Lions and Tigers and Reticulated Giraffes!

After leaving Lexington at 6 a.m. and an 11-hour drive, we made it to St. Louis in time for the 6 p.m. Cardinals vs. Astros game! The stadium was really fantastic and we had great city views from our seats. I was especially delighted to see All-Star Matt Holliday hit two home runs. As most of you know, Holliday is batting .609 since being traded to the Cardinals from the Athletics - wow!

(At Busch Stadium after the Cardinals win!)

We crashed early that night after the game, but got up fairly early this morning to purchase tickets for the Arch tour on Monday morning in an attempt to avoid the weekend crowds. We wanted to make the most of our 1 full day in St. Louis so we headed to the St. Louis Zoo! It was huge with a variety of exhibits....our favorites included the zebras, lions and bears (wish I could have tested the bear spray, but thankfully they were caged).

(My new friend at the St. Louis Zoo.)

We then left the zoo for the tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. This was Josh's second tour of the brewery, as he visited last summer with his father. We both enjoyed seeing the Clydesdale's and tasting the free beer!

After the tour, it was time for a snack, so we headed over to the famous frozen custard joint, Ted Drewes. The place was packed, but we couldn't tell the difference between custard and ice cream. As I'm writing this, Josh claims he could taste the difference. I don't believe him.

We tried the traditional St. Louis pizza for dinner down on the River Front. Very delicious. We then wandered across the street to a bar which had actually run out of Budweiser products! I thought that stuff ran through the faucets here!

We had a great day enjoying the sights and food of St. Louis. As you can see, we ate extremely healthy. A big thank you to Bryan Greenberg, the actor who recommended many of the local food joints in our hotel's brochure.

Tomorrow we'll climb the arch, before our 9-hour drive to Souix Falls. It should be an interesting drive as the motorcycle rally in Sturgis is also this week. Reminds me of when my Catholic High School took us to Daytona Beach during Bike Week. See you in Sioux Falls!