Rude crowds, rain delays, and giant puppies -- my St. Louis experience

Over the weekend (Aug. 23-24, 2008), my wife, son, and I, along with several of my in-laws and their families, attended a baseball game in St. Louis, Mo., featuring the Cardinals against the Atlanta Braves in game two of their three game series.

It was a packed house, featuring both Cardinal and Brave fans. We got to the stadium at approximately 1 or 2 p.m. and foraged the gift shops waiting for the game to begin at 2:55 p.m.

The other fans, I suppose excited about the event, were quick to cut you off from your group or push in front of you; generally, they were just rude.

My son Jacob did get to meet Fredbird, and it went over screamingly. That giant bird scared the daylights out of him.

During the ninth inning, there was a rain delay, which lasted about 49 minutes. During that time, Jacob decided he wanted to walk around the stadium. Everyone thought he was adorable as he marched around the corridors, holding both his mother and my hands.

We went back to the game when it resumed, and watched the Cards lose 8 -- 4.

After the game, the group decided to peruse the museum underneath the St. Louis Arch. It wasn't very eventful.

My wife, son, and I stayed the night and went to the zoo the next day, where Jacob saw the biggest "puppy" he's ever seen (It was an elephant, but he called it a puppy. Give him a break he's only 16 months old, to him, every animal is a puppy). For the first time (that I've ever seen anyway) he tried to call the "puppy" over by reaching out and opening and closing his hand and clicking his mouth, but it wouldn't come. He wasn't very happy about that.

While at the zoo, we also checked out the Sea Lion Show, it was pretty entertaining. Sea lions are amazing animals, bad taste in diet though, fish and squid.

After a LONG day at the zoo, Jacob fell asleep while we were aboard the zoo railroad, so we decided to call it a day and headed home.

Overall, it was an okay trip.