Friends Are The Key

We settled into our “regular spot” at the Eureka KOA on Fri. so that the traditional “5th Annual Drink As Much Beer As You Can As Fast As You Can Without Puking Party!” could be held on Sat. night. For those who may not know (or may not remember), the first year we were in town the boys drank way too much beer that first night, and so a new tradition had begun. Of course, all swore they would drink only in moderation each subsequent year, and they’ve been pretty true to their word. The attendees have varied a little each year, but the core group is always there (John, Steve, and Patty), and that was the extent of this year’s attendees. We had plenty of cans of the Limited Edition World Series Commemorative Budweiser, grilled pork steaks, served with homemade potato salad, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and garlic bread, and topped it all off with the delicious chocolate cake Patty and Steve brought in honor of my recent birthday! This evening is always a great beginning to our stay.









A couple of days later we made our first trip out to Lombardo’s Restaurant (www.lombardosrestaurants.com/). They have 5 locations in the St. Louis metro area, but we always go to the Natural Bridge location across from the airport to visit with Carmen and Angelo . Russ has known the Lombardo family since he was a kid as his dad was a frequent visitor at their original location. We sit in the bar enjoying a few cold ones, a little something off the menu (pizza on this day), and some lively conversation. There’s always plenty to talk about…the family, the old days, our travels, the Cardinals, the Rams, the Tigers, etc. In fact on this particular day, they told us that Gary Pinkel, head coach of the Missouri Tigers football team, would be the guest speaker at a luncheon on the 25th and asked if we'd be interested in attending. Though it was sold out, they said they'd find us a table, and we said yes!

Getting together with friends is the main purpose of these trips to St. Louis, and though Russ and I have many mutual friends that we visit together, we also go our separate ways at times. Our first Thurs. in town was my time to meet up with Gloria, Dana, and Diane (high school buddies at left) along with Mary, Lynn, and Linda. We met at Chili’s and had such a great time catching up, chatting, looking at a couple high school yearbooks, eating (of course!), and sometimes just acting plain silly. I’m sure our server wondered if we’d ever leave, but she was awesome and at one point even showed up with mugs of water for everyone since we had long ago paid. Guess she figured we were getting thirsty with all the talking! One of the best things of the evening was the gift Dana brought me. She had been holding onto the tea cup set that our friend Ellen had bequeathed to each of us. Each set was different and had been given out at random at her memorial service. I was thrilled when I opened mine because with my Irish heritage, this shamrock set was perfect, and though I currently have nowhere to display it, the set will be a cherished gift from a dear friend.

Over the next week Russ played some golf with the guys (never get any pictures!), and I spent time visiting more friends. It had been a couple years since I had seen my mom’s friend, Rosemarie. She was under the weather when we were in town a year and a half ago so I was excited that we were going to be able to spend some time together this trip. Unfortunately, the time went by way too fast. Many of our days while in town get double-booked with stuff, racing to opposite ends of the city, and with only one car, it sometimes makes some visits shorter than you’d like, and that was the case with this visit.

My other high school friend named Diane couldn’t make it to Chili’s the week before, and she’s been bugging me every year to go to the casino with her. Since none of our other friends are real keen on going to the casino, I picked her up one day and we headed to River City Casino (http://www.rivercity.com/). She likes to play the penny slots so we spent some time doing that (she won, I lost), and then had a huge yummy burger at Burger Brothers located in the casino while having a great time just chatting and catching up. She decided not to press her luck with any more slots, cashed out her winnings, and we called Gloria to find out where she and her gang were figuring we could catch up with them somewhere. They were just finishing up lunch when we arrived, but we sat and chatted with everyone for awhile longer. Just a nice day to hang out and be together.

One of the biggest days in St. Louis is the Cardinals Home Opener, and especially this year since they are the reigning World Series Champions! There’s lots of traditional pre-game activity including introduction of our great Hall of Famers (left to right: Stan “The Man” Musial, Red Schoendist, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Whitey Herzog), introduction of the team who arrive in trucks driven around the inside track of the stadium, and they are usually preceded by the Budweiser Clydesdales, but the weather prohibited that this year. Before coming to town, Russ had looked into getting tickets for the game, but the cheapest seats still available were $105 each! This was not only because it was opening day but also because our arch rivals, the Chicago Cubs, were the opponent. The following week when the Reds come to town, those same seats would be $12…that’s the new dynamic pricing plan so many parks have put into place. So we were content with watching it on TV (you can see I dressed for the occasion, and yes, took pictures of festivities on the TV) and invited a couple of the guys over. Bob brought lunch from the American Legion’s fish fry (one of our favs!), and John showed up a little later. The weather wasn't nice enough to sit outside, but they did have the TV on out there so as not to miss any of the action!

Friends, Jim and Judy, hosted a BBQ at their house like they did last time we were in town, and Jim promised this time there would be no red wine spilled on Russ! LOL The guys sat outside discussing sports and solving the world’s problems while us girls sat inside chatting where it was warmer. Since it was supposed to start raining any minute, dinner was held in their beautiful dining room instead of outside. Jim had grilled steaks, Judy served twice baked potatoes along with a wonderful salad, and all was topped off with a delicious wine from Spain. But the piece de resistance was the dessert Judy made…Chocolate Mousse Torte. Ohmigosh! Incredibly rich and so scrumptious!

It was hard to believe that two weeks had already flown by, and we still had so much on our calendar!