Day 8: St. Louis to KC
After a breakfast in The Mayfair Hotel, we
prepared to depart St. Louis. Generally,
navigating these Midwestern cities seems easy compared to eastern cities like
New York, Boston or Baltimore. After the
valet does the usual, “take a left out of the hotel and follow that right to
the interstate”, I often find myself waiting for more. In this case, we took a right out of St.
Charles Street, where the front of the hotel was located, a street which was
under construction, covering up the “one-way” signs I didn’t see the day
before, apparently, when I drove in. Oh,
well. It wouldn’t be the first traffic
violation I will have gotten away with on this trip, I am sure.
About four blocks from the hotel there was a
pedestrian overpass leading from a parking garage to Busch Stadium. Seeing a very healthy line over us, I noted
that it was 11:55am, just a few minutes before the memorial for Darryl Kile was
to have taken place. We drove by in the
comfort of our air-conditioned car. It
was 97 degrees by the car’s outside thermometer. I later saw on the news where players from
all over the country flew in to honor the Cards’ late pitcher on this day.
Moments later, we found ourselves right in
front of the Gateway Arch, so I buzzed around the block right in front of this
massive structure to find a parking spot.
Of course, it didn’t take me long for my second violation west of the
Mississippi, since I parked our faithful Passat for a few moments in a no
parking zone. I suppose this is my
modern-day rendition of being an outlaw in the wild, wild west. However, this was years too late, and a bit
too close to where the west actually starts, so let’s forego the glorification
and just settle for the fact that I am a cheap guy in a hurry.
We took a few pics in front of the Arch. When Austin grabbed the camera to take a
picture of Parker and me, I wondered which would pose the biggest obstacle to
getting everything in the frame of the picture:
The arch, or my physique, after a week of hot dogs at baseball
parks. Oh well, it wasn’t ONLY hot dogs,
as I did have Thai food one night and Gino’s deep dish pizza, a Chicago
institution, on another. On a
digressional note: We waited 90 minutes
on line and at the table for the pizza at Gino’s, and I’d recommend to any
Windy City resident that their time would be better spent hopping a plane to
New Haven and cabbing to Modern Apizza or Pepe’s for a slightly larger time
investment but a gigantic culinary payoff.
Or for the best deep dish (sorta) pizza anywhere, there’s Post Corner in
Darien. While Austin’s Spinach Calzone
(I don’t remember what Gino’s called it, nor does Austin, since the whole meal
was basically forgettable) was the best of what we all ordered, nothing held a
candle to what we enjoy in Connecticut.
The only stop we made on our way to Kansas
City, other than for gas, was at MEMORABILIA CITY, a tourist trap somewhere in
the middle of Missouri. I fully expected
antique things, but what we got instead was a store that specialized in
stocking anything that had anything to do with anything in the past. All items were brand new: replica Coke
thermometers, lots of Elvis stuff, old gasoline signs, I Love Lucy stuff,
including Vitametavegamin, (something I honestly could use on this trip). We settled for a bathroom break and three
refrigerator calendars featuring highlights from 1958, 1989 and 1992, the
birthdays of the traveling Angeli.
This would be the first time we stayed at a
hotel (motel) without a bellman and valet parking, and I must say the boys did
a splendid job of picking up the slack.
Of course, I was asked for a tip.
After resting for a half-hour or so, we made the ten-minute drive across
I-70, which was also called the George Brett Superhighway, over the George
Brett Bridge, to Kauffman Stadium, where a statue of George Brett greeted
Kansans, Missourians, Oklahomans and Nebraskans, and in this case, three guys
from Connecticut, right in front of the stadium. (I think we’re called Nutmeggers,
unfortunately) Kauffman Stadium is a
rather modern looking structure adjacent to Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs
play football. Parking was a cinch, and
we decided that with the darkness of the sky and sudden high winds, we’d rather
give the stadium a shot rather than waiting in the car, where we’d spent much
too much time over the past week.
I had decided that I wasn’t going to be
scared off by security any longer, and stuck my Sony video/still camera in my
fannypack, with the bulk under my shirt right over my butt. As I surmised, I waltzed right in, as I could
have at any of the other ballparks except for Wrigley. As I waltzed, which is quite a gracious term
for a guy like me, the rain began to fall from the ominous dark skies. Not many people were there, but enough to
find shelter under the spiraling walkways to the upper decks, among other
places. The Dugout Shop was a good place
to escape the rains, where we purchased a Royals pennant and Parker got a
fitted Royals cap to commemorate his allegiance to his “second-favorite”
team. Parker had been talking all week
about his desire to see the Royals play, and when quizzed about this newly
announced interest, he didn’t really give a great explanation, which I guess is
a kids’ prerogative. I remember liking
certain things as a kid for no particular reason, one of which, coincidentally
enough, was the state of Missouri. I
think it had to do with its shape and the fact that it was in the middle of the
country.
As the rains really began to pour, the other
way to pass the time, of course, was to eat.
I had noted there was a Gates BBQ stand on the Plaza level. Gates was the place after which my friends
that owned Kansas City BBQ Heaven, about ten years back, had modeled their
restaurant. So, with curiousity and
whetted appetite, I walked to the counter, where a rather disinterested
gigantic black woman awaited me. “Your
Beef sandwich, is that brisket?,” I asked.
“No”, she responded. That was all
she had to say about that. Sorry, I
needed more info on this. Wait, she was
opening her mouth once again… when I heard her say “Did day call da game
yet?” It had been raining for ten
minutes at this point and it was a half hour before game time, so I was
compelled to say “You really don’t want to be here, do you?”, which was met
with a blank stare. I might note that
this was unlike most concession experiences in the Midwest, even at Kaufmann,
because later I watched the boys order Frozen Malt Treats on the upper deck and
they were greeted so happily by a young blonde girl who was more than happy to
see kids come her way.
The Gates BBQ sandwich was uneventful, and in
my opinion my friends who took great pride and care with their Kansas City BBQ
Heaven, which in fact is now in restaurant heaven, did it even better. I am sure the Gates restaurant would have
been worth a go, though.
We made our way to the upper level, which
gave us a view of not only this clean and attractive ballpark, but also of this
incredible lightning show coming to us courtesy of no one but Mother
Nature. I am sure if The Royals could
have sold an entitlement, they would have.
“This lightning is brought to you by Jim Beal Ford, where you’ll be
struck by the great deals on a huge selection of Ford Trucks”. Anything to pay these ballplayers’
salaries. Although in this case, with
the Royals facing the Tigers, I must admit I’d barely heard of but one or two
players in tonight’s starting lineups. I
am sure Mike Sweeney isn’t long for Kansas City, with strong power numbers, but
also leading the AL in batting average.
He’s a sure bet for a larger market club soon. It doesn’t take a Peter Gammons to predict
that, although I’m sure he’d take credit for such a prediction.
There was a clearing to our west that just
didn’t want to make its way east, so the rain delay lasted over two hours. I thoroughly enjoyed being with my boys,
talking about baseball, lightning, and other stuff, sitting in the middle of
the country, scoreboard watching (except when we saw Mets 2, Braves 0 turn into
Mets 2 Braves 6 in a very short period of time), out in the open with all this
summer weather going on around us. We
were dry and relaxed, and once again, I had good reason to think and to
know: This is a great trip.
June 26, 2002
We left St. Louis and headed toward Kansas City, Missouri. Between
that ride, there were lightning bolts everywhere, and most were humungous. But
after a little while, it stopped, and a while later we got to Kansas City. We
went to the Royals game, and they were playing the Tigers. Unfortunately, there
was a storm here too. So, there was a rain delay here. After two hours, it
stopped, and I could finally examine the field. The scoreboard was nice,
because in had a huge crown on top of it. On the crown, it said Kauffman’s Field . That obviously
was the name of the field. The scenery in the background was nice, because
there were always little waterfalls there. I wish to go there again (Even
though I won’t) because it is so nice. The Royals beat the Tigers…
~Parker
Austin -- Day 8
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6-26-02
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We went to Kansas City, Missouri. We saw the Gateway Arch — it
divides the U.S. from the east and the west. The Gateway Arch is really tall
and round. So we are now in the west! The weather was bad at Kansas City. A
bunch of dark clouds were heading in our direction, and a lot of lightning was in the clouds. The lightning in where you live
is probably — well, just about one bolt every 10 seconds — but here, there is
an average of 3 bolts every 4 seconds! (That’s my estimate.) It was really
bad weather. Also, once in a while, there were about 10 different bolts at
the same time! This actually delayed the Royals’ ball game for about two
hours. We never get any of that weather here!
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