Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs

We attended a game of St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs, playing at the Cardinals’ ballpark, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jenn’s game summary:

Cubs won—hitting six home runs, but we only saw the first two. The temperature was 93, but the humidity was worse. Our seats were in the sun, so we only lasted a few innings. Tried standing at the top of the section with shade and a nice breeze, but it was still too uncomfortable. There were probably as many Cubs fans as Cardinals. A pretty ballpark—it would have been nice to hang out and enjoy the game, alas. The view of the Gateway Arch is a nice touch.

An interactive map:

Center field entrance:

Center field entrance

The ballpark:

Ballpark

Team store:

Team store

Birb:

Birb

Perficient Perch:

Perficient Perch

Chicken and fries:

Chicken and fries

View from our seats:

View from our seats

Mascot and cheerleaders:

Mascot and cheerleaders

Gateway Arch:

Gateway Arch

View from our seats

Baseball

View from our seats

Gateway Arch

Views from elsewhere:

View from elsewhere

Our seats were in the sun on a really hot day, so we moved to stand in the concourse:

View from elsewhere

Then we left early. It was just too hot, and we didn’t particularly care about either of the teams playing.

Gateway Arch National Park

We visited Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri.

The NPS map:

An interactive map:

Map sign:

Map sign

Old Courthouse, currently being renovated:

Old Courthouse

Gateway Arch:

Gateway Arch

Inside the visitor center, a model tram; eight of these go up and down each leg of the arch:

Model tram

Exhibits:

Exhibits

A model of the observation area at the top of the arch:

Exhibits

Line to the top:

Line to the top

Boarding pass:

Boarding pass

Waiting for the tram:

Waiting for tram

Our tram:

Tram

Looking through the windows in the tram doors to the inside of the arch:

Inside the arch

Trams at top:

Trams at top

Top of the arch:

Top of arch

630 feet high:

630 feet high

Jenn taking a photo out an observation window:

Jenn

Views from top:

View from top

Shadow of the arch:

View from top

Waiting for the tram for the journey down:

Waiting for tram

Selfie in the tram:

Selfie in tram

Inside the arch:

Inside the arch

Out of the tram:

Out of the tram

Tram waiting area:

Tram waiting area

Arch store:

Store

Arch cafe for a snack:

Cafe

Snack

Under the arch:

Under the arch

Arch selfie

A rather unique national park.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky, a small park with the country’s first monument to Lincoln, enclosing the Symbolic Cabin, a reconstruction of the tiny cabin where Lincoln was born. The memorial was built between 1909 and 1911.

Entrance sign

56 steps up to the memorial, one for each year of Lincoln’s life:

Memorial

Info

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial:

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial

Peeking inside:

Peeking inside

Model of the cabin:

Model of the cabin

Info outside:

Info

Boardwalk to the visitor center:

Boardwalk to visitor center

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Parents and kids:

Parents and kids

Visitor center

Passport stamp:

Passport stamp

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Family Bible:

Family Bible

More exhibits:

Exhibits

Table made by Lincoln’s father:

Table made by Lincoln's father

Boundary oak tree:

Boundary oak tree

Exhibits

Model of the memorial:

Model of the memorial

Our first Buc-ee’s

Buc-ee’s is a popular gas station and convenience store chain, based in Texas, with some in nearby states. It is known for a large number of pumps and large stores, serving brisket, beef jerky, etc, and a beaver mascot. Their branch in Sevierville, Tennessee is the world’s largest convenience store.

We’ve driven past Buc-ee’s gas stations several times, but hadn’t stopped in one until this occasion in Smiths Grove, Kentucky. It isn’t one of the largest ones, but still an interesting experience.

We can’t stop at Buc-ee’s when driving our motorhome, as they are actively hostile to larger vehicles, not allowing 18-wheelers, and not accommodating large RVs like ours. But we visited this one in our pickup truck.

Buc-ee's

Gas pumps:

Gas pumps

Buc-ee's

Mammoth Cave National Park

We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is notable as the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of passages.

Entrance sign

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Mammoth cave has several guided tours available. We did the “Domes and Dripstones” tour, which required taking buses to a cave entrance:

Buses to a cave entrance

Down into a sinkhole:

Down into a sinkhole

Cave entrance:

Cave entrance

Looking down:

Looking down

Underground ranger talk:

Ranger talk

Not too bad a picture of me:

David

Lots of steps:

Lots of steps

Historic graffiti:

Historic graffiti

Very flat cave ceiling:

Very flat cave ceiling

Ranger talk area:

Ranger talk area

Cave

Ranger talk

More steps:

More steps

The “Frozen Niagara” formation:

Frozen Niagara formation

Formations

Selfie

Formations

Steps

Formations

Vertical panorama of a dome:

Panorama

Formations

An interesting cave, but we’ve seen nicer-looking ones. Just shows that size isn’t everything.

Baseball: Bowling Green Hot Rods

In addition to attending major league baseball games while traveling around the country, we also plan to attend some minor league games. Minor league teams often have fun names, and their ballparks are smaller, so we can often get seats front row behind home plate, something that would be prohibitively expensive in a MLB park.

We went to the Bowling Green Hot Rods’ ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to attend a game. But it was cancelled before starting due to weather. We had expected the game to have a rain delay midway, but they decided to not even start. We got to see the ballpark, at least.

Love BGKY

The Hot Rods are the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays:

Road to the Rays

Ballpark:

Ballpark

Consessions

Ballpark

Team store

Ballpark

Dollywood

We visited Dollywood, Dolly Parton’s theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Theme park map; click or tap to view on their site:

An interactive map:

Entrance sign

Selfie

Kites

Reds Drive-In

Drive-In counter

Burgers and fries

Lightning Rod

Rapids ride

Music

Train

Carousel

Arcades

Plane

Water wheel

Dule's

Noodles

Rides

Dessert

Bird

Signs and rides

Ride

Rides

Tree

The Dolly Parton Experience

Bus

Flowers

Sign

Blue Ridge Parkway south end

South of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We visited the northern end a few weeks ago.

Entering the southern end of the parkway:

Entrance sign

There were several tunnels:

Tunnel

Parkway

Tunnel

Views:

View

Fire lookout:

Fire lookout

View

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Elevation 5,820 feet:

Elevation 5,820

View

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina over several days, starting with a long drive from Pigeon Forge, north of the park, to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the southern side of the park (plus a bit further to the southernmost visitor center of the Blue Ridge Parkway; see a separate post about that).

The NPS map; click or tap to interact: