh! So, we decided to go to the local Cracker Barrel instead.
Since we had a few hours to kill before our game, we took the scenic route through the rural parts of Nebraska passing tiny towns of less than 500 residents. One town we passed had a population of 140. When we passed a peewee football practice a few minutes later Drew commented that there was about 1/2 the population right there. Funny!
Anyway, we finally got to our baseball game. The Sioux City Explorers in Sioux City Iowa. They are an Independent team of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. It had started to rain a while before the game, so when we got into the stadium we were literally the only people there beside the players and staff. By game start I counted less than 40 people. I'd estimate maybe 100 people in total showed up. Early in the game we were able to get a foul ball, but that's the only ball we got. The players were hardly fouling anything off. Almost like they get fined for fouling them off. Crazy. Josh wanted to see if they had any team card sets, so we went over to the team store. Turns out they don't sell them, but would be giving them away on Saturday. Since we won't be anywhere near Sioux City on Saturday, the guy working the store offered to mail us a couple sets. Very cool. At the end of the 4th inning there was a rain delay that was expected to last an hour, it had been raining pretty steadily for almost an hour so I'm surprised they let it go this long. We ended up leaving since we still had a bit over an hour to drive to our hotel.
Off to bed now since tomorrow will end up being an even longer day than today.
Goodnight.
We started out this morning eating breakfast in the hotel with me bring the boys their breakfast up to the room. We left the hotel in Des Moines around 10am.
First stop was an unexpected stop. I happened to see a sign for the Bob Feller Museum. Since this is a baseball vacation we just had to stop. It ended up being pretty neat. The bat that Babe Ruth used as a crutch during his farewell speech happened to be Bob Feller's bat. The bat is on display along with a bunch of other Bob Feller memorabilia in this museum. It also happens to be the last bat that the Babe ever held! Pretty cool, huh? We ended up browsing around the museum for about 1/2 hour then we were on our way.
Next up was the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, IA. Josh was complaining about how boring it would be. Guess who had the most fun? Yep, that's right, Josh! We ended up spending about and 1 1/2 hours here. If you always stay to your right while going through, you end up stepping chronologically through US railroad history. The most interesting part to me was the building of the Transcontinental railroad. I had read Stephen Abrose's book on the subject a couple years ago. It a really amazing feat of engineering, especially when you consider the tools and technology available in the early 1860's.
Next up was Big Mama's...almost. Josh and I noticed this eatery when on the Travel Channel's 101 best places to eat in the US and figured we should try it out while we were near Omaha. It was a real chore finding it. It ended up being in the middle of some school in one of the buildings on campus. It also ended up being closed already...closing at 2pm while we showed up at 2:20. Doh! So, we decided to go to the local Cracker Barrel instead.
Since we had a few hours to kill before our game, we took the scenic route through the rural parts of Nebraska passing tiny towns of less than 500 residents. One town we passed had a population of 140. When we passed a peewee football practice a few minutes later Drew commented that there was about 1/2 the population right there. Funny!
Anyway, we finally got to our baseball game. The Sioux City Explorers in Sioux City Iowa. They are an Independent team of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. It had started to rain a while before the game, so when we got into the stadium we were literally the only people there beside the players and staff. By game start I counted less than 40 people. I'd estimate maybe 100 people in total showed up. Early in the game we were able to get a foul ball, but that's the only ball we got. The players were hardly fouling anything off. Almost like they get fined for fouling them off. Crazy. Josh wanted to see if they had any team card sets, so we went over to the team store. Turns out they don't sell them, but would be giving them away on Saturday. Since we won't be anywhere near Sioux City on Saturday, the guy working the store offered to mail us a couple sets. Very cool. At the end of the 4th inning there was a rain delay that was expected to last an hour, it had been raining pretty steadily for almost an hour so I'm surprised they let it go this long. We ended up leaving since we still had a bit over an hour to drive to our hotel.
Off to bed now since tomorrow will end up being an even longer day than today.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - Des Moines, IA
Woke up at 8:56 and thought about going to back to sleep, but remembered that the free hotel breakfast ends at 9am, so rushed downstairs and grabbed food for the 3 of us. Sustenance over sleep....hmmm. Biscuits and gravy for Josh and I and a waffle for Drew.
We all just lounged around the hotel until around 12:00 or so then went to Walmart to pick up a new Ipad charger for Drew since he left his in the last hotel. The hotel was going to check to see if it was still in the room and get back to me. I don't think I'll hold my breath. While we were out we had lunch at a little hole in the wall in town that's been in business by the same family since 1952. Their specialty is a pork tenderloin sandwich...apparently that's a big thing around here. I'm not sure what the fuss is all about...the sandwich was pretty bland, but apparently the chili cheese fries were pretty darn good...that's what Josh had.
Came back to the hotel and went to the pool for a while before coming back to the room and taking a short but badly needed nap. Then relaxed until 5:45 before driving over to tonight's game.
Tonight's game was the Iowa Cubs, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and a member of the Pacific Coast League. They were taking on the Sacramento River Cats. Jemile Weeks (River Cats) and Edgar Gonzales (Iowa Cubs and Adrian's brother) were in today's line-up. There was a pretty amazing view of the capital building from inside the stadium.
During the game they do a lot of shirt tosses during the game. I caught one..actually I picked it up when it landed by my feet! Gave that one to Drew since the last shirt I caught at a game I had given to Josh.
Josh struck up a conversation with an older couple that were sitting next to him. Turns out that they go to minor league games as they do their traveling, kinda like us, but not quite as extreme. I love the people and conversations that we have on these trips. I honestly think I enjoy Minor League games a lot more than Major League games. A lot more fan interaction and just more fun in general.
Off to bed now. Tomorrow should be another fun, but busy day. We will be going through Council Bluffs Iowa (and possibly Omaha Nebraska), Sioux City Iowa, and finally will end up in Sioux Falls South Dakota.
We all just lounged around the hotel until around 12:00 or so then went to Walmart to pick up a new Ipad charger for Drew since he left his in the last hotel. The hotel was going to check to see if it was still in the room and get back to me. I don't think I'll hold my breath. While we were out we had lunch at a little hole in the wall in town that's been in business by the same family since 1952. Their specialty is a pork tenderloin sandwich...apparently that's a big thing around here. I'm not sure what the fuss is all about...the sandwich was pretty bland, but apparently the chili cheese fries were pretty darn good...that's what Josh had.
Came back to the hotel and went to the pool for a while before coming back to the room and taking a short but badly needed nap. Then relaxed until 5:45 before driving over to tonight's game.
Tonight's game was the Iowa Cubs, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and a member of the Pacific Coast League. They were taking on the Sacramento River Cats. Jemile Weeks (River Cats) and Edgar Gonzales (Iowa Cubs and Adrian's brother) were in today's line-up. There was a pretty amazing view of the capital building from inside the stadium.
During the game they do a lot of shirt tosses during the game. I caught one..actually I picked it up when it landed by my feet! Gave that one to Drew since the last shirt I caught at a game I had given to Josh.
Josh struck up a conversation with an older couple that were sitting next to him. Turns out that they go to minor league games as they do their traveling, kinda like us, but not quite as extreme. I love the people and conversations that we have on these trips. I honestly think I enjoy Minor League games a lot more than Major League games. A lot more fan interaction and just more fun in general.
Off to bed now. Tomorrow should be another fun, but busy day. We will be going through Council Bluffs Iowa (and possibly Omaha Nebraska), Sioux City Iowa, and finally will end up in Sioux Falls South Dakota.
Counties Visited Map
I found this site that keeps track of the counties that you've visited. The aqua color are the counties that me and the boys (and Melissa for the most part) have visited. Dark blue is counties I've visited, but the boys haven't. Mostly for past bowling national tournaments back when I used to bowl a lot.
Saturday
Uneventful flights here. Our flight was out of Ontario at 6:15am, so we got an early start. First stop was in Vegas where we had a plane change and about an hour and a half layover. Had a quick breakfast, then relaxed a while before our flight. Next flight had a layover, but no plane change, in Omaha. We finally landed in St. Louis at 2:55pm and had our rental mini van by 3:45.
Drew's laptop had a major screen crack a few months ago...luckily we had full accidental damage coverage at Micro Center and they gave us a gift certificate for the what we paid for the laptop originally. Our first stop while in St. Louis was at the local Micro Center for a new laptop. Unfortunately on the way Josh noticed an Arby's so we had to have that for dinner (should have had some great BBQ instead since we were in St. Louis!)! Finally checked into our hotel around 5:30ish...ate and went into the pool for a while before crashing hard at around 10pm. Long day!
Sunday
Slept in and had a late hotel breakfast then went to Walmart for snacks, water, soda, and some movies for the road trip.
Went to the River City Rascals game a few minutes before the 4pm start time. Got there and found out it was a scheduled double header...both games 7 innings. The boys were getting a little tired by the end of the first game and wanted to leave. I told them if they were able to get 2 Frontier League baseballs for the collection, then we would leave. They don't sell the league balls so we had to get game used balls. Drew went and asked one of the players and he gave them both a baseball. So, back to the hotel for us for a little more pool time and then to bed.
Monday
Got a late checkout and then drove over to Pappy's for a great BBQ lunch. By great I mean the best BBQ that I've had, hands down. To get in you stand in a line to stand in a line to order...yes, 2 separate lines. Then you sit down at a table and they bring you your food. Not too long of a wait from first arrival to food on the table, about 30 minutes. It was worth it. We ordered the Adam Bomb, named after Adam Richman from The Travel Channel's show Man vs. Food. It consists of a full rack of dry rubbed ribs, 1/4 smoked chicken, 1 beef brisket sandwich, 1 smoked turkey sandwich, and 4 sides, plus a Hot Link Frito Pie. I can't imagine a single person eating the whole thing (we had leftovers after the 3 of us pigged out), but people have done it.
After lunch we drove for 3 1/2 hours to Burlington, IA for the Burlington Bees game. Got there at 5:30 for a 6:30 game. It was $1 Monday, so everything was cheap. It cost us $4 to get in ($2 for me and $1 for each of the boys) and canned sodas, hot dogs, pizza, and popcorn were $1 each. My program had a stamp on page 5 which meant I won something...it ended up being a free order of hot wings at a local sports bar and grill. We went there after the game and had hot wings (obviously), nachos, and mozzarella sticks.
Then it was back on the road for a 2 1/2 hour drive to our hotel in Des Moine, IA. Pulled in at 12:30am and found the parking lot completely full...not a single spot besides the handicap spot in front and a no parking area near the end. Quite a few cars that were taking 2 parking spots...aholes! They had me park in the no parking area for the night which ended up being really close to our room.
Finally fell asleep around 2am.
After lunch we drove for 3 1/2 hours to Burlington, IA for the Burlington Bees game. Got there at 5:30 for a 6:30 game. It was $1 Monday, so everything was cheap. It cost us $4 to get in ($2 for me and $1 for each of the boys) and canned sodas, hot dogs, pizza, and popcorn were $1 each. My program had a stamp on page 5 which meant I won something...it ended up being a free order of hot wings at a local sports bar and grill. We went there after the game and had hot wings (obviously), nachos, and mozzarella sticks.
Then it was back on the road for a 2 1/2 hour drive to our hotel in Des Moine, IA. Pulled in at 12:30am and found the parking lot completely full...not a single spot besides the handicap spot in front and a no parking area near the end. Quite a few cars that were taking 2 parking spots...aholes! They had me park in the no parking area for the night which ended up being really close to our room.
Finally fell asleep around 2am.
Overview of this year's vacation:
Dates - Saturday, August 10, 2013 - Saturday, August 24, 2013
Part 1 of the vacation is just me, Drew, and Josh. Part 2 will start next Saturday and will be when we pick up Melissa, Megan, and my brother Jereme.
Total miles we expect to drive:
Part 1 - 1300 miles
Part 2 - 1800 miles
Total - 3100 miles
New states visited: 6
Missouri
Iowa
Nebraska
South Dakota
North Dakota
Minnesota
Baseball games:
3 Major League
7 Minor League and Independent League
River City Rascals - Independent, Frontier League
Burlington Bees - A-, Midwest League
Iowa Cubs - AAA, Pacific Coast League
Sioux City Explorers - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Fargo Redhawks - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
St. Paul Saints - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Omaha Storm Chasers - AAA, Pacific Coast League
Minnesota Twins - Major League
Kansas City Royals - Major League
St. Louis Cardinals - Major League
Two of those games will be in the same day...the Fargo Redhawks and the St. Paul Saints.
Besides the baseball games we will be seeing some tourist destinations. First up will be the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, IA. Might also have time to see some Lewis and Clark spots in Council Bluffs, although I'm unsure of exactly what is there...it might be just a statue. In Fargo, ND we will be seeing the Roger Maris display in their mall. In Minneapolis we want to check out the Mall of America, especially the seat high up on the wall where Harmon Killebrew hit his monstrous homerun when the baseball field was at that location. We also want to check out Fort Snelling, restored to its appearance of the 1820s-1830s. The fort was played a significant role during the US-Dakota war of 1862 and is the final resting place for more than 180,000 men and women who served in our armed forces. Since we'll kinda be in the neighborhood we will make a quick stop in Sturgis and Deadwood South Dakota followed by a trip to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. On our way back to St. Louis we plan on stopping by Lexington Missouri at the battle site of 2 Civil War battles. Once back in St. Louis we will make sure that we go check out the Gateway Arch...it happens to be really close to the new Busch Stadium, so we plan on checking it out the same day as the Cardinals game. As a matter of fact, our parking that we paid for is smack dab between the 2 and closest parking to where our seats are. Score!
Food! We don't have too much planned out in the way of food besides a couple famous BBQ places in Kansas City and St. Louis...Oklahoma Joe's and Pappy's respectively. No Burgess family road trip would be complete without a couple stops at Cracker Barrel along the way.
Dates - Saturday, August 10, 2013 - Saturday, August 24, 2013
Part 1 of the vacation is just me, Drew, and Josh. Part 2 will start next Saturday and will be when we pick up Melissa, Megan, and my brother Jereme.
Total miles we expect to drive:
Part 1 - 1300 miles
Part 2 - 1800 miles
Total - 3100 miles
New states visited: 6
Missouri
Iowa
Nebraska
South Dakota
North Dakota
Minnesota
Baseball games:
3 Major League
7 Minor League and Independent League
River City Rascals - Independent, Frontier League
Burlington Bees - A-, Midwest League
Iowa Cubs - AAA, Pacific Coast League
Sioux City Explorers - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Fargo Redhawks - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
St. Paul Saints - Independent, American Association of Independent Professional Baseball
Omaha Storm Chasers - AAA, Pacific Coast League
Minnesota Twins - Major League
Kansas City Royals - Major League
St. Louis Cardinals - Major League
Two of those games will be in the same day...the Fargo Redhawks and the St. Paul Saints.
Besides the baseball games we will be seeing some tourist destinations. First up will be the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, IA. Might also have time to see some Lewis and Clark spots in Council Bluffs, although I'm unsure of exactly what is there...it might be just a statue. In Fargo, ND we will be seeing the Roger Maris display in their mall. In Minneapolis we want to check out the Mall of America, especially the seat high up on the wall where Harmon Killebrew hit his monstrous homerun when the baseball field was at that location. We also want to check out Fort Snelling, restored to its appearance of the 1820s-1830s. The fort was played a significant role during the US-Dakota war of 1862 and is the final resting place for more than 180,000 men and women who served in our armed forces. Since we'll kinda be in the neighborhood we will make a quick stop in Sturgis and Deadwood South Dakota followed by a trip to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. On our way back to St. Louis we plan on stopping by Lexington Missouri at the battle site of 2 Civil War battles. Once back in St. Louis we will make sure that we go check out the Gateway Arch...it happens to be really close to the new Busch Stadium, so we plan on checking it out the same day as the Cardinals game. As a matter of fact, our parking that we paid for is smack dab between the 2 and closest parking to where our seats are. Score!
Food! We don't have too much planned out in the way of food besides a couple famous BBQ places in Kansas City and St. Louis...Oklahoma Joe's and Pappy's respectively. No Burgess family road trip would be complete without a couple stops at Cracker Barrel along the way.
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