Final Weekend of Fun

Our last weekend in St. Louis proved to be as busy as the rest of the month. There’s always lots to do when getting ready to hit the road again especially after you’ve been parked somewhere for a month. However, we couldn’t leave town without making our annual trip to the American Legion Fish Fry on Fri., but Bob called and instead of meeting us there offered to bring the fish to us! About an hour later he showed up with a couple pounds of the best fried cod and tarter sauce around, and we all enjoyed it with a couple brewskies while watching the Cards game on TV.

Earlier in the month Steve and Russ had talked about driving down to Columbia for the Mizzou football game on Sat. the 25th, but there was no way we could leave the dogs for that long (the drive is a couple of hours). However, thanks to Gloria offering to come over about mid-day to let them out, I was going to be able to go after all, and we planned to pick up tickets at the stadium. Unfortunately Steve and Patty couldn’t make it last minute, but we knew Jim and Judy would also be going to the game. We had made plans to meet them for lunch at The Heidelberg (http://www.theheidelberg.com/), a local hangout on campus, but before leaving Sat. morning, Jim called to say that one of his partners was not going to make the game and asked if we wanted to use the tickets. Sure! Turns out the seats were 26 rows from the field on the 50-yard line!

Walking across campus to the restaurant and the stadium was fun as we passed tailgating students and alumni…there’s nothing like a college game atmosphere! We also passed Memorial Student Union, a beautiful structure with its impressive Memorial Tower that was completed in 1926 to honor 117 Mizzou men who lost their lives during World War I and whose names are inscribed on the inside walls of the tower archway. And of course we had to get a picture of Russ in front of the stadium with the bronze statue of legendary Coach Don Faurot (pronounced fuh-row)!

At halftime we all went out to “tailgate” at Jim’s car, which was parked right outside one of the stadium entrances, and their oldest son (another MU grad) joined us. The opposing team was Miami University of Ohio, and the Tigers dominated the game from the beginning with a final score of 51-13! It was a long day but what a great one…thanks Jim, Judy, and Gloria!

As we were doing final preparations on Sun. for the next day’s departure, Steve and Patty showed up with a birthday cake and card for Russ! Steve was feeling much better and after chatting for a couple hours, they joined us for a final dinner of Imo’s pizza. It had been a great birthday weekend and so glad we got to spend it with friends.

The next day it was time to head for a week in Gettysburg, PA,

another one of our favorite locations.