We recently celebrated a significant milestone in the Nomad Household. On July 12, 1997, Mama Nomad and I got married. So, we just celebrated two decades of marriage with our 20th Wedding Anniversary!
Just like our travels on the road, we have experienced our challenges which result in failures and triumphs. We are simply fortunate enough to have triumphed more than we have failed. Many people think that you get married and love will carry you through everything. Love is a powerful part of marriage. But you have to constantly and consistently work on your relationship. This requires not taking each other for granted, being teammates and seeking resolution instead of “who is right.”
Mama Nomad and I have come out the other side of a 20 year union and, although everyday should be celebrated, we felt that this deserved a little extra. So we went to a baseball game. I know. Not what most would consider a 20th Wedding Anniversary celebration. But, this, like many things in our lives, has a back story.
You see, Mama Nomad’s Grandpa brought her Grandma to St. Louis to watch her first professional baseball game. And, Mama Nomad’s Dad followed the tradition and took her mom to her first professional baseball game. So, I continued that tradition and decided to take Mama Nomad to her first professional baseball game and to make that game the St. Louis Cardinals, like her mom and grandma before her.
Mama Nomad is a pro at research. She found us some great seats with the Bank of America Club. These seats allowed private bathrooms, all you can eat and all you can drink (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). You could come back as often as you wanted throughout the entire game. The food, drinks and bathrooms were in an air-conditioned, glass enclosed room. Our seats were just out the door, down a few steps and in the shade on the 3rd baseline.
We bought the tickets before heading to St. Louis. And we also booked a room at the Hilton. It was right across the road from Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. We were close enough to walk across the road to the stadium.
We arrived around check-in time, 4pm central. The staff was very attentive to our needs and helped us with our luggage to our rooms. The hotel was very nicely decorated as was our room. We settled into our room. But we wanted to go to the roof. They have a club called 360. And you are supposed to be able to see great views of the stadium and the Arch.
We headed to the top and hung out there for a bit. They were right, you have great views of the Arch, Busch Stadium and the river. They have some rooms with glass walls and their outdoors have glass that rises up so you won’t drop anything over the edge. After a bit, we returned to our room.
Once we got there, we noticed a very, very loud band playing in one of the restaurants on the first floor. It was so loud that Mama Nomad and I could not really hear each other talk. So, I went down to the front desk and asked them to place us as far from that loud music as possible. Without hesitation, they accommodated us and moved us to the other end of the hotel.
Once we resettled into our new room, Mama Nomad and I decided to do a little recon of the area so that we would know what to do the next day, Game Day. We headed out and scouted all around Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium. We found what gate we were supposed to enter into and the best route to it. We were set. So we headed back, grabbed a bite to eat and headed up to our room.
The next day, we arose with the smell of baseball in the air. We got dressed, had our coffee and headed over to the Busch Stadium Store. Mama Nomad had a Saint Louis Cardinals ball cap. However, I did not. So I wanted to grab myself one. I wanted to do this the night before, but the store was closed. After examining a many of their endless styles of hats, I finally settled on a black one with mesh in the back (have to vent the cranium).
With my new hat on my head, we headed on into the stadium. We made our way up to the level where the Bank of America Club was and went inside. They were serving pasta, salad, asparagus, hot dogs, bratwurst and bbq brisket. It was quite the spread. Mama Nomad and I loaded up on a few plates of food, then we grabbed our drinks and headed to our seats.
Our seats allowed us to sit in the shade and have great views of the field and the Arch. Mama Nomad did great with our seats. We sat and cheered for hours. Towards the end of the game, the people behind us were going inside into the Bank of America Club. We asked if we could use their seats. They had bar type seats whose chairs were not as comfortable as ours, but had easy access to get up, get food, drink and go to the bathroom without climbing over people. They happily gave us their seats while they were gone.
We enjoyed the rest of the game from those seats. Note to self, get bar seats with the Bank of America Club in the future. When the people came back, they were actually gracious enough to let us keep sitting there. Great couple from Germany and another one from St.Louis. After the game we actually hung out with them for a bit. Look at that. Baseball opened conversation to international relationships.
It was a great game, unless you are a New York Mets fan. The St. Louis Cardinals won 6-0 and 3 of the runs were actually home runs. Mama Nomad and I had a great time! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and our 20th Wedding Anniversary was definitely an anniversary to remember. I sure love that crazy Nomad and am blessed that she loves me. I look forward to a lifetime of celebrations with her. Safe Travels.
