Right before the beginning of the St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball season the team ran a promotion-for $6 you could buy a ticket that also included $6 in "Cards Cash" to use at the concession stands. Hubby Tony purchased tickets for several games scattered throughout the season. The first one, a day game, was today.
Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals play, is downtown. Even though there are fewer people working in that area than their used to be, for day games parking around the stadium is harder to find and more expensive. Tony and I talked it over and decided to drive partway, then take Metro Link-our rapid transit system-to and from the game.
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The Cardinals have tightened the rules on what you can and cannot bring into the stadium, but they still allow food. After we drove to a Metro Link station and parked the car, we walked a couple of blocks to get lunch, then walked back and bought our tickets. Round trip tickets were $5 each, and a day pass was the same price. We had no reason to get day passes, but why not? The train was filled with people wearing red Cardinals gear. At the stadium station the vast majority of the riders exited, and the driver told us to "have a good time". However, the game was a stinker. The Cardinals scored two runs in their half of the first inning, but the Los Angeles Angels scored four runs in the second inning and six in the third.
Our seats were located on the sunny side of the stadium, and I felt like my sunscreen was failing, so when I suggested we leave and find a place to redeem our virtual cash Tony agreed. We ended up getting a tray of mini donuts drizzled with chocolate and vanilla icing.
After we finished the donuts Tony and I decided to leave. As we exited through the turnstile I asked Tony if he was interested in using our Metro Link day pass for an adventure. We could jump on a train going east over to Illinois (something I've never done before) before we doubled back and headed to the station where our car was. He was game.
When the eastbound train arrived it had five cars, with only several passengers in each. We chose seats facing forward so we could see where we were going. The trip starts out underground, then goes above ground just before the Mississippi River and stays there. The first couple of exits are in neighborhoods I wouldn't want to walk in, but it was both interesting and sad to see once-elegant buildings now abandoned and blighted.
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I don't ride public transit on a regular basis, and when I do there's always some type of adventure. This time was no different. On the train back to St. Louis an older gentleman (Man #1) came walking up the aisle speaking loudly to himself, then stopped at the door and plopped down on the floor so that his body was covering the entire exit. From the seat behind and catty-corner to me another older gentleman (Man #2) announced that Man #1 was OK; he did this all the time. I turned around and told Man #2 he was a good friend. A minute later Man #1 got up and walked back like nothing had happened.
The rest of the trip passed uneventfully.
Five years ago: Pepper On Pillow On Bed
Sounds like a great day!
ReplyDeleteThat's on my things todo list that I'll never get around to doing. Shrewsbury to the East Side, to the airport, back to Shrewsbury.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? Throw Claudia in the car! All the stations are handicapped-compliant.
DeleteA wonderful day out.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Do you take public transportation while in the Bay Area? It's the only way I like to travel when in that area. I loved our apartment in San Francisco as I was only a block from Muni and BART and a few blocks from CalTrain. Fresno is NOT a walkable city and public transportation is not very reliable nor does it cover all of the city. I really would prefer to live where I could regularly take public transportation.
ReplyDeleteIn the San Jose area, where we stay, there are fewer transit options. However, at their first apartment in Mountain View we took advantage of the station just a couple of blocks away.
DeleteI notice your hubby Tony is quite co-operative! The train in the picture looks very nice!
ReplyDeleteI use mainly public transportation, as I don't drive. I'm used to it, so no complaints.
I wish I could be as flexible as Tony is! He's always ready to change gears.
DeleteThe way the Cardinals are playing this year, you and Tony might not need to worry about going downtown much. It has been a rough start to the season. But going to a Cardinals is a lot of fun even if they are stinking it up.
ReplyDeleteWe have tickets to a game in mid-summer and another in the fall. If they're still struggling then we'll evaluate our interest level.
DeleteWe have a couple buses in town that go only one direction, so to get and get back from anywhere, in a smallish town where I could drive across it in ten minutes, can take a long long time, on the bus. I'm going to see my brother in Idaho next month, will drive halfway and take the bus the rest, 7 hours on the bus, but it beats the 15 to 23 hours on a bus if I took the bus all the way. I'm second guessing the decision however since my brother doesn't drive and I won't have my car once I get there.
ReplyDeleteI would base my decision on how many things I could get to in your brother's neighborhood on foot.
DeleteNow you've got me missing riding the T and our box seats to the Red Sox games.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1980s we had access to a tiny percentage of a set of box seats (which belonged to the company Tony worked for). Eventually the Marketing department claimed the set. Since that time, more often than not we've sat in the nosebleed sections.
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