St. Louis is considered one of the best baseball cities in America, so it should come as no surprise that we had the best time watching the Padres in a four-game series at Busch Stadium.
We flew into the city a few hours before a Thursday night game and had time for a quick dinner before heading to the ballpark. Our hotel concierge recommended Pi Pizzeria down the street because President Obama declared it the best pizza he ever had.
We were equally impressed, starting with the most delicious garlic bread ever and finishing a deep dish pizza with a cornmeal crust.
After dinner, we made our way to Busch Stadium and quickly found ourselves in a sea of red with the most friendly, welcoming, and knowledgeable baseball fans. Multiple people asked if we really came from San Diego for the game and several others shared stories about Tony Gwynn.
We had great seats behind the Padres dugout. Two of my favorite moments were watching Albert Pujols come to bat and watching Cardinals fans give Padres player David Eckstein a standing ovation. Eck was the MVP when the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006.
The next day we ate at Pappy's Smokehouse for lunch where had the pleasure of meeting founder Mike Emerson who introduced us to Padres pitcher Corey Luebke!
Then we went to the Top of the Arch and the Museum of Westward Expansion.
We enjoyed three more days of baseball, met several Padres players, and played craps with Buddy Black and Glen Hoffman at the Lumiere Place Casino.
On our last day, we had the best meal at Sweetie Pie's and met owner Robbie Montgomery who was a back-up singer for Ike and Tina Turner. It was the best Mac and Cheese ever!
Before leaving St. Louis, we bought a couple of Cardinals shirts for the Ballpark Tour. We went into the broadcast book, the Redbird Club, the sat in the dugout, and walked on the field.
The best part of the tour was meeting Andy Benes who told us how much he loved playing for the Padres !
The food, the fans, the ballpark - everything was amazing. We can't wait for our next trip to the Gateway City.