Rainy Opening Day @ Busch Stadium

Well, it's official.  We're crazy. 

 

Last year Hubby & I decided to attend Opening Day in St. Louis as we are both pretty diehard St. Louis Cardinals fans.  We bought tickets the morning of (which made them really cheap), drove 3.5 hours up, watched the game, and drove 3.5 hours back.  We had such a fun time that we decided to make it (budget & weather permitting) an annual tradition. 

We had made tentative plans to go this year, but then the weather started looking REALLY questionable so I had basically convinced Hubby to stay home and save our money for something house related.  However, when it came down to it, we already had babysitter plans for Elyse and had already taken the day off work...and the weather LOOKED like it would pass just in time for the first pitch. 

So....we packed a backpack full of extra clothes, donned all of our red Cardinals gear & headed out.  This year we weren't quite the rookies that we were last year & instead of trying to do anything else...we simply drove straight to the ballpark to get a "closeish" parking spot.  Which we succeeded at doing...for $40.  Yeah.  $40 just to park in a lot that normally would cost maybe $15.  Oh the joys of Opening Day! 

The new Ballpark Village development

We parked, layered up, grabbed the umbrella, and headed to find something to eat for lunch since we arrived at the ballpark nearly 4 hours before gametime. We had very slight hopes of eating at the new Ballpark Village development...but after seeing the line just to get in to the general area and overhearing a conversation about a 6-hour wait...we decided to opt for a warm, dry table at TGI Friday's just a couple of blocks away. 

 

After lunch it was time for the gates to open so we headed back over to head into the ballpark. The incredibly CRAZY thing about the entire day is that NO. ONE. CARED.  It steadily rained all morning and most of the first three innings, but thousands of diehard Cardinals fans were milling around outside the stadium, sitting in their seats with ponchos, and umbrellas, just soaking up the electric (even in the rain) atmosphere of Opening Day @ Busch Stadium.   

Part of the line for the 6-hour wait!

St. Louis is known for having amazingly loyal fans, through good seasons and bad...but let's be honest...we're good a whole lot more often than we're bad in the recent years!  Last year's National League Championship definitely made for an excited crowd on Opening Day!

I had told Hubby that if I was going to go that I wanted to spend a little extra money for seats that had a climate-controlled dining/bathroom area so that if I started to freeze I could take refuge in there.  We also managed to get INCREDIBLY lucky and our seats were actually covered by the overhand.  So while many people were stuck out in the rain...we put our umbrella away and waited for the festivities to begin! 

The tarp is coming off!!!  yay!!!

Ozzie Smith aka the Wizard making his way to the other Hall of Fame members--I remember watching him as a little girl!

Even with the rain they had an incredible showing of a bald eagle who made multiple circles around the ballpark and then landed back on his handler's arm.  It gave me chills just watching it! 

One of my favorite views in the world! 

Even in the rain we had an absolute blast, and Hubby even allowed me a little bit of Pottery Barn shopping afterwards before we headed home.  I can definitely see this becoming an annual tradition for the two of us...definitely a great way to ring in Spring!  What better way than at the ballpark?!?