Have Geek Will Travel

After the St. Louis Rams’ 52-0 win over the Oakland Raiders yesterday, I got to thinking- I never did a blog post on my trip to St. Louis, MO to watch the Rams VS Titans last year! Yeah, been a slacker about updates lately…

  

To celebrate my birthday and our wedding anniversary (they are just a few days apart), my wife and I took a short vacation/long weekend trip up to St. Louis. I’d never seen an NFL game in person before, and both of our favorite teams were playing each other. Yep, it’s a house divided- I’m a St. Louis Rams fan and my wife is Tennessee Titans fan. She told me when we started dating that she would tolerate me being a Rams and NY Yankees fan, but if I wasn’t a Nashville Predators fan the deal was off! We get up there for a Preds game at least once or twice a season.

  
It was pretty much a straight shot up I-55 to St. Louis for us, and I had gorgeous birthday weather that Saturday. Great road trip. We stopped at Boomland! and a rest area in Missouri for a couple of pit stops, but pretty much did the morning trek up through Memphis, Arkansas, and Missouri non-stop.

  

We made pretty good time, and seeing the arch for the first time was quite impressive.

  

Actually, it was pretty impressive each time we saw it over the weekend. Really an incredible structure.

  

Once in town we stopped and explored the area by the arch and riverfront. Saw a helicopter tour rides business, the arch, and walked around the park there enjoying the beautiful (but a bit windy) weather.

We walked across the street for lunch at  Tigin Irish Pub & Restaurant.

  

The fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, and pulled lamb French dip were all excellent.

  

We ended up eating there a couple more times while in St. Louis- it became our favorite hangout. After lunch we checked into the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark which wasn’t too far up from the arch.

  
Actually, our hotel was across the street from Busch Stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play.
  

We had some great views of downtown St. Louis (especially the fog Sunday morning), and enjoyed exploring the area.

 

Got to walk around Busch Stadium, and see Scottrade Center where the St. Louis Blues play hockey, too.

Spidey-sense started to tingle as it got later (we both grew up in Memphis) so we headed back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel bar/restaurant, I didn’t get traditional birthday cake and ice cream for my birthday…

  

…but something even better! We had walked around downtown a lot that night so it was nice just to sit and enjoy dessert and some time together. Those were the two things I really liked- being able to walk to things and spending time with my sports fanatic wife.

   

Speaking of walking around St. Louis with my sports fan wife- we were there to see a football game at the Edward Jones Dome, and we got a close one that Sunday- 28-21.

  

I normally am hoping for a Rams victory, but since my wife is a Titans fan (and it’s a long way back home!) I was okay with Tennessee winning that game, and apparently a lot of other Titans fans made the game and were happy, too. 😉

  

I’ve been a Rams fan since I was a kid, and had a cousin play for them back then. Was cool to see his name and number inside the stadium.

  

It hasn’t always been easy being a Rams fan, but they’ve always been my team, all the way back to the early ’70s Los Angeles Rams days. (We do not speak of the Rams 23–16 victory over the Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV and the around our house..!)
   

I was able to pick up a lot of cool St Louis Rams swag before the game at the tailgate party across from the stadium or inside the stadium- which is hard to do where we live. Cool thing- some was even free! I got a free hat, photos, bag shades, and car flag.

  

The tailgate party was great- I’ve never been surrounded by THAT many Rams fans. Some joked about me being with a Titans fan, but everybody was cool with it.

   

We even ran into an old fraternity brother of Merlin’s- he was wearing an old school Los Angeles Rams OLSEN/74 replica jersey!

  
We visited the arch a few times over the weekend, and went down below it and checked out the museum and gift shop in the base of the arch. Really liked the museum, and we picked up a few items in the gift shop, but passed on going up in the arch. I’ve been claustrophobic since I was a kid and after seeing the inclinator car you have to ride up in (looks like climbing into a dryer!) I decided against it. Maybe someday…but with the wind as strong as it was I’m glad we didn’t! On the weekend the lines were pretty long, too. Again, maybe someday if I’m up during the week and the crowds (and wind) are light.

  

On our way out of town Monday we stopped by the Boeing Store (my wife works for a Boeing company) to do some shopping, and then hit Collinsville, IL– home of the world’s largest catsup bottle! I really want to check out their Annual Brooks® World’s Largest Catsup Bottle® Festival Birthday Party & Car Show one summer.

    

When we got to the other end of the state an hour or two later we also stopped by Metropolis, IL- the home of Superman…

and a TARDIS! (See more about the Metropolis TARDIS here.) I was a bit cold and wet while in Metropolis, but we got to see some friends while in town. I’m usually in town each June for the annual Superman Celebration.

On the way home and not too far from Metropolis (about an hour away) we stopped at Lambert’s Cafe (Home of the Throwed Rolls) in Sikeston, MO for my birthday dinner. I had roast beef, corn, baby carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet tea, rolls, and a few pass-arounds (they bring different dishes to your table to try). Since it was Monday we lucked out and didn’t have a wait to get in- it can be “fortyfiveminutstahanhour” or more on the weekends.

We traveled through 5 states in 3 days- and had a blast. I honestly lost count on how many times we crossed the Mississippi River, though!

Hope to catch a Titans game in Nashville with Nicki someday.

Lin